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How will we shape the future?

Stephen Hawking exhorts us to look to the stars and not fall on our feet, to unleash our imagination and create the future.

By George Karouzakis Published 3 years ago 4 min read
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How will we shape the future?
Photo by Ben Sweet on Unsplash

Is there a God? Can we predict the future? Is there other intelligent life in the universe? What is inside a black hole? Will artificial intelligence outsmart us? Should we colonize space? Will we survive on Earth?

These are some of the questions that British theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking raises and seeks to answer. After all, his prolific scientific work on the origin and structure of the universe, from the Big Bang to black holes, has changed the way we observe the world.

Stephen Hawking's final book, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, remains a parting gift to humanity from the leading scientist. It was first published in English in March 2018, shortly after his death.

By Nick Fewings on Unsplash

It is a compelling read in which he approaches the big questions of contemporary science with clarity, lucidity and much humor, showing in many ways how crucial their role is in solving our problems on Earth. Especially today, as he notes, with the enormous challenges facing the planet: climate change, the threat of nuclear war, and the development of artificial intelligence.

Hawking's offering

His theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation (Hawking radiation) reveals, as Professor Kip S. Thorne writes in the book's introduction, "the deep connection between general relativity (black holes), thermodynamics (the physics of heat), and quantum physics (the appearance of particles where there were none before)." His radical discoveries largely shaped theoretical physics in the second half of the 20th century.

The disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which plagued Hawking from the age of 21, recurs in the book's narrative to ultimately convey optimism and strength: His efforts to overcome the effects of his disease and remain creative serve as a positive example and attitude of a courageous man who, despite his personal difficulties, was able to contribute so much to science and to his fellow human beings.

Open answers

Those seeking definitive answers to the book's big questions, however, will not find them in its pages. His questions serve as an opportunity to get to know Hawking's thinking, a chance to approach through the great scientist and researcher just a small part of the spectrum of discoveries in the complex world of current science.

For example, in the chapter dominated by whether there is another intelligent life in the universe, Hawking begins his narrative with the second law of thermodynamics, reminding us that the overall level of disorder, or entropy, in the universe always increases over time. He then relates this law to living entities to define life as a structured system that maintains its existence against the tendency to deconstruct.

He then analyzes the components that organize life as we know it, tries to imagine life forms with a different chemical basis than ours, and arrives at the heart of his original question via detours including interstellar travel.

Summing up, Hawking states, "If aliens ever visited us, I think the outcome would be similar to the first landing of Christopher Columbus in America, which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."

Seeking an answer to whether we can predict the future, he plans in detail a journey of great scientific interest that will include: Newton's theory of gravity, the idea of scientific determinism, Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle ("How can one predict the future when one cannot simultaneously and accurately measure the positions and velocities of particles in the present?"), and several other theories and discoveries.

Starting with this question, Hawking gently guides the reader to the position that allows him to approach and observe the complex world of quantum science.

Towards the end of the book, in the chapters devoted to AI ("AI has the potential to eradicate poverty and disease, but researchers need to build a controllable version of it," he notes) and shaping the future, he openly expresses his concerns about the fate of humanity.

He writes about the grave problems of our time, citing global warming, the search for space and resources to cope with the huge increase in human population on Earth, the rapid extinction of animal species, the degeneration of the oceans, and epidemics, among others.

Nevertheless, and although he knows that man is capable of the worst as well as the best, he does not end his book on a pessimistic note. He exhorts us to look to the stars and not fall on our feet.

And he concludes by saying, "Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up. Unleash your imagination. Shape the future."

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About the Creator

George Karouzakis

Journalist, History researcher, art and science lover.

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