Cool stuff. Do you know anything about this M-theory that he talks about...or is it just complex beyond our mortal abilities?
On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 10:29 AM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]>wrote: > > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/sep/02/stephen-hawking-big-bang-creator > > Stephen Hawking says universe not created by God > Adam Gabbatt > The Guardian, > > Thursday 2 September 2010 > > God did not create the universe, the man who is arguably Britain's > most famous living scientist says in a forthcoming book. > > In the new work, The Grand Design, Professor Stephen Hawking argues > that the Big Bang, rather than occurring following the intervention of > a divine being, was inevitable due to the law of gravity. > > In his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, Hawking had seemed to > accept the role of God in the creation of the universe. But in the new > text, co-written with American physicist Leonard Mlodinow, he said new > theories showed a creator is "not necessary". > > The Grand Design, an extract of which appears in the Times today, sets > out to contest Sir Isaac Newton's belief that the universe must have > been designed by God as it could not have been created out of chaos. > > "Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will > create itself from nothing," he writes. "Spontaneous creation is the > reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe > exists, why we exist. > > "It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and > set the universe going." > > In the forthcoming book, published on 9 September, Hawking says that > M-theory, a form of string theory, will achieve this goal: "M-theory > is the unified theory Einstein was hoping to find," he theorises. > > "The fact that we human beings who are ourselves mere collections of > fundamental particles of nature have been able to come this close to > an understanding of the laws governing us and our universe is a great > triumph." > > Hawking says the first blow to Newton's belief that the universe could > not have arisen from chaos was the observation in 1992 of a planet > orbiting a star other than our Sun. "That makes the coincidences of > our planetary conditions the single sun, the lucky combination of > Earth-sun distance and solar mass far less remarkable, and far less > compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to > please us human beings," he writes. > > Hawking had previously appeared to accept the role of God in the > creation of the universe. Writing in his bestseller A Brief History Of > Time in 1988, he said: "If we discover a complete theory, it would be > the ultimate triumph of human reason for then we should know the > mind of God." > > Hawking resigned as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge > University last year after 30 years in the position. > > guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010 > > > -- > Larry C. Lyons > web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons > -- > The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do. > - B. F. Sk > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:326721 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
