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How does order emerge from chaos? How can we account for the
permanence, stability, and orderliness of subatomic particles, atoms, crystals?
How did the complex structure of the astronomical universe come into being? What
is the origin of biological organization, from DNA to human consciousness? And
what philosophical problems do the answers to these questions pose? In
Cosmogenesis: The Growth of Order in the Universe, eminent Harvard astrophysicist
David Layzer takes readers on a sweeping tour of modern science -- from spiral
nebulae to neuromodulators, and from the origins of the universe to the evolution
of the human mind -- and probes the philosophical implications of contemporary
physics, astronomy and biology. He provides an extremely lucid capsule history
of the development of quantum physics, reveals how the expansion of the universe
gives rise to two distinct kinds of order (chemical and structural order), and
examines the modern biological understanding of life. But Layzer's prime concern
is with philosophical issues, most notably, whether the scientists conviction
that events in the external world are governed by universal physical laws can
be reconciled with the humanist's conviction that each of us is free in important
ways to shape his or her own life. (He concludes that these convictions can be
reconciled and that the future is as open as our intuition tells us it is.) Along
the way, Layzer offers many provocative new slants on familiar scientific theories.
For instance, he challenges the standard interpretation of the beginning of the
universe, arguing that the early universe began not as a fireball, but in a state
at or close to absolute zero. Whether providing the physical
explanation for why sour musical notes jar, speculating about the origin of consciousness,
or charting the connections between quantum physics and cosmology, Cosmogenesis
continually surprises, challenges, and stimulates. It will appeal to anyone fascinated
by the philosophical implications of science or just curious about the world around
us. David Layzer is the Donald H. Menzel Professor
of Astrophysics at Harvard University. He is the author of Constructing the
Universe. |
