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Lee Smolin is not afraid to think big--really, really big. His theory of cosmic evolution by the natural selection of black-hole universes makes what we can experience into an infinitesimal, yet crucial, part of an ever-larger whole. Smolin says, "the new view of the universe is light, in all its senses, because what Darwin has given us, and what we may aspire to generalize to the cosmos as a whole, is a way of thinking about the world which is scientific and mechanistic, but in which the occurrence of novelty--indeed, the perpetual birth of novelty--can be understood." Other scientists are, to say the least, divided on whether Smolin has much chance of being right, but they agree with Paul Davies that he is "a deep and original thinker."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Physics has long assumed that the laws of nature are immutable; here's a cosmological theory that challenges even that common-sense notion. The great problem facing physics at the end of the 20th century remains the integration of relativity and quantum theory. While both have scored impressive triumphs in their spheres of concern, the two operate at different poles of the physical universe: Relativity concerns itself with large objects and great distances, whereas quantum theory is at home with subatomic particles. And while quantum theory has brilliantly accounted for three of the four major forces in the universe, it has failed to make heads or tails of gravity--the one force that affects all the particles in the universe, no matter what the distance between them. A further difficulty, from Smolin's point of view, is that the ratios of the masses of the known particles do not fall into any coherent pattern, and small changes in those parameters would lead to a universe radically different from ours. So why is our universe as we see it? Why, for that matter, do we exist at all? Smolin (Physics/Penn. State Univ.) suggests that an evolutionary principle has been at work, that the Big Bang was only the most recent in a series of creations, and that the laws of physics can vary (although only a tiny bit) with each new bang. Universes that tend to create many stars (and thus many black holes, as those stars die) can give birth to more descendants than those with a paucity of stars. Thus the universe evolves according to a principle similar to natural selection. Much of the material is fascinating, and Smolin gives the reader a thorough tour of the latest in cosmological speculation. The early chapters are slow going, but once his argument builds up momentum, Smolin is a thought-provoking theorist. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
Science is, above everything else, a search for an understanding of our relationship with the rest of the universe. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Science is, above everything else, a search for an understanding of our relationship with the rest of the universe. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cosmological natural selection,
By
This review is from: The Life of the Cosmos (Paperback)
Lee Smolin's speculative book is revolutionary.For him, physics are not mathematics, but biology. Cosmology is a question of natural selection. This selection happens via black holes, where universes are created with slightly different random new values for the parameters of the standard model in physics. There are no eternal laws, only worlds which are the result of random and statistical processes of self-organization. I agree, there are a lot of ifs in this book, with a crucial one on p. 93: 'If quantum effects prevent the formation of singularities ... then time does not end in the centre of black holes, but continues into some new region of space-time.' Smolin explains that behind the central principles of relativity and quantum mechanics lies the essential fact that 'All properties of things in the world are only aspects of relations among real things, so that they may be decribed without reference to any absolute background structures.' (p.259) Smolin's point of view is partly shared by the late Nobel Prize winner Ilya Prigogine in his difficult book 'The End of Certainty'. Even if his theory is falsified, this book is a real bargain, because it contains magnificently clear (a real bonus) explanations of the 4 basic forces in physics, the gauge principle, symmetry breaking, quantum mechanics, gravity, the second law of thermodynamics, the theory of natural selection, Leibniz's philosophy, the reason why mathematical and logical truths may be eternal ... I could go on. A great book by a true and free humanist.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Provocative and Mesmerizing,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Life of the Cosmos (Paperback)
I loved Smolin's provocative ideas. This book really stretched my thinking about this universe and the possibilitiy of other universes. Two criticisms: 1) Smolin could have used a good editor to help him cut about 25% of the text. This would greatly improve the overall book. 2) This book is set in very small type (8 point? ). I got used to it after a while, but it would have been an easier read if I weren't fighting the type size.
5.0 out of 5 stars
If Smolin is right then why exist intelligence?,
By
This review is from: The Life of the Cosmos (Paperback)
In this book Lee Smolin expose the most drammatic extension of Darwin's natural selection any mind have always done:universes unceasing spring from black holes and with light change of values of the fundamentals physicals constants.So universes that reproduce more efficiently are those that maximise the likelihood of formation of (may be a special type of )black holes. As Smolin express in this book,this theory can be scientifically proved or disproved, by mathematical calcolating the effect of changing the value of any physical constant, in the efficency of formation of Black holes. So this book cannot strictly be regarded as a divulgative book but more as a real scientific essay and this is proved by followings scientifics essays appearing in science papers (see for last example Gambini&Pullin in Arxiv.org 20/06/03). So the greatest virtue of this book ,its extreme scientific strictness, is the only limit i can find in it :reading this title is like meeting in the beach a sweemer completly dressed with coat and tie. So to help you to relax before you can read it i shall shot here all the fooliness Smolin could have written but did'nt: I am a specialist here!(anyway review is ended here the rest are only my thoughts when I look to the all universe) Why do we exist if universe is fine-tuned only to makes more Black-holes? Elementary Watson, because we shall help to build also more Black Holes! Why ? Because they obviously will be very usefull! How? cleaning! and why us? Well it can be supposed Black hole geometry interactions are simple: they can eat each other,or exist contemporaneously at side or be centered outside or inside, a very simple geometric interaction. Intelligence have all these dimensions and seven more related to empaty that is a form of non locality born from entanglement,so intelligence can live in an 11 dimension universe with a more interesting geometry or at least mathematics seems to be able to do this! So universe is self replicating maximising black holes's formation and this is the immanent God of this and any other universe but we as umans belive a trascendent God helping us to dominate this eternal matherialistic law,So Watson now you can see black holes dominating a 4 dimension universe and remember the 4 gospels truth;you can calculate the 11 dimensions of the universe and remember the 11 apostles(and if also the 12th dimension betrayied than will you belive?);you can eventually say I am a Cristian Hebrew and can save Jesus from cross saying I am too the son of God and share his same sort; now if you can see upon clouds of this universe Jesus,God's son appearing ,this is science too!
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