THE FIRST MAJOR WORK IN NEARLY A DECADE BY ONE OF THE WORLD鈥橲 GREAT THINKERS鈥擜 MARVELOUSLY CONCISE BOOK WITH NEW ANSWERS TO THE ULTIMATE QUESTIONS OF LIFE
When and how did the universe begin? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the nature of reality? Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned as to allow for the existence of beings like ourselves? And, finally, is the apparent 鈥済rand design鈥� of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion鈥攐r does science offer another explanation?
The most fundamental questions about the origins of the universe and of life itself, once the province of philosophy, now occupy the territory where scientists, philosophers, and theologians meet鈥攊f only to disagree. In their new book, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present the most recent scientific thinking about the mysteries of the universe, in nontechnical language marked by both brilliance and simplicity.
In The Grand Design they explain that according to quantum theory, the cosmos does not have just a single existence or history, but rather that every possible history of the universe exists simultaneously. When applied to the universe as a whole, this idea calls into question the very notion of cause and effect. But the 鈥渢op-down鈥� approach to cosmology that Hawking and
Mlodinow describe would say that the fact that the past takes no definite form means that we create history by observing it, rather than that history creates us. The authors further explain that we ourselves are the product of quantum fluctuations in the very early universe, and show how quantum theory predicts the 鈥渕ultiverse鈥濃€攖he idea that ours is just one of many universes that appeared spontaneously out of nothing, each with different laws of nature.
Along the way Hawking and Mlodinow question the conventional concept of reality, posing a 鈥渕odel-dependent鈥� theory of reality as the best we can hope to find. And they conclude with a riveting assessment of M-theory, an explanation of the laws governing us and our universe that is currently the only viable candidate for a complete 鈥渢heory of everything.鈥� If confirmed, they write, it will be the unified theory that Einstein was looking for, and the ultimate triumph of human reason.
A succinct, startling, and lavishly illustrated guide to discoveries that are altering our understanding and threatening some of our most cherished belief systems, The Grand Design is a book that will inform鈥攁nd provoke鈥攍ike no other.'
Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between 1979 and 2009, he was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, widely viewed as one of the most prestigious academic posts in the world. Hawking was born in Oxford into a family of physicians. In October 1959, at the age of 17, he began his university education at University College, Oxford, where he received a first-class BA degree in physics. In October 1962, he began his graduate work at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where, in March 1966, he obtained his PhD degree in applied mathematics and theoretical physics, specialising in general relativity and cosmology. In 1963, at age 21, Hawking was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease that gradually, over decades, paralysed him. After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. Hawking's scientific works included a collaboration with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Initially, Hawking radiation was controversial. By the late 1970s, and following the publication of further research, the discovery was widely accepted as a major breakthrough in theoretical physics. Hawking was the first to set out a theory of cosmology explained by a union of the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. He was a vigorous supporter of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. Hawking achieved commercial success with several works of popular science in which he discussed his theories and cosmology in general. His book A Brief History of Time appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. Hawking was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a lifetime member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. He died in 2018 at the age of 76, having lived more than 50 years following his diagnosis of motor neurone disease.
It's a funny thing being a cosmologist in the greater Los Angeles area. Back when I was a partying single graduate student, I'd frequently hit the town for some fun. Inevitably I'd meet someone, strike up a conversation, and they might ask me what I did for a living.
"Oh, I'm a cosmologist." "Cosmetologist? Cool, do you do make-up for movies?" "Um...not unless rouge is a component of dark matter." (ba-da-bum) "..." "I make detectors and use them to study the origins and geometry of our universe." "Uh. No way. You ever work in movies?"
I discovered after a few years of this that it was much easier and simpler to tell people I was Mary Poppins at Disneyland. Without exception, folks believed me, made a joke and moved on. The physics thing just cause wrinkled faces, and very odd non-sequiturs. Once I had a guy tell me all about a distant cousin who studied shrimp in the Netherlands. Frequently I'd get the physicist = physician mix-up. Luckily no one ever showed me their rash. Oh well, such is the life of the lonely, misunderstood cosmologist.
Why am I telling you about all my misadventures in life? Oh yeah, to let you know that my background is observational cosmology. (I.e. making devices, detectors, instruments and doing experiments in labs, in Antarctica and on space-born projects.) I'm not a theorist, and most definitely not into string theory/membrane theory/M-theory. That stuff isn't even touched upon in most graduate programs. It's esoteric, wicked complicated, and honestly still in a very nascent stage.
