The universe blocked without the help of God, says Hawking's latest work (Book Review)

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by Saket Suman

Book: Brief Answers to Big Questions; Author: Stephen Hawking; Publisher: John Murray / Hachette India; Pages: 232; Price: Rs 650

This book began when Stephen Hawking was alive but was published this month posthumously. It is presented by the editor as his final thought and is largely inspired by essays, speeches and lectures that he has written or uttered during his stay on Earth. It presents the essence of his reflections on some of the most important issues that the late cosmologist considered. great importance for the planet and for humanity as a whole.

For example, the universe is blocked without the help of God – but even more so later.

The book's merit lies, as always, in the importance of the problems it addresses. But Hawking's latest book – unlike most of his previous work, including "A Brief History of Time" – is not based solely on instructions or results, but is filled with wit and humor and each times as necessary, is anecdotal in its structure.

Readers therefore have the opportunity to look at Hawking too, apart from his work. For example, describing why one should not hesitate to ask big questions, he shares his personal relationship with his son Tim and reminds readers that a child, Tim had once asked him if there were many universes. Hawking told him that he should never be afraid to formulate an idea or hypothesis, no matter how crazy he is. Hawking was in the place of a father, but he tells how well he explained his point of view and surely reaches it.

In another case, Hawking is asked about his childhood dream and about achieving his dream. His answer gives an overview of the man's making. "I wanted to be a great scientist, however, I was not a very good student at school and I was rarely half-clbad.My job was messy and my writing did not make me happy. was not very good, but I had good friends at And we talked about everything and, in particular, about the origin of the universe.It is there that my dream began. and I am very lucky that it has come true. "

The book is rich in personal notes that give readers a glimpse of how Hawking behaved or thought in his personal life and some of the elements that contributed to shape his extraordinary personality.

Coming to a "short answer," Hawking seems almost convinced that the population explosion and the pace at which we are exploiting the planet are coming to an end. Referring to the population, climate change, global warming, nuclear weapons and even political instability, Hawking argues that all this, or the sum of their results, can erase the humanity of Earth.

His most frightening warning is that the Earth, if global warming persists, can become like Venus – "sulfuric acid boiling, but with a temperature of 250 degrees Celsius". The anxiety is still growing because it is, he thought, that it might already be too late to verify this.

However, even before this happened, Hawking was convinced that a nuclear disaster would lead to the disappearance of man.

The "big question" that emerges from his conclusion is this: what must humans do to survive? The "short answer" is this: venture into space to not just trust a planet. For humanity to survive, she must not keep all her eggs in one basket, he wrote. Hawking then suggests that scientific and technological advances can enable the human race to survive – but even if that happens, most other species on Earth would be destroyed and "it will be our consciousness as a race". 19659006] In summary, he emphasizes that humans have no choice but to colonize other planets and moons. He suggests designing a long-term strategy to explore other planets and moons looking for a new home, claiming that planets from other solar systems might be a more viable option than ours .

But why would this happen? Is God so mean to allow the extinction of humans? The conclusion he had arrived at was that there was no God. "There is no God, no one directs the universe," he writes. "For centuries, it was believed that people with disabilities like me lived under a curse inflicted by God," he adds. "I prefer to think that everything can be explained otherwise, by the laws of nature."

Discussing the beginning of the universe, Hawking says that there was no "time" before the Big Bang. "The role played by time at the beginning of the universe is, I believe, the ultimate key to eliminating the need of a great designer and revealing how the universe was created," he said.

In summary, "Brief Answers" to the Big Questions "is a delightful and yet meaningful reading for anyone trying to understand our place in the larger world.The book does justice to its title, presenting short answers to This book is also the last opportunity for readers to understand the man that was Hawking.

Finally, we discover that Hawking was extremely grateful for the life that he could have lived , recognizing that part of his popularity could be the cause, had to do with his disability, yet he had only one quest: to find answers to all the big questions that came to him. And he lived his life pursuing this goal.Hawking did not believe in a future, but he will surely live long after his death in human memory.

(Saket Suman can be contacted at the following address : s [email protected])

(This story was not edited by Social News XYZ and generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)

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