"The Grand Design" - Stephan Hawking

Read the book -

My view -
The book intricate you with certain question that you had forgotten long back.
Concepts like time is not absolute, space-time graph is not flat, theories of Newton vis-a-vis Einstein vis-a-vis Ionian stance is interesting to read. Concept of light as particle/wave read in a philosophical concept.
Gets complex post "Theory of Everythin".
History of Universe gets revised.

Softer Leanings
Book has a nice style which re-enforces you to break assumptions with which you have grown for a long time.

What do I wish to do post reading it
Create a game or something else which is unique.

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Briefing on what I read

1. History of theories on Universe is explained initially

Firstly Ionians (Greece) came up with theories in 600 BC. They were aware of Pythagoras. Thales was first to guess Solar Eclipse in 585 BC.

 Democritus(460 BC) came with theory of uncuttable/small objects of which human kind is made of i.e. atoms.

Aristotle (384-322BC) said world could be understood through simple laws.

Aristarchus(310 BC) concluded Sun is larger then earth. And earth is no special.

Archimedis(287-212 BC) came up with his laws – law of lever, buoyancy and reflection.

Numerology started in 700 AD – Hindu System.

John Kepler(1570) also believed that planets have mind which controlled their movement.

Rene Descartes(1596-1650) said universe must be explained in terms of collision of masses governed by three laws. Said once God started the world he left it alone.

Issac Newton(1643-1727) came up with three laws of motion. Law of gravity helped us understand motion of planets.

Edwin Hubble(1929) said that universe is expanding.

Kepler, galeileo, Descartes an newton said laws were work of god.`

2. What is Reality --) Gold Fish Example, Matrix, Second Life – Modeled dependent Realism

Light – Newton considered it as particle

Rings formed due to light could not be explained so was stated as Wave in 19^th century.

Einstein in 20^th century told abt photo electric effect and said its both wave and particle.

This is consistent with model dependent realism model.

3. Alternative Histories

Buckyball experiment formed patterns on screen which defeated normal day logic as incase of football.

Quantum Physics. And then plank constant, u can measure velocity and position with planks constant accuracy.

Thus it leads at any point of time we get a state of Universe which gives probabilities of different pasts and future rather exact history.

Quantum Physics – fundamental randomness.

4. Theory of Everythin

Universe is comprehensible if we can comprehens the laws of universe.

Faraday came up with Electricity + magnetism.

Maxwell(1830-70) united them into one.

Einstein(1905) – Paper on relativity – Time is not constant. Speed of light is constant.

Space-time is not flat rather distorted by energy and mass in it.

Great Circle Route.

5. Science student would be believer of God.

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“All gold spheres are less than a mile” and “All Ur-235 spheres are less than a mile”. Both things happen but that does’t mean both are laws. Not all generalizations we observe can be thought as laws.

Three questions

Ø  What is origin of laws

Ø  Are there any exceptions to the laws.

Ø  Is there only one set of possible laws.

Decisions are often not rational or are based on a defective analysis of the consequence of choice.

A model is a good model if it:

1.       Is Elegant

2.       Contains few arbitrary or adjustable elements

3.       Agrees with and explains all existing observations

4.       Make detailed predictions about future observations that can disprove or falsify the model

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It was a fun read and my first Universe-NonFiction book. Feel like reading a book on innovation.