So, I'm not qualified to comment on M-theory being THE answer to The Grand Design as Hawking and Mlodinow so insistently propose. The question then becomes did they sell me on the idea. I dunno... maybe? It was all so very glossed over, overwhelmed by all the history and background needed to give the reader an appropriate framework. Then when they finally game to the climax of the story, where all the previous information should coalesce, M-theory barely got much of an explanation or treatment at all.
I got the impression they wanted to push this Grand Idea, a wrap-up of all previous ideas, made with sweeping statements and generalizations to get press. Plus, if it turns out to work and be right, they can point to this very thin book and say "A-ha!" That's why I removed a star.
Now, if you are looking to learn more about the science of the universe this is just the book for you. They do an excellent job explaining aspects of special relativity, general relativity, particle physics, early-universe physics, even my favorite field, the CMB. (Which maddeningly they call the CMBR, a very outdated term, and refer to the fluctuations as being in the microwave regime, even though they are sub-millimeter radiation! Grrr!) They even throw in a ton of historical context, which helps the reader understand the difficulties of the field and the constantly evolving nature of science.
The science is great, you will learn a ton. Really. The writing is clear in that no-nonsense style Hawking is so famous for. Unfortunately in a few areas the explanations get really muddled to the point of incomprehensibility, and I suspect that might be Mlodinow's doing, since those muddled spots fall in his particular area of expertise. One would expect a research scientist in the field (even if she's a lowly experimentalist) should be able to breeze through all their scientific lessons. I found the string theory section to be really tough-going, with pretty poorly thought out examples. But it is a very esoteric field, and maybe there just aren't easy ways to help lay-folks visualize the 11-dimensional space and the vibrating membranes?
Speaking of clear teaching examples, the book is filled with ways to help the reader visualize some very hard concepts. Gravity affects space-time like having a rubber sheet for your pool table, then pulling down on one spot right in the middle. The balls will curve around the area in much the same way that objects do near-ish black holes. The "strings" in string theory are described to be like a straw, with a surface space, but curled up on itself. However, from very far away a straw looks like a 2-dimensional line.
And yet a few of their examples obviously fall short, which I suppose all stand-ins for the real thing will eventually do. The one that really stood out like a a sore thumb was the balloon-as-expanding-universe. Their illustration looks like someone could take a marker and draw little galaxies on a balloon. Then as the balloon is filled with more air and expands, all galaxies will move away from each other independently. The first trouble is that the galaxies, if drawn on, would expand themselves, which doesn't actually happen. (The mass and hence gravity of galaxies is a stronger force than the expansion of the universe.) In the text, it's made clear that the galaxies have to be treated as points on the balloon, but the graphic is a bit misleading. Secondly, the obvious question to the balloon is: Okay, the balloon expands into our 3-dimensional space, so what is the universe expanding into? They certainly touch on the answer later, but never refer back to our balloon. What a shame.
At any rate, here's my advice: Believe their grand M-theory answer or don't, I don't think it matters as long as you have learned a few things about our scientific understanding of the universe along the way.
Since I made fun of "The Industry" suitors I encountered around Los Angeles, I should relate a tale of the foolish physicists. Create a supersymmetry of courtship mishaps or something. I was at a party on campus, which was completely populated by science grad students, and maybe a few random stray people. I met a guy, he seemed nice enough, so we chatted about motorcycles for a while. He asked me what I studied, so I very jokingly told him I was a Theoretical Cosmetologist, and a student at the neighboring university (which has many, many more women). Ridiculous, right? The guy fell for it hook, line and sinker, and wanted to know more details of this theoretical cosmetology. So I told him all about color theory, combining it with an understanding of personality traits, and the effect of shadowing on first-impressions. Meanwhile, my co-workers stood behind him, trying to hold in their laughter. It was mean, but he believed me!
If you ever meet me in person, only believe about 63% of what I say. The rest is a joke. And that's a scientifically proven fact.
"Why is there something rather than nothing? Why do we exist?"
"the universe doesn't have just a single history, but every possible history, each with its own probability,"
Ever since I read A briefer History of Time, I've been wanting to read more of Hawking's books. And so came The Grand Design. This book aims more towards explaining the origins and known progression of the universe (or all possible universes according to the book) and the different theories supporting presently accepted models. Unlike in A Briefer History of Time, the M-Theory is given the spotlight over the entire book, where as the former attempted the school of thought behind the Equation for Everything.
"Our very existence imposes rules determining from where and at what time it is possible for us to observe the universe."
Hawking's attempt to present complex concepts in most clearer way seems most admirable again. Though it might appear to be a bit difficult to read, one should keep in mind those concepts are complex no matter how well written everything is. In my opinion, this book is perfectly suited for any reader, irrespective of his or hers knowledge in physics and chemistry. Underlying core concepts are explained very clearly.
