The Life of the Cosmos

Rating:
Summary: A great book, if not the greatest.
Review: A unified theory that would give us an objective and complete view for our world has always been the dream of physicists.

Lee Smolin in his extraordinary book illustrates many significant views of the obstacles facing the unification of general relativity and quantum theory into one universal cosmological theory that could provide us, in principle, an objective and complete understanding for the universe as a whole. In his masterpiece, he does not only explains the previous efforts to approach such a theory like the string theory or inflationary models, but also discusses philosophical obstacles facing them in a very persuasive and intellectual way. Furthermore, he proposes a theory, which he calls "The cosmological natural selection", that is similar, to a certain extent, to the evolution theory in Biology in which universes are a product of a bounce or explosion in the blackhole when the matter reaches a certain density. Unlike the case of singularity in which time just ceases, Smolin proposes the continuity of time and an explosion which will change the parameters of the elementary particles, or their physical properties (mass, charge, etc.), in that new created universe. These parameters are the rule for creating more universes if their setting allow the universe to have more blackholes and thus, more new created universes.

What is most interesting I think is the type of questions that the author poses in each chapter. For they spark a very deep, yet casual, philosophical wonders that puzzled our world for centuries. This book is for anyone that would like the taste the joy on an intellectual philosophical and scientific journey that tries to unveil some of the mysteries of this world.

Rating:
Summary: A great book, if not the greatest
Review: A unified theory that would give us an objective and complete view for our world has always been the dream of physicists.

Lee Smolin in his extraordinary book illustrates many significant views of the obstacles facing the unification of general relativity and quantum theory into one universal cosmological theory that could provide us, in principle, an objective and complete understanding for the universe as a whole. In his masterpiece, he does not only explains the previous efforts to approach such a theory like the string theory or inflationary models, but also discusses the philosophical obstacles facing them in a very persuasive and intellectual way. Furthermore, he proposes a theory, which he calls "The cosmological natural selection", that is similar, to a certain extent, to the evolution theory in Biology in which universes are a product of a bounce or explosion in a black hole when the matter reaches a certain density. Unlike the case of singularity in which time just ceases, Smolin proposes the continuity of time and an explosion which will 'slightly' change the parameters of the elementary particles, or their physical properties (mass, charge, etc.), in that new created universe. These parameters are the rule for creating more universes if their settings allow the universe to have more black holes and thus, more new created universes.

What is most interesting I think is the type of questions that the author poses in each chapter. For they spark a very deep, yet casual, philosophical wonders that puzzled our world for centuries. This book is for anyone who would like the taste the joy on an intellectual philosophical and scientific journey that tries to unveil some of the mysteries of this world.

Rating:
Summary: Cosmological natural selection
Review: 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)
For Smolin, the future of physics is to find a solution for the tension between the atomist description of elementary particles, and their relational use in the gauge principle. He believes that string theory is part of the solution.

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.
Into the bargain, it contains a deadly attack on determinism and a very polite but definitive refutation of the anthropic principle.

A great book by a true and free humanist.

Rating:
Summary: some fascinating ideas, but hard going
Review: The author's hypothesis is that universes evolve by reproduction (via black holes) and natural selection (of fundamental physical constants). No thrill compares with an intellectual thrill, and this book is as good as it gets. I was high and exhilarated while reading and remained so for days afterwards. The experience made me wonder if it is too late for me to go into physics myself. It is fun to think along with the author about really big questions, even the biggest of all. Thank you Lee Smolin for sharing your excitement with the rest of us.

Rating:
Summary: A Scientist's Faith in Naturalsim Run Amuk
Review: There is no question that this book is the product of an unbounded thinker of possibilities. Lee Smolin's opening description of the history and current state of theoretical physics is highly understandable and makes a more compelling (albeit unconscious) argument for Intelligent Design theory rather than his one of "Cosmic Natural Selection." What is interesting is professor Smolin's rejection a priori of any answer lying outside the realm of human observation. He then summarily proposes to describe our universe as "naturally selected" to maximize the quantity of black holes; they of course being the "wombs" of new universes with their own black holes, etc. I have to ask, "Why must they create universes; why not leprechauns or fairies, for both of which we have minimally far more observational testimony"? To quote Davies & Brown from their "Ghost in the Atom", the many-worlds interpretation "introduces a preposterous amount of `excess metaphysical baggage' into our description of the physical world." Rudolph Peierls, formerly at Oxford, dismisses such a theory with a simple question: "Since we have no means of seeing or ever communication with the other universes, why invent them?" It is easily more probable to believe that 10 space/time dimensions really do coexist than to buy into a theory composed of: an infinite number of ever expanding (non-colliding?) universes, created by some unknown mechanism, in some unknown space, for some unknown reason. Who says faith is outside the realm of science? If a new theory is truly needed now, this seems an unlikely candidate.

Rating:
Summary: A masterful meditation on the state of modern physics
Review: This is a beautiful book, to be read by everyone who is fascinated by the ongoing quest to unify cosmology and particle physics. The author has a cute idea - that the familiar multiple universes undergo a process of evolution and natural selection - but he goes much further, into the philosophical foundations of quantum theory and the basic notions of space and time. I particularly enjoyed (and found convincing) his claim that we are living in a period, analogous to the early years of this century, when the shared ideas that have been so productive, have become inadequate. A new paradigm is needed, according to Smolin, one that takes into account the self-organizing properties of the Universe, and the inter-relationships between all of its components. One doesn't have to agree with the author to appreciate the originality of his ideas, the clarity of his arguments (masterful explanation of black holes, for instance) and his candid description of his own struggle to break away from conventional thinking about fundamental physics issues. Smolin thinks big, but he is not afraid to admit that his theories are not fully worked out, and that many scientists object to his ideas (I, for one, could not follow his rejection of fixed external physical laws, when his theory of incrementally evolving Universes seems to require just that). But no matter - anyone who wants to appreciate (without math!) what is really happening on the frontiers of physics should read this book. One gripe: the book is set in a font so tiny that it's almost unreadable.