Will we ever discover a single scientific theory that
tells us everything that has happened, and everything
that will happen, on every level in the Universe? The
quest for the theory of everything - a single key that
unlocks all the secrets of the Universe - is no longer a
pipe-dream, but the focus of some of our most exciting
research about the structure of the cosmos. But what
might such a theory look like? What would it mean? And
how close are we to getting there? In New Theories of
Everything, John D. Barrow describes the ideas and
controversies surrounding the ultimate explanation.
Updating his earlier work Theories of Everything with
the very latest theories and predictions, he tells of
the M-theory of superstrings and multiverses, of
speculations about the world as a computer program, and
of new ideas of computation and complexity. But this is
not solely a book about modern ideas in physics - Barrow
also considers and reflects on the philosophical and
cultural consequences of those ideas, and their
implications for our own existence in the world.Far from
there being a single theory uniquely specifying the
constants and forces of nature, the picture today is of
a vast landscape of different logically possible laws
and constants in many dimensions, of which our own world
is but a shadow: a tiny facet of a higher dimensional
reality.But this is not to say we should give up in
bewilderment: Barrow shows how many rich and
illuminating theories and questions arise, and what this
may mean for our understanding of our own place in the
cosmos. |
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