"To paraphrase Einstein, a theory should be as simple as possible, but not simpler," "According to M-theory, space-time has ten space dimensions and one time dimension."
I'm sure most will assume this to be a technical book aimed at a niche of readers, but nothing could not be any further from truth. Even if you fail to grasp some of the stuff, what you do understand will make you think of concepts that you never imagined to be possible. Hawking will take your beyond what is perceived reality, and open your eyes to see the world quite differently.
"We have no rational ground for believing in an objective reality," "WE EACH EXIST FOR ABUT A SHORT TIME"
Look John look! See the pop science bestseller. See the glossy paper. See the large font. See the wide margins. See the world-famous physicist. See the ghostwriter.
See the double slit experiment! Maybe you have seen it before. But you can never see the double slit experiment too many times. See the theory of everything. It is free of infinities. Probably. Anyway, never mind that.
See the quantum multiverse! See the strong anthropic principle. See them explain the mystery of being. They are science. They make predictions. What are the predictions? We don't have space for that. But here's another glossy picture.
See God! We don't need God. Science has made Him irrelevant. Why is God laughing? I don't know. I guess He just found something funny.
The Grand Design is a popular-science book written by British physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow and published by Bantam Books in 2010.
The book examines the history of scientific knowledge about the universe and explains 11 dimension M-theory. The authors of the book point out that a Unified Field Theory (a theory, based on an early model of the universe, proposed by Albert Einstein and other physicists) may not exist.
The future of the universe is not completely determined by the laws of science, and its present state, as Laplace thought. God still has a few tricks up his sleeve. God not only plays dice. He sometimes throws the dice where they cannot be seen. 丌蹖賳丿賴 噩賴丕賳 丌賳趩賳丕賳 讴賴 芦倬蹖乇 賱丕倬賱丕爻禄 賲蹖鈥屬举嗀ж簇� 丿賯蹖賯丕賸 賲胤丕亘賯 賯丕賳賵賳賲賳丿蹖鈥屬囏й� 毓賱賲蹖 倬蹖卮 賳賲蹖鈥屫辟堌� 禺丿丕 賴賳賵夭 丿爻鬲卮 乇丕 乇賵 賳讴乇丿賴鈥� 丕爻鬲貨 禺丿丕 賳賴 鬲賳賴丕 鬲丕爻 亘丕夭蹖 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗀� 亘賱讴賴 亘毓囟蹖 丕賵賯丕鬲 鬲丕爻 乇丕貙 噩丕蹖蹖 讴賴 賳賲蹖鈥屫促堌� 丿蹖丿貙 倬乇鬲丕亘 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗀�
This doesn't prove that there is no God, only that God is not necessary. Stephen W. Hawking, Der Spiegel, 1989 賯丕賳賵賳賲賳丿蹖鈥屬囏� 讴丕乇 禺賵丿卮丕賳 乇丕 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁嗀� (噩丕匕亘賴 乇丕 賲孬丕賱 賲蹖鈥屫操嗀�) 賯丕賳賵賳賲賳丿蹖鈥屬囏� 讴丕乇 禺賵丿卮丕賳 乇丕 賲蹖鈥屭┵嗁嗀� 賵 亘賴 丿禺丕賱鬲 禺丿丕 賳蹖丕夭 賳蹖爻鬲
When this book was released, I was reading a story about it on-line, and the headline said something like: 鈥淪tephen Hawking Says There Is No God鈥�. Then I made the critical mistake of looking at the user comments under the story. It was the usual collection of badly spelled notes from ignorant asshats who tried to say that stupid science didn鈥檛 know nuthin鈥� or that it was all Obama鈥檚 fault.
But one in particular caught my eye. It was by someone who undoubtedly dabbles in both neurosurgery and rocket science in his-or-her spare time, and it said something along the lines of: 鈥淭HAT鈥漇 WHYY STEVN HAWKENS IS IN WHEEELCHAR!!!!!! BCAUSE HE DON鈥漈 BELIVE IN GOD!! JEBUS IS PUNSINGHING HIM!!!鈥�
Which got me thinking about why anyone would expect a guy who has suffered from ALS and been confined to a wheelchair for most of his life to believe in God? Among the many people who have just cause to question that a loving God is waiting in heaven to dish them out a heaping plate of Sky Cake, I鈥檇 think that Stephen Hawking would be one of them.
It鈥檚 that kind of thinking that Hawking and Mlodinow take on here. Some people will point out the odds against any kind of life existing on Earth and say that God must have set it all in motion and made this place just for us and that it鈥檚 proof of an intelligent creator. Or you listen to a scientist like Hawking who points out that there鈥檚 whole multiverses where life doesn鈥檛 exist and that the only reason we know how lucky we are is that we exist to appreciate how lucky we are. Basing the idea that there must be some kind of intelligent creator simply because we鈥檙e here is bad science.
