On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking’s Final Theory

This provocative if dense debut by Hertog, a cosmologist and longtime collaborator of Stephen Hawking, outlines the complex perspective the two developed on the origin of the universe. “Stephen and I came to see the big bang not only as the beginning of time but also as the origin of physical laws,” he relates, explaining that the rules of physics developed “in a process of random variation and selection akin to Darwinian evolution.” The author posits that the nature of atomic and subatomic particles as well as the values of physical constants are the products of random events that occurred at and around the big bang, rather than reflections of absolute laws. Expanding on this idea, Hertog delineates Hawking’s “top-down philosophy,” which builds on the observation that quantum behavior depends on observation and proposes that physics doesn’t exist independent of human measurement and observation: “We create the universe as much as the universe creates us.” This is primarily theoretical so the claims remain unproven, but Hertog’s visionary ideas have the potential to upend traditional notions of causality and physical laws, though lay readers will struggle to follow the technical explorations of string theory and holography. Still, those who stick around through the complicated physics will be rewarded with a bold and stimulating take on the fundamentals of the universe. (Mar.)