The Theory of Everything: The Origin and Fate of the Universe Author: Stephen W. Hawking

This book consists of a compilation of several lectures by Stephen Hawking. Hawking attempts to explain sophisticated and complex mathematical ideas in an unsophisticated, perhaps childlike way. He briefly covers the history of ideas about the universe from Aristotle, Augustine, Newton, Einstein, Hubble, and Feynman. He then explains the Big Bang, black holes, and space-time and incorporates these thoughts into the search for a unified theory of everything. Although Hawking does not announce the arrival of the Theory of Everything, he does explain, in simple metaphors, the flavor of what such a theory would encompass. One of the more important concepts of his involves the idea that the "beginning" of the universe does not necessarily imply a singularity . If we wish to hold consistency with quantum mechanics (the most successful scientific theory to date) then a no-boundary condition would best describe the beginning. Needless to say, this contradicts many religious ideas about a creation (although he empathizes that these ideas represent only a proposal). Hawking represents one of the most brilliant theoretical scientists of our time. He advocates the idea of communicating the ideas theoretical science in a way to make it understandable, in principle, to everyone, not just scientists. Hawking has an acute awareness of the religious impact of his theoretical studies and explains in a clear but inoffensive way that the universe does not confirm to the common belief of an all powerful Creator. A few quotes from the book: • An expanding universe does not preclude a creator, but it does place limits on when He might have carried out his job. • We now know that our galaxy is only one of some hundred thousand million that can be seen using modern telescopes, each galaxy itself containing some hundred thousand million stars. • In the case of the whole universe, one can show that this negative gravitational energy exactly cancels the positive energy of the matter. So the total energy of the universe is zero. • One could say: "The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary." The universe would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would be neither created nor destroyed. It would just be. • If the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would be neither created nor destroyed. It would simply be. What place, then, for a creator? • Our aim is to formulate a set of laws that will enable us to predict events up to the limit set by the uncertainty principle. • If the no boundary proposal is correct, He [God] had no freedom at all to choose initial conditions.