And that鈥檚 Hawking鈥檚 point. This isn鈥檛 an anti-God book, it鈥檚 a pro-science and pro-critical thinking book. Hawking does a nice job in the early chapters of giving a brief overview of the development of the scientific method and how beliefs in mysterious beings have been incorporated into theories and then debunked over the centuries. Then he lays out the flaws in the models that insist that there has to be some kind of creator being in the mix.
Even though Hawking does his best to dumb down the quantum physics that he claims proves his point and provides lots of handy pictures and graphics to help out the math and science challenged like me, it鈥檚 not exactly light reading. It鈥檚 short at 181 pages, and that helps, but while I鈥檓 fascinated by this kind of stuff, I鈥檓 also stupid enough that I had to read over some sections a couple of times before I thought I had a handle on it.
It鈥檚 enlightening and a nice overview of both the scientific method and quantum physics, but unfortunately, I can鈥檛 see any of the people who should read this actually picking it up.
Stephen Hawking is smarter than I am. That's no big feat because two of my cats are smarter than I am. The other cat is a certifiable idiot. But Hawking is way smarter than I am. The Grand Design is Hawking's explanation, more or less, about why the universe is the way it is. The answer comes down to M-theory which is more of a combining of explanations than one single unifying theory. Many reviewers seem to think Hawking is saying there is no God but he really seems to be stating that God is irrelevant. The real question is did we come from something or nothing. The beginning of an answer involves an understanding of quantum physics and multiverses that Hawking put as well into laymen's term as we can hope for. I don't pretend to understand everything in this book. I'm still contemplating why the world needs hairballs. But I did immensely enjoy reading this short book and can honestly say I understand a little bit more.
In the first chapter Hawking says that his aim is to provide an answer to "Life, Universe and Everything" and goes on to assure us that his answer will not merely be "42". After just completing the last chapter, I think I still prefer "42".
Un libro de ciencia (f铆sica) divulgativa que deja apreciar a quien fue, probablemente, una de las mentes m谩s brillantes de la historia de la humanidad. El m茅rito principal est谩, indiscutiblemente, en presentar conceptos muy complejos de forma absolutamente comprensible, aunque reconozco que la parte central se hace un poco pesada.
Inicia con un repaso muy interesante del avance de la f铆sica desde la 茅poca cl谩sica hasta nuestros d铆as, entregando varias reflexiones sobre el tradicional conflicto Dios/Ciencia, as铆 como varias an茅cdotas respecto de c贸mo se describ铆an antiguamente algunos fen贸menos. Por ejemplo, para explicar que los objetos adquieren velocidad a medida que van cayendo, Arist贸teles invent贸 un nuevo principio, a saber, que los cuerpos est谩n m谩s contentos y, por lo tanto, se aceleran a medida que se acercan a su posici贸n de reposo. Debo reconocer que me caus贸 mucha gracia.
Sin embargo, el fuerte del libro es presentarnos el descubrimiento y avances de la f铆sica cu谩ntica y cu谩nto se diferencia de la f铆sica cl谩sica y sus leyes. Hawking nos demuestra, matem谩tica y f铆sicamente, que la existencia de m煤ltiples universos no es exclusiva de las novelas de ciencia ficci贸n y c贸mics de Marvel, sino que nuestra especie se desarroll贸 en una de tantas posibles 鈥渉istorias鈥�.
La cantidad de eventos afortunados que permiten nuestra existencia hacen imposible no maravillarse ante la complejidad del ser humano, as铆 como de su insignificancia en el gran dise帽o de nuestro universo.
Reto #24 PopSugar 2020: Un libro sobre un tema del que no sabes nada (Efectivamente, mis conocimientos de f铆sica cu谩ntica eran pr谩cticamente nulos)
As a cosmologist and a Stephen Hawking fan, I have a real issue with this book. His statement, that the Universe unpacks itself and therefore does not need a creator is based on some really flawed logic called 'model dependent realism'. MDR is a way of comparing reality to a model, if the model produces the same observable characteristics as observed in reality then the model is said to be as true as any other model.
Imagine this, if there was equal amounts of incriminating evidence that two people committed a crime and prosecution lawyers could build a case against both men then under MDR both are guilty of the crime irrespective of the fact that it only happened one way. By invoking MDR Hawking is blatantly ignoring the lessons of the past, that evidence makes or breaks models, and so far M-theory is unsupported by evidence.
