Brian Cox explores whether the singularity marks an end or beginning, connecting fundamental forces to civilization's progress. He calls admitting ignorance profound, celebrates the Higgs boson's mysteries, and marvels that life emerged from star-stuff in gentle niches within a violent cosmos.
Chapters
What is the time? The singularity represents the end of time. Was it really the beginning of time? But what is that? How can we understand that? The universe is like a box. That's wrong. That's not the way that nature is. We're trying to understand this deep mystery. There are three fundamental forces of nature. It's about civilization. It's about knowledge. It's about how we progress as a civilization. Mathematics is a guide to the way that the universe works. All these ideas of symmetry and mathematics of beauty are all in there. Why it's called the particle of God. Maybe it's one of the mysteries. We don't know is the most powerful phrase in our language. So we get— we are getting closer and closer and closer. You'll get nowhere if that your goal is to understand everything. We are star stuff, our stardust, as he used to say, and it's true. The astonishing thing to me is that there are places in this violent universe which is so gentle that things like us can emerge on them. Muh-su-mesq. You can use that. You're recording, aren't you?