The symbiotic universe: Life and mind in the cosmos - Hardcover

Greenstein, George; Illustrated By Dolores R. Santoliquido

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0688076041 ISBN 13: 9780688076047

Publisher: William Morrow & Company, 1988

Synopsis

In an analysis of quantum mechanics and the series of unlikely circumstances that have determined human existence, a professor of astronomy proposes that the universe and life as we know it are part of a symbiotic relationship created for the purpose of maintaining life

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Reviews

In God and the Astronomers, Robert Jastrow brilliantly summed up our knowledge about ourselves and the universe. He reasoned that the grand climb of science had brought scientists to a hilltop confronting ultimate Mysterya hilltop that had already been crowded by theologians for centuries. No less brilliantly, Greenstein, Amherst astronomy professor, here updates Jastrow's effort. He describes the "coincidences" scientists have observed in recent years in the bizarre world of subatomic particles, quantum mechanics itself and the Big Bang theory of cosmic origin and destiny. Among these are the two separate "resonances" between nuclei found in "red giant" stars, allowing the synthesis of heavy elements necessary for "life"; the precisely equal charges of the electron and the proton; the symmetry of matter and anti-matter, etc. These conditions of physical nature lead him to extrapolate the Anthropic Principle, today largely rejected, and argue his view of the universe as "symbiotic," as evidenced by the fact that we exist, and that the cosmos has been "delicately and precisely attuned" from the moment of the Big Bang. This is bold metaphysics, to which some will say Amen. Photos. BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Greenstein expounds upon physicist Brandon Carter's "Anthropic Principle," which argues that "if some feature of the natural world is required for our existence, then it must indeed be the case." He shows how extraordinary "coincidences" that created an environment suitable for the evolution of life in the universe are actually based in the laws of physics, making biological life likely, if not a sure thing. His book tries to be a popular combination of metaphysics and quantum mechanics, and indeed its heart, a chapter on the quest for a Grand Unification Theory, is not quite as abstruse as the remainder. For knowledgeable readers patronizing academic or large public libraries. Laurie Tynan, Montgomery Cty.
Norristown P.L., Pa.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0688076041
• ISBN 13: 9780688076047
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 271