Thoughts on the Book 'Brief Answers to the Big Questions' (Ch. 2)

Yes, I agree that the universe had a beginning, but I am not entirely sure what that beginning looks like. I am looking forward to future scientific discoveries that can shed a light on how exactly this universe came to be and why we are here. One specific statement I would like to expand upon is, “We don’t expect the universe to end in a brick wall, although there’s no logical reason why it couldn’t." This statement stood out to me because it is completely true; there is absolutely no reason why the universe could not end right now at this exact moment. That is to an extent crazy to think about because if the universe ends right now there are a lot of things I would never have gotten the chance to do or see; I wouldn’t have traveled or gone to college or seen my niece grow up. I do not want to die before I achieve all these things, but there is no reason why the entire universe couldn’t just stop at this very second. I don’t really know where I was going with this, but it is crazy to think my life and the life of everything I love could end instantly.

Hawking claims, “Galaxies are moving away from each other.” This statement makes me sad because if galaxies are moving away from each other, the other intelligent life that lives out there is even further away, which sucks. Although, it is good for them because humans are incredibly stupid and we would probably murder all of them because they do not look or act like us, just like how we do to the other humans around us.

Another statement Hawking postulates is, “Universe might have started then, with everything being at the same point in space.” This statement stood out to me because that is a really wild concept. To explain, every single thing in our universe being at the same exact spot in the beginning is so cool. It also makes you wonder why we are in the spot we are, like how come this is the exact place we are at? The statement also made me wonder that what if there are only two intelligent beings in the universe and we were on one side and the others were on the opposite side; that would be sad because that means my generation will never get to meet them, but it would also be kind of poetically tragic that the only two beings are on complete opposite sides.

Hawking exclaimed, “I believe that we should try to understand the beginning of the universe on the basis of science. It may be a task beyond our powers, but at least we should make the attempt.” I partially agree with this statement because science is our best bet on understanding the beginning of the universe and even if we find no answer, there is no reason why we should not try. On the other hand, I would prefer time, resources, and money went into other very prominent and important problems that are happening in the world today. For example, Flint still does not have water, species are going extinct in a rapid pace, climate change is happening, world hunger is still happening, cancer is still killing people, and a lot of other terrible things are still happening in this world, so figuring out how the universe began is on the bottom of the list. Hawking made the statement that, “The human race does not have a very good record of intelligent behaviour.” I completely and utterly agree with this statement and it is a fact.

Hawking proclaims, “The concept of time only exists within our universe.” I love this statement because I have a lot of problems with the concept of time and I do not like it. This statement supports what I believe, which is that time is fake and constructed by humans. Time is not actually real, but we let it dictate our lives everyday in every way. I just love the fact that he is basically saying time is created not discovered.

Hawking also states, “Will the universe end?” I believe that someday the universe will end and all life will just die. I think it nature were to run its course the universe would not end until a couple trillion years, but it is very possible that humans do something and ruin everything. I see the question as more of a fact because everything has an ending, including this universe.

Hawking also asks the question, “Is the universe unique?” I believe the answer to this question is yes, this universe is unique from all the others. There is going to be similarities between the other universes, in terms of having planets, stars, a sun, and items like that, but the other universes will not have humans, they won't have planets exactly like ours, their overall solar system will be different, and there would be intelligent life forms that are not like us at all. Overall, this chapter was interesting, but I enjoyed the first one more.