In fact if you follow the line of Hawking's logic, rather than his conclusion, you can even say that Hawking categorically proves the existence of God - All be it as an MDR model of Universe creation. However he selectively ignores this and only looks at how MDR supports his religious beliefs. But, there are a lot of things wrong with this book. Let me explain....
Hawking contradicts himself. He says that Kepler, Galileo, Descartes and Newton saw that the laws of physics were the work of God and that this God was not the God the Old Testament. However we do not have enough written down about the religious beliefs off all of the above to know that this is true and this statement is certainly not true for Newton who was as Christian as you could get. Hawking is doing something quite unscientific here, he is trying to re-write history. It is an embarrassment to atheism that some of the greatest geniuses off all time could have a religious belief like the rest of us and so Hawking is trying to apologise for this by making out that somehow the religious beliefs of these scientists were different to that of the rest of the population.
Hawking suggests at some points that we must take the Universe at face value, that we must consider real only what is measurably real and then contradicts himself (when talking about the holographic theory) by saying that the Universe may be fundamentally different to how we observe it.
Hawking suggests that God doesn鈥檛 intervene, and defines intervening as a suspension of the normal laws of physics. But what about intervention using the laws of physics. What about a God that intervenes only rarely. Under MDR all are as real as a God that never intervenes. Hawking laughs at the idea that we might all be the figment of someone else鈥檚 dream, but under the logic he himself invokes, this theory is as real as M-theory.
Hawking describes how our perception of reality can be changed by placing upside down glasses on our faces. Our minds are so set in their ways that they refuse the new reality and change the input to fit with the model of the reality in our heads. In MDR the model each person has in their heads is a real reality. Reality is unique to each observer. If God exists in my model, it is true for my Universe, if he doesn鈥檛 in yours then God really is absent from yours.
Hawking describes how St Augustine concluded that the Earth was young due to the ages of people in the bible, but at the time there was no recognised evidence to suggest otherwise. According to MDR young Earth creationism was the reality, since no other model existed. He says that young Earth creationism in the present day is as real as the big bang theory. But Hawking is breaking his own logic here. In today鈥檚 day and age we have a lot more evidence that the Universe began with something like the big bang which means that under MDR, this model is considered to be MORE real.
Hawking describes how Hubble鈥檚 model of the Universe was accepted because it was the most natural model but naturalness and elegance is purely subjective. In MDR plausibility is not measured. Hawking mentions how the laws of nature determine a range of probabilities of various futures and past, and yet avoids the issue about how a selection is made. Somehow a selection IS made.
Hawking describes how the Universe is comprehensible because it can be modelled. This is not true. Only the model is comprehensible. The Universe is not the model; the Universe is infinite and by its very nature incomprehensible and thanks to quantum physics not even entirely measurable.
The bits that really make me cringe, and I have a degree and a PhD in this, is where Hawking gets his science wrong. Hawking suggests that the standard model 鈥渁grees with all current evidence鈥�, but this is not true. Experiments have observed that the neutrino has mass, and the standard model cannot account for this.
Hawking suggests that inflation in the early Universe really did happen, but recent observations by his old friend Roger Penrose have cast serious doubts over this. Hawking also suggests that this Universe is casually disconnected from the other possibilities, and so what we experience is just one possibility. However M-theory suggests that gravity information leaks between membranes, thus collapsing the universe into one possibility. This one.
Hawking suggests the Universe has 4 dimensions of space time as the result of our selection. In his words the Universe is like this because this is one of the possibilities it could have been and our selection is this. But as Einstein said, 鈥淕od doesn鈥檛 play dice鈥�. To suggest that some thing鈥檚 have no fundamental reason for existing is like saying 鈥淓verybody stop all scientific research, because there is no fundamental reason for any of this鈥�.
Hawking also suggests that the act of creation is understandable purely within the realm of science, but doesn鈥檛 mention that we have no science that works at t=0. The science goof that nearly had me eating my kindle in apoplexy was when Hawking suggests that black holes have positive gravitational potential energy. If that were true, the milky way would be spread around the Universe.
Hawking does do well at talking his way out of the fine tuning argument. He effectively kills that argument dead and I agree we do not need God to explain why the Universe is perfect for our existence. But my reply is that, people shouldn鈥檛 have been using that line of apologism in the first place because it doesn鈥檛 make theological sense, let alone scientific sense. According to Christian doctrine God made creation for himself, he did not make it for us.
Hawking does well at explaining how quantum mechanics and relativity on intermediate scales produce Newtonian like physics. This is the Hawking we know and love and this book should have been full of this kind of stuff. Instead it is full of laughable pseudoscience and theology. Model dependent realism is not robust enough for Hawking鈥檚 confidence in it and doesn鈥檛 hold up to scrutiny or close inspection.
