Brief Answers to Big Questions
has been drawn from the personal archive of Stephen Hawking. It was in progress
when Hawking passed away. Hawking’s academic colleagues, his family and the
Stephen Hawking Estate helped in compilation of the book.
In total there are ten
questions which Hawking addresses in the book.
In the first chapter about the existence of God, the author says that
his work is about finding a rational framework to understand the universe
around us and he does not in any way give the impression to disapprove the
existence of God by his work. He further says that the universe was
spontaneously created out of nothing, according to the laws of science. Hawking
personally believes that there is no God.
The discovery of the expansion
of the universe was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the twentieth
century, says Hawking. Hawking opines that the present rate of expansion one
can estimate that galaxies must have been very close together 10 to 15 billion
years ago. I find it difficult to understand when Hawking says that ‘it is
meaningless to ask what came before the Big Bang’. He suggests so because
according to him there is no notion of time available to refer to.
The author is of the view that
if there is intelligent life elsewhere, it must be very long away otherwise it
would have reached the Earth. Furthermore, he talks about genetic engineering,
DNA, nuclear war and many other questions of science. While defining a scientific
law, the author says that a scientific law is not a scientific law if it only
holds when some supernatural being decides to let things run and not intervene.
I personally did not know much
about the black hole. Hawking writes so simply that things are easy to
understand even when one reads it for the first time. Hawking writes that John
Michell, a Cambridge man first discussed black holes in 1783. According to
Hawking, a black hole is a region where gravity is so strong that light cannot
escape. When a black hole is created by gravitational collapse, it rapidly settles
down to a stationary state, which is characterized by three parameters: the
mass, the angular momentum and the electric charge. A number of people using
different approaches have confirmed that black holes emit thermal radiation. In
addition to that, the author states that a black hole is a region of space-time
where gravity is strong, space-time is violently distorted and so one expects
its symmetries to be broken. Hawking is optimistic that we are moving towards a
solution in discovering more about the reality of black hole.
Addressing the question of
time travel the author believe that keeping in view our present understanding
rapid space travel and travel back in time cannot be ruled out. The Cambridge
scientist further writes that climate change, deforestation, over-population,
famine, lack of water, disease and war are solvable issues but so have remained
unsolved. He informs the reader that populist politicians are being opted by
the public, who have limited experience of government and who are yet to be
tested in time of crises. Hawking says: “I am convinced that we should leave
Earth. If we stay, we risk being annihilated”.
Answering the question of
colonizing space by humans, Hawking says that: “If humanity is to continue for
another million years, our future lies in boldly going where no one else has
gone before”. Hawking adds that whatever human civilization has achieved is a
product of human intelligence. He mentions Elon Musk warning that superhuman
artificial intelligence could have both adverse and beneficial effects. How we
connect to the digital world is key to the progress we make in the future, says
Hawking. As far as communication is concerned, he opines that the future of
communication is brain-computer interfaces. Moreover, the author supports the
use of internet for educational purposes and summarizes our future in the
following words: “Our future is a race between the growing power of our
technology and the wisdom with which we use it. Let’s make sure that wisdom
wins”.
Lastly one of the greatest scientist
of this age does not want a super-elite to develop who would only have the
understanding of science and technology. If this happens it would be dangerous,
as per Stephen Hawking. It is because of this reason he wants the younger
generation to know more about science and the discoveries in science.
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