On the Origin of Time

Title: On the Origin of Time – Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory
Author: Thomas Hertog
Publisher: Penguin 2024 (First published 2023)
ISBN: 9781804991121
Pages: 313

Stephen Hawking was the face of physics for nearly three decades. His achievements in theoretical physics, especially the finding that black holes do emit radiation contrary to popular belief, was a game-changer in astrophysics. All of these in the face of a severely debilitating physical illness helped Hawking reach the level of an icon of resilience and hope. His best seller ‘A Brief History of Time’ was as legendary a work on popular science as its author was among physicists. People thought he would rest on his laurels since there was so much of it, but Hawking had other ideas. This book contains his research on the cosmos towards the end of his life long after he lost the whatever little power of muscles for electronic communication. Twenty years of the author’s conversations with Hawking are faithfully and truly woven into this narrative. The thrust of the story is on his so called final theory of the universe’s origin. Thomas Hertog is an internationally renowned cosmologist who was for many years a close collaborator of Stephen Hawking. He is currently professor of theoretical physics at the University of Leuven, where he studies the quantum nature of the big bang. He lives in Belgium.

A problem with cosmology is its inability to handle and explain the moment of origin. In spite of many theories elaborating on how ‘something came out of nothing’, they are unable to fulfil the basic criteria of a scientific theory on testability and falsifiability. Esoteric terms like quantum fluctuations of the void are thrown hither and thither, but the sad fact is that this aspect of physics – the exact point of origin – is still shrouded in mystery and conjecture, just like a religious myth. To add to the confusion and stoke the arsenal of religionists, Hawking and other writers toy with the concept of the appearance of design in the origin of the cosmos because it turned out in the future to be an ideal place for life in general and human life in particular. The book begins with the recollection of a talk with Hawking in which he commented that the universe appears ‘designed’. Most physicists believe that the universe’s delicately crafted architecture follows from an elegant mathematical principle at the core of the theory of everything. Then the universe’s apparent design would seem like a lucky accident of objective and impersonal nature. The author then contrasts the appearance of design at the root of things in physics and biology. This unnecessary exercise only serves to lure the attention of creationists and nothing more. Darwinism offers a thoroughly evolutionary understanding of the appearance of design in the living world. Physics and cosmology, on the other hand, have looked to the nature of timeless mathematical laws. Not history or evolution but timeless mathematical beauty is thought to rule at the deep bottom level of physics.

Even though the creation myth was part and parcel of the cultural milieu of every human society, the concept of a definite origin for the cosmos did not enter scientific thought till the last century. It was only when the expansion of the universe was established that scientists extrapolated it backwards in time to reach the starting point. Georges Lemaitre proposed a primeval atom which expanded to become the universe. The seed of big bang was sown then and interestingly Lemaitre was also a priest. He maintained that science and religion do not overlap. What happened to the primeval atom later is the realm of science while questions such as who created it or what went before it, is the subject matter of metaphysics and religion. Half a century later, Pope John Paul II claimed that every scientific hypothesis on the origin of the world such as the primeval atom or the big bang leaves open the problem of the beginnings of the universe. Science itself cannot resolve such a question which requires ‘revelation from god’. This remark was made in connection with the 1981 conference held in Vatican organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences convened to enhance the mutual understanding between science and religion. At this meeting, Hawking declared that the universe had no boundary and no definite moment of creation. Some curious facts about the universe’s expansion are also mentioned in the book which emerged recently from observations. We live in a hesitating universe, meaning the expansion rate was slow at first, but its period of hesitation ended a few billion years ago and is now expanding more rapidly. This was predicted by Lemaitre but contested by Einstein. Recent researches has proved Lemaitre right. A lot more has to be learned about the universe as well. 70 per cent of the universe consists of dark energy and 25 per cent with dark matter which do not interact with ordinary matter, which we are familiar with. Even according to the little chunk we know, it is difficult to explain strangely coincidental occurrences without resorting to concepts in quantum theory. The hot and slightly colder spots in the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation is very essential for the formation of galaxies and life. Inflationary theory states that these spots are primeval quantum fuzz, magnified and writ large across the cosmic sky.

Hertog describes the development of many hypotheses in physics that deal with cosmological concepts and the role Stephen Hawking played in developing or modifying them. Hawking was bold, adventurous and ready to do a lot of intuition-driven practice of physics. This characterized much of Hawking’s later work, which is after the publication of Brief History. The paradoxes of the life cycle of black holes and with our place in the multiverse are the two vexing and hotly debated physics puzzles of the last decades. Hawking found that black holes emit some radiation and will eventually go into a void, destroying all information that had previously entered into it. But quantum theory states that this is impossible. Hawking’s clever attempts to rid the origin theories of a singularity at the very beginning are described in detail. The no-boundary hypothesis of Hartle and Hawking are illustrated, even though it is still very complicated to comprehend. The time dimension warps into one of space in the beginning of the cosmos. In this way, the singularity at big bang is conveniently taken out of the picture, but this looks more like a metaphysical somersault. This is also an approach towards developing a clear view of quantum gravity. In short, the theory holds that ‘once upon a time, there was no time’, because the time dimension is changed into one of space. The role of an observer in a quantum experiment is very critical as sometimes the effects fail to materialize in reality if there is nobody or nothing to observe it. In a quantum universe like ours, a tangible physical reality emerges from a whole horizon of possibilities by means of a continual process of questioning and observing. Now comes Hawking’s final theory. It offers a different explanation of the assertion that the universe originated in a big bang from nothingness. He held that nothingness at the beginning is nothing like the emptiness of a vacuum, but a much more profound epistemic horizon involving no space, no time and no physical laws. The origin of time is the limit of what can be said about our past, not just the beginning of all that is. This he calls the top-down approach (p.257).

The first decade of this century was a golden period for cosmology books in which quite a good number of titles abundantly ‘infotained’ the audience. Most of them talked about the quest for a grand general theory of physics that would unify the four fundamental forces of strong and weak nuclear forces, gravity and electromagnetism. The general consensus was that string theory would one day become ripe enough to explain it all. The second decade was not so prolific after all with very few good books coming our way and this book steps into the role of updating people about the fortunes of the fabled string theory at present. It now seems that the theory has not been able to live up to the expectations. The fundamental structure of string theory remains somewhat elusive. If you were to ask a number of theorists, you are likely to get a range of different answers. String theorists have mostly had to supplant input from experiments with mathematical research. Over the years, the community has developed its own intricate checks and balances system to judge progress, baked mostly on criteria to do with mathematical consistency of the framework. Unlike the Einstein equations of general relativity or the Schrodinger or Dirac equations of quantum theory, a single agreed upon master equation that encapsulates the kernel of string theory has yet to be found. Many predictions offered by the theory are not testable in the short or medium term because of the very high energy levels required. This has put the research at a dead end. This is the impression readers get regarding the string theory.

The book is extremely unappealing to read for general and lay readers for whom completely reading this would be a test of endurance and steadfastness. I don’t use the word ‘boring’, only because I am being charitable. Several diagrams are included in the work, but they fail to enhance comprehensibility and the book lacks the ability to inform lay readers. Many chapters are highly abstract and not described with the general reader in mind. This tome is rather a tribute to Stephen Hawking who was the teacher, philosopher and mentor of the author for many years, rather than serving as a herald of new developments in the field. Even Hawking’s final theory is not very convincing and appear to be only a philosophical conjecture of possibilities rather than a snapshot of reality. It is felt that this idea many not go much further.

The book is not recommended for ordinary readers.

Rating: 2 Star