The theological work in this is very much of the style of Dawkins and others who successfully disprove Gods of their own imagining. They create a God, give it powers and then disprove the God that they have created. But they don鈥檛 get anywhere near the God that people worship in churches. Hawking鈥檚 intellect outstrips his own imagination and it really shows in this work. I am very happily the other way around.
I have a feeling that the publishing industry is milking Stephen Hawking. There was a time when we had a dashing physicist named Richard Feynman who used LSD and played banjo in a strip club. The naked pole dancers didn鈥檛 distract him from formulating quantum electrodynamics. He was quite a genius, and he was all over the place with his talks and popular books. But he鈥檚 dead. Now Stephen Hawking seems to be the coolest physicist around. He鈥檚 paralyzed and wheelchair-bound, and he speaks through a voice synthesizer by twitching a tiny working cheek muscle against a screen to pick up a displayed word. How cool is that! So he鈥檚 become quite a celebrity, and he fully deserves it. The public is fascinated with him. But that doesn鈥檛 mean a whole lot for the quality of his books. I鈥檝e read better pop-physics books than this one. Besides, I didn鈥檛 see anything new here.
This book got more publicity because it鈥檚 supposed to take on the question of God. It鈥檚 no secret that the great biologists and physicists tend to be atheists. That鈥檚 a very telling fact. But having acknowledged that, I don鈥檛 see a point in a physicist trying to 鈥渄isprove鈥� God through physics. Upon being asked by Napoleon where God fits in his physics, Laplace is reported to having said: 鈥淪ire, I have not needed that hypothesis.鈥� Science, by definition, does not and cannot use the God hypothesis. I don鈥檛 see why it should get into the business of rejecting that hypothesis. Those who are inclined to reject God can point to the findings of biology and cosmology for support. But that is quite different from a physicist setting out to refute God based on physics.
As for the God-rejecting physics 鈥� it can be summarized in two points: 1) While no individual physical object can appear out of nothing, an entire universe can. This is because the sum-total of the energy in the universe is zero. 2) There are almost an infinite number of universes popping out of nothing into existence. One of them, like the one where we live, can, by mere chance, have the right properties (laws and constants of physics) for the emergence of starts and planets and eventually life. The book goes into explaining the physics behind these two claims. Unless you鈥檙e a physicist as good as Hawking, there鈥檚 nothing you can say about his physics.
New, and obviously science based analysis that seeks to answer the ultimate questions about life鈥� like when and how did the universe begin, why are we here, is there a god etc. Interesting and thought provoking stuff. 7 out of 12.
Love to talk or read about very smart people, they always teach me and make me look at things differently. Never miss any programs on TV about our home and universe, or fill my library with books in this subject. Some theories and scientific explanations was over my head, but help to make me understand was just phone call away.
Although it is a sequel to A Brief History of Time, it can be read independently. It zoomed out, and rather than providing a thorough explanation of how physical laws operate; it addressed the philosophical question of why the universe exists [Why is there something rather than nothing?] and why its rules are the way they are. [Why this particular set of laws and not some other?] Hawking and Mlodinow noted that Philosophy has lagged behind current scientific advances in recent years. So in this work, they answer big questions in light of recent theoretical developments.
The journey starts by talking about the beliefs of ancient people who believed that every event and aspect of their lives occurred because of a divine purpose and how, gradually, the idea of a universe ruled by the laws of nature took its place. Later on, it compares the definition of reality in classical and modern science by mentioning that classical science is based on the belief that there exists a real external world whose properties are definite and independent of the observer who perceives them. But in a more modern scientific view: 鈥淎ccording to model-dependent realism, it is pointless to ask whether a model is real, only whether it agrees with observation. If there are two models that both agree with observation, like the goldfish鈥檚 picture and ours, then one cannot say that one is more real than another.鈥�
The following chapters explain the double-slit experiment, Richard Feynman鈥檚 QED, and M-theory. Then it presents the most counterintuitive thing: 鈥淭he universe, according to quantum physics, has no single past, or history.鈥�
The material of subsequent sections would be interesting to philosophers as well because they discuss anthropic principles, cosmological constants, and fine-tuning. But the most intriguing chapter for me was the last one which explains the Game of Life invented by John Conway. It is a zero-player game, meaning its evolution is determined by its initial state, requiring no further input. Once you've established the initial condition, the laws govern what happens afterwards. It demonstrates how a system can grow from simple rules to highly complex ones over time. Evolution is a real-world example.
