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A review by mirivii
A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes by Stephen Hawking
challenging
informative
slow-paced
5.0
I bought this book from The Strand in New York for $1 in 2019. It took me up until a couple of weeks ago to find the courage to start reading it. During the summer I got closer to physics thanks to Carlo Rovelli's Seven brief lessons on Physics. So felt that it was about time to finally tackle Hawking.
I loved it. I definitely still don't have enough knowledge to understand everything he talked about in the book. But the things that I could grasp I was absolutely amazed by. Some of the questions that I always had growing up have been solved decades ago. Just like Hawking ways during the final chapter, you must devolve your entire life to physics in order to keep up with it in the modern world.
With reference to chapter 8, The origin and fate of the Universe, I had two thoughts that were not addressed, mainly because they fall within the philosophical end of the spectrum. One is that the idea of life in itself could change, as Hawkings mainly sees humans as the centre of all his hypothetical survival theorems. Therefore that something or someone else could adapt better to the new laws of the universe if this was completely different.
The other, with reference to the example of the astronaut and energy being always repurposed. If we see life as consciousness and consciousness as matter, as energy is always repurposed would it not be just a pure chance for humans to have consciousness? This matter had to go somewhere, for fortuitous circumstances humans were the species that could hold such matter. Therefore could consciousness be lost and this matter being acquired by another species that could be better adapted to new laws?
I loved it. I definitely still don't have enough knowledge to understand everything he talked about in the book. But the things that I could grasp I was absolutely amazed by. Some of the questions that I always had growing up have been solved decades ago. Just like Hawking ways during the final chapter, you must devolve your entire life to physics in order to keep up with it in the modern world.
With reference to chapter 8, The origin and fate of the Universe, I had two thoughts that were not addressed, mainly because they fall within the philosophical end of the spectrum. One is that the idea of life in itself could change, as Hawkings mainly sees humans as the centre of all his hypothetical survival theorems. Therefore that something or someone else could adapt better to the new laws of the universe if this was completely different.
The other, with reference to the example of the astronaut and energy being always repurposed. If we see life as consciousness and consciousness as matter, as energy is always repurposed would it not be just a pure chance for humans to have consciousness? This matter had to go somewhere, for fortuitous circumstances humans were the species that could hold such matter. Therefore could consciousness be lost and this matter being acquired by another species that could be better adapted to new laws?