Just Six Numbers: The deep forces that shape the universe by Martin J. Rees was a book that I picked up from the discount table at a book store (I am listening to a library version narrated by John Curless because vision is a problem at the moment). I have often heard that physicist tend to ponder why the six basic numbers have the values that they have (to me this seems like wondering what things would be like if photons weighed 10 pounds). Some philosophers argue that it should be possible for these numbers to be anything if they are to be meaningful. I don't get either of those, so I picked up this book hoping Baron Rees could explain at least some of it.
Started: 9/16/2019
Completed: 9/19/2019
Recommendation: Mild Recommendation
Recommended By: Nobody
Review:
Fairly quickly Rees claims that the particular six numbers are not magic and should be no more surprising than that humans came into being on the particular planet on which we did. The numbers are the way they are because we live in the universe we do (just as the Earth is where we live because we developed here).
Towards the end, however, Rees argues that this explanation is broadly unsatisfactory. He uses the example of a man in front of a shooting squad of 50 marksman who, somehow survives unscathed. It is true that he was not killed (after all his survival demonstrates that), but it is not a terribly satisfactory state and one would desire to investigate to understand why he survived. To that end, Rees argues in favor of the multiverse (every possible universe with every possible configuration was created, we just happen to live in the one in which we find ourselves--an edge case that allows biological processes).
I did not get from this book what I had hoped, but it is a good book and gives a solid lay understanding of the six numbers that shape the universe.
Fairly quickly Rees claims that the particular six numbers are not magic and should be no more surprising than that humans came into being on the particular planet on which we did. The numbers are the way they are because we live in the universe we do (just as the Earth is where we live because we developed here).
Towards the end, however, Rees argues that this explanation is broadly unsatisfactory. He uses the example of a man in front of a shooting squad of 50 marksman who, somehow survives unscathed. It is true that he was not killed (after all his survival demonstrates that), but it is not a terribly satisfactory state and one would desire to investigate to understand why he survived. To that end, Rees argues in favor of the multiverse (every possible universe with every possible configuration was created, we just happen to live in the one in which we find ourselves--an edge case that allows biological processes).
I did not get from this book what I had hoped, but it is a good book and gives a solid lay understanding of the six numbers that shape the universe.
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