M-theory: Doubts linger over godless multiverse STEPHEN HAWKING'S new book The Grand Design sparked a furore over whether physics can be used to disprove the existence of God. But few have noted that the idea at the core of the book, M-theory, is the subject of an ongoing scientific debate 鈥� specifically over the very aspect of the theory that might scrap the need for a divine creator.
That the laws of nature in our universe are finely tuned for life seems miraculous, leading some to invoke divine involvement. But if there is a multiverse out there 鈥� a multitude of universes, each with its own laws of physics 鈥� then the conditions we observe may not be unique.
This book contains a little more in-depth knowledge. The person with a physics major finds it more captive than those with other disciplines. A quick read to get handful of knowledge about universe in fewer time. Recommend to people with interest in disciplines like physics and cosmology.
There are many fascinating conversations one might have about the universe. You could even say there are an infinite amount of subjects that boggle the mind. The one that puzzles and intrigues me more than any other, however, is the concept of there being multiple universes, each with its own unique timeline. Grasping that is simply beyond what the human mind is capable of. We have no ground to stand on. Such an idea sounds like nonsense, but Scientists, very respectable ones, would have you entertain this idea. I don't even know how to convey how much that thought makes me dizzy.
The universe is brimming over with magical and unbelievable things. I feel it is our duty as a species to continue to search for the truth. And, alas, there happens to be just a little word that is ever the ball and chain around humanity's leg; and that word would be 'Religion'. *Sigh* Now, I have no qualms with religious people, as long as they don't hurt anyone or harbour hateful ideals. There are many who are wonderful people. But, that being said, I don't think there are many things I detest in life more than the foundation of religion itself. Even when something has been proven wrong a thousand times over, you are scum if you don't believe it. I just can't stand the state of it all. Even though every single religion on our planet has been starkly disproven and left in the dust of Science and evidence (And mere logic itself), there are still many things that even science cannot explain. There are most likely things out there in the endless black far more 'Divine' than our fictional stories. But people don't adapt. They were raised on one fictional story, so therefore that fictional story is in their blood. It is that mentality that holds us all back.
I adore science because science is a 'process', not an absolute. Science learns and grows. And it has already grown well beyond the concept of God. That conversation is a dead one. As dead as Flat Earth. I truly wish we could move forward and leave it behind, but I know that will not happen; at least not for the initiated. It saddens me.
Think about this for a moment: Christianity, as an example, is far from the oldest religion. It was not here first. By all accounts, Hinduism was. So why is Christianity the 'real' one while Hinduism is just made up? I'll tell you why: because Christians said so. What about the Norse? No? Made up, huh. Of course. Islam? Not the one true God, eh? Okay, what about Jainism? Buddhism? I could go on and on for pages. Now, consider this: they can't all be right. But they'll sure as hell tell you they are. The fact there are so many different so-called 'truths' is proof enough that they were ALL made up.
Again, I truly mean no disrespect to the good religious people out there; the ones who don't tell me I'm going to burn in hell forever. But I just find it remarkable that people ignore science. There are still great and encouraging things to discover in the universe. You can even still believe in an afterlife, if you wish. But why does it have to be one specific story that has been proven to be a fallacy? Why not get up, brush off your pants, and go learn more about what is out there? Why not come up with your own hypothesis of the meaning of life? Many actually do this these days while claiming to be religious. I've asked friends of mine if they truly believe that the Holy Bible is telling real stories about things that happened. Their answer? "Oh, no, of course not." They themselves have adapted into their own version of God and the universe. I can respect that. I just can't understand why you still call it Christianity. But that is your right to do so. The whole thing just gives me a headache. It's like listening to someone quote a movie to you incorrectly. You, along with everybody else, knows that they are saying the line wrong, but that person is damn sure they got it word-for-word. That same kind of itching annoyance in the back of the mind is what religion does to me. They're quoting the line wrong. They got it wrong. But don't tell them that.
I guess you can only sigh and move on. Religion helps people through tough times; and even though the stories aren鈥檛 real, maybe that doesn鈥檛 matter. They have done a good thing for someone. I guess that鈥檚 special in its own way. It鈥檚 just not something I could ever subscribe to. It鈥檚 not how my brain works. Once it is proven false, I discard it and move on, regardless of how good it makes me feel. But I'm glad religion can bring people peace in life. That's not nothing. (I must also mention that an unfathomable number of people have had their lives destroyed by religion as well, though. Let us not overlook that).
Anyways, now that I鈥檝e rambled: the book itself. This was a great and simple read. It only really scratched the surface of the arguments presented, but it did a good enough job to spark the mind. Stephen Hawking was one hell of a man. We won鈥檛 see his like for many generations, perhaps never again. He was a rare breed of genius. Now we appear to be living in a world of imbeciles.
