I recently finished Stephen Hawking's newest book, "The Grand Design" last night, and I thought I would spend the post today talking a little about it. It was very well-written, and written at a level that makes it an accessible text for the educated public. A layman interested in the findings of physics, such as myself, can pick it up and not feel lost because they never took physics beyond high school. What Hawking, and Mlodinow, have to say (and it isn't clear who did most of the writing of the two) is fascinating as they chart the historical progression of science in answering the Big Questions that they mention at the start of the book; Why is there something rather than nothing, why do we exist, etc. They discuss the nature of reality, the historical progression of scientific naturalism, quantum theory, the search for the Theory of Everything and other topics.
It was all easy to understand, save the chapter on quantum theory which I struggled through. As I said, it was well-written and accessible, but even the basics of the quantum are so counter-intuitive as to boggle the mind. It is difficult just to let it sink in. For instance, quantum tells us (and this is supported by very good empirical evidence) that when a particle travels between two points, it actually takes EVERY path SIMULTANEOUSLY. It is only by observing the particle that we see the path it took and create its history.
Hawking and Mlodinow also assert, repeatedly, that there is nothing in the Universe as we see it that points to the need for a Creator. Gravity, instead, is sufficient to set everything into motion, and the evidence for the multiverse theory, in which not only our universe but a potentially infinite number of universes exist, serves to make the apparent fine-tuning of our universe that creationists often point to unremarkable.
On the downside of the book, my critique is that I wish the last chapter "The Grand Design" on the theory of everything were longer. It was, by far, the best chapter in attempting to explain just how gravity could have set the Big Bang into motion. Other than that, Hawking lives up to his reputation for making grand overarching statements like "Philosophy is dead," and "Miracles are an impossibility" as they are violations of the physical laws of the universe, that seem extraneous to his argument and are only there to, apparently, agitate certain segments of the population, those who aren't likely to read his book anyway.
I wanted to conclude with part of the last paragraph. It's an example of excellent writing and poetic language. "...perhaps the true miracle is that abstract considerations of logic lead to a unique theory that predicts and describes a vast universe full of the amazing variety that we see. If the theory [M-theory] is confirmed by observation, it will be the successful conclusion of a search going back more than 3,000 years. We will have found the grand design."
It was all easy to understand, save the chapter on quantum theory which I struggled through. As I said, it was well-written and accessible, but even the basics of the quantum are so counter-intuitive as to boggle the mind. It is difficult just to let it sink in. For instance, quantum tells us (and this is supported by very good empirical evidence) that when a particle travels between two points, it actually takes EVERY path SIMULTANEOUSLY. It is only by observing the particle that we see the path it took and create its history.
Hawking and Mlodinow also assert, repeatedly, that there is nothing in the Universe as we see it that points to the need for a Creator. Gravity, instead, is sufficient to set everything into motion, and the evidence for the multiverse theory, in which not only our universe but a potentially infinite number of universes exist, serves to make the apparent fine-tuning of our universe that creationists often point to unremarkable.
On the downside of the book, my critique is that I wish the last chapter "The Grand Design" on the theory of everything were longer. It was, by far, the best chapter in attempting to explain just how gravity could have set the Big Bang into motion. Other than that, Hawking lives up to his reputation for making grand overarching statements like "Philosophy is dead," and "Miracles are an impossibility" as they are violations of the physical laws of the universe, that seem extraneous to his argument and are only there to, apparently, agitate certain segments of the population, those who aren't likely to read his book anyway.
I wanted to conclude with part of the last paragraph. It's an example of excellent writing and poetic language. "...perhaps the true miracle is that abstract considerations of logic lead to a unique theory that predicts and describes a vast universe full of the amazing variety that we see. If the theory [M-theory] is confirmed by observation, it will be the successful conclusion of a search going back more than 3,000 years. We will have found the grand design."
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