Brief Answers To The Big Questions

 By Stephen Hawking

credits: http://www.cairowestmag.com/

Stephen Hawking, all I remember when I come across the name is, a geeky and humorous person with a machine voice. No wonder, even if you remember the same. I am not so much into science to know every scientist with path breaking innovations. I am just curious about science, so I read books who try to explain the world in simple terms to me. And Stephen Hawking does that work pretty neatly.

This book answers to 10 questions. As the title suggests they are 10 big questions in terms of the concepts and the scientist had done a wonderful job, explaining it without bringing in complex mathematics and making it simple.

If you had this nerdy friend, who has answers to every question you ask (like literally), you sometimes think, why can't I know them? What is so big about that? Maybe, you are bad at analytical things (there are books that can help you with that too). But this book gives you a clear-cut idea without knowing much of the complex things. It gives you the concept. You need not have a prior knowledge to read this book. Even if you get stuck, googling it would set you on track.

I am going to brief on my favorite 5 questions.

1. Is there a God?

So, we all say God is the creator of the universe. In fact, it was his job, that gave birth to the sun, the earth and the humans. Scientists can't acknowledge things that don't fit under logic, so, without a logical explanation for existence of God, they look for other means for the creation of the universe.

So, there are 3 essentials that make up the universe.

1. energy
2. mass
3. space

Einstein has proved that mass and energy are same. So it is just 2 things now, energy and space. Big bang theory is to explain how energy and space can materialise out of nothing. The answer is negative energy: when big bang introduced lot of positive energy, it produced equal amount of negative energy simultaneously, that's what makes the total energy of the universe to be 0.

If the universe adds up to nothing, you need a God to create it. At quantum level, it is possible for a proton to disappear and appear somewhere else. Since universe was once the size of proton, it is possible for the universe to appear where it is now, and the release of positive energy has created what we know today?

He brings an interesting question again, "So God created the quantum laws, right?"

Then he explains, there is no time at the beginning of the universe, so how can God exist when there is no time, to create them later.

It's true that science does not answer all the questions we have, but we have come a long way and it won't take much longer time for science to explain them.

2. Is there other Intelligent Life in the Universe?

This is the most interesting question. Obviously, with all the movies and fiction books out there, existence of aliens is believed by many people. (Don't ask me what I believe in!)

We, humans, witness the world the way, that makes the human existence as indispensable at the end. The world, we survive has its own physical constants, that help our existence. So with a change in the physical constants, we can derive conclusions on what kind of lives that world can support.

Darwin's evolution theory makes us humans, nothing but an admirable showcase of evolution. We are lucky to live in this planet for these long years, without the universe throwing at us anything violently. Because, universe is a violent place out there, and we are merely lucky for nothing has happened to us all these years.

So if aliens existed in some other universes, and if they were intelligent, they would have contacted us by now, is what he says.

But yeah recently, we have some governments telling us aliens had already established connections and a scientist claiming that an asteroid that passed by earth in 2017 is an alien vehicle. There are no scientific claims made to prove them right. They are merely rumors and speculations. So, let's wait till they reach us :)

3. Is time travel possible?

To travel in time, we need a vehicle that can travel faster than the speed of light. So, warping space and time makes it possible. But warping it would give virtual particles real energy hindering the same possibility.

In other words, with current theories, scientists are still working on it, playing with the ideas of possibilities. So, not yet, maybe in future.

By the way, I thought of sharing this, Hawking threw a party on a day and gave invitations for the party on the next day. Since none turned up at the party, he concluded that maybe time travel is still not possible for future humans. This was interesting to share.

4. Should we colonise Space?

With NASA and beyond it, Elon Musk working actively to colonise Mars, since he utterly believes that we will destroy the earth someday, or if earth gets destroyed by other foreign entities, we need a place to continue the existence of human race. On the other hand, there is this question by humanitarians, what is the need to invest a lot in space colonisation, when there are billions of people who could make use of the money to get their food.

Hawking explains that, exploring space is an essential just like Columbus tried to explore. In 1000 years, earth would become uninhabitable, and it is essential we find some other entity to continue our race in future. He also says that as of now, Mars is the most prospect with moon as base and humans need to habitate by atleast 2070.

Quite interesting, what do you think?

5. Will AI outsmart us?

Musk said it would. So what does Hawking has to say?

Hawking brought an interesting concept. Genetic Engineering. By the time, when AI becomes capable of surpassing humans, we would have made great progress at genetic engineering and nations would have signed a pact for proper usage of it. So we humans can outsmart them using genetic engineering to manufacture us, bypassing the slow evolution and ensuring survival against AI.

This is was the most fascinating as well as intriguing concept I learnt about.

There are yet 5 questions and you must really read the book for wonderful journey into the answers for the above 5. I just gave a glimpse of it.

Rating; 4.5/5

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