"The Grand Design" is a very deep book from one of the top minds in physics. As such, it is not an easy read. Hawkings takes on some rather large questions. Ranging from "When and how did the universe begin?" or "Why are we here", and even, "Why are the laws of nature so finely tuned?"
Each section of this book, such as "The Rule of Law", look into various thought process in the history of science. We also see how these processes have changed through the years of greater scientific knowledge.
While each section is very informative and very interesting, it is set out in rather complex notions and a somewhat dry delivery. This a book to be read slowly to allow for the big concepts to sink in. Hawkings has a remarkable IQ and it shows in this book. Thus while it is not for everyone and may not be overly accessible to many, but I think this is worth the time of anyone who is interested in the big picture concepts behind physics, told by one of the greatest minds in physics.
I was given this book as a reward for helping a friend pick up and deliver newly purchased furniture. As is the case with most such gifts, I began to read it immediately.
I was almost immediately turned off by the text owing to an extraordinary display of ignorance on the part of the authors and the editors, a mistake appearing in the first few pages in their lead-up to what is supposed to be a survey of the history of physics as germinated in Ionian philosophy. Here they note in passing that writing was first employed around 7000 BCE. In fact, so far as we've evidence, writing first appeared about 6000 years ago, in Sumer in approximately 4000 BCE.
To make matters worse the authors go on glibly to dismiss philosophy as defunct--not too surprising as their review of it doesn't display much familiarity with the discipline.
Beyond this, I found the jokes peppering this slim volume condescending yet sophomoric, unfunny and far too frequent.
As regards the physics, I'm hardly qualified the judge, lacking as I do the background in mathematics and research physics to evaluate their positions. However, as someone with some background in philosophy and in the history of science, I find nothing original in their M theory business, such contextualization being rather old hat.
There are many fine books written for generalists which attempt to explain modern cosmology and microphysics. This is not one of them.
After reading Bill Bryson's and Brian Greene's , I felt that I might finally be ready for my first Hawking book. There were a couple of sections that I re-read, in an attempt to make concrete some of the more abstract aspects of m-theory. Despite my rudimentary understanding of quantum physics, I still gleaned a great deal from this book and would recommend it to anyone who is even mildly curious. Those who have a more advanced education in physics may find this book too basic, especially the earlier chapters. Questions such as "What occurred before the big bang?" and "what instigated the creation of the universe?" are addressed in the last chapter, and the earlier chapters build up a nice base of prior research for those unfamiliar with m-theory.
Great book, it had a lot of what I like to see in literature, including (but not limited to) middle fingers being thrown to psychologists and religious zealots lol.
The authors took some cheap shots at a few respectable philosophers but made a really strong case as to why science is the new oracle of objective reality.
The authors touched on their views on free will, giving a strong case for it not existing. I agree with this I believe we are all like Roomba鈥檚 we have somewhat of a set path and when we reach an obstacle we recalibrate and go to a new set path.
I learned a few science-y things but as I always say they are a bit above my station. Maybe I will avoid embarrassing myself in creation arguments as a result of reading this book. It鈥檚 too bad this particular copy was published before the discovery of the boson particle, would have loved to see Hawking鈥檚 thoughts on that in regards to everything he wrote about in this piece, although I鈥檓 sure I could find his opinions if I tried.
All in all it was a good read, not too long and digestible for the non-science minded.
Once again, I am awed and blown away by the f'ing awesomeness of the universe, and it struck me how presumptuous many of us are considering our insignificance in the grand scope of things.
I have two science based degrees, but Physics was never my strong suit, and I'd be lying if I said everything in his book made perfect sense. On the flip side, I had several light bulb moments, which is always nice.
Among other things, Hawking makes a few great points particularly about the essence of "reality."
And this passage below, which touches on free will, intrigued me.
How can one tell if a being has free will? If one encounters an alien, how can one tell if it is just a robot or it has a mind of its own? The behavior of a robot would be completely determined, unlike that of a being with free will. Thus one could in principle detect a robot as a being whose actions can be predicted. As we said in Chapter 2, this may be impossibly difficult if the being is large and complex. We cannot even solve exactly the equations for three or more particles interacting with each other. Since an alien the size of a human would contain about a thousand trillion trillion particles even if the alien were a robot, it would be impossible to solve the equations and predict what it would do. We would therefore have to say that any complex being has free will--not as a fundamental feature, but as an effective theory, an admission of our inability to do the calculation that would enable us to predict its actions.
So basically free will is an illusion, but given our inability to tease out all the complex biological processes that contribute to behavior, it is a good working theory for practical purposes. Thought this was an interesting way of looking at it.
Worthy book, well written, and as good an attempt as any to simplify some very complex topics.