 |
| The Grand Design |
that multiple universes can arise naturally from physical law. It sort of simplfies how we can think about our world, whether it's in actual fact or not.
. . . June
------------------------------
Physicist Hawking suggests 'theory of everything' applies
courierpostonline.com | Courier-Post:
'The Grand Design' may sharpen appetites for answers to questions such as 'Why is there something, rather than nothing?' and 'Why do we exist?' Questions like these have troubled thinking people at least as far back as the ancient Greeks.
Hawking likes the tale of the old lady who accused a lecturing cosmologist of talking nonsense: She knew for a fact that the whole universe lies on a flat plate, borne on the back of an enormous turtle.
"What does the turtle stand on?" the lecturer asked.
"Another turtle," she replied. "It's turtles all the way down."
For some readers, the answer from Hawking, known for his work on black holes and author of the best-selling "A Brief History of Time," and physicist Leonard Mlodinow, may not be much more satisfying.
The "grand design," says Hawking, is to be found in M-theory, an idea launched in the mid-1990s.
Annoyingly, there's no agreement on what the M stands for. The authors suggest "master," "miracle" or "mystery." Others also have been proposed, but none of these names offers the layman much help in answering the basic questions.
"According to M-theory, ours is not the only universe. Instead, M-theory predicts that a great many universes were created out of nothing. Their creation does not require the intervention of some supernatural being or god," the book says. "Rather, these multiple universes arise naturally from physical law."
Read the entire article . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment