I'll let you know when I pick up the book. Hawking is well beyond me mostly.
On Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 11:34 AM, G Money <[email protected]> wrote: > > 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:326722 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
