Thermodynamic Knitting! Ok…maybe not; but, it sounded cool.
So I ordered a new book today. I probably shouldn’t have; but, with my points to redeem, I slashed the price down to a third the normal price and just couldn’t pass that up.
The book? The Thermodynamic Universe.
Sidharth’s new paradigm has been dubbed “fuzzy spacetime.” Its core principle is that the physical laws that govern the Universe were not set a priori at the moment of the Big Bang, but have arisen as a result of fluctuations occurring among particles and fields. For example, both the velocity of light and the value of the gravitational constant are not arbitrary numbers, but can be deduced from thermodynamic and stochastic considerations.
The first two chapters summarize the mainstream approach to physics and posit the viability of emergent laws. Subsequent chapters summarize Sidharth’s “universe of fluctuations,” and show how it can be applied to describe phenomena on both the largest and smallest scales of nature. Several surprising revelations follow. For example, dark energy, which came as a shock when it was discovered by mainstream cosmologists in 1998, is actually a logical consequence of fuzzy spacetime; the theory predicts that the Universe’s expansion will be accelerating via a small cosmological constant. Additionally, a series of so-called “large number coincidences”—links between seemingly unrelated physical values—can be satisfactorily explained by Sidharth’s framework.
I have two other books that I’m looking forward to getting at some point, too. But, with finances how they are, I’m having to wait until I can get killer deals on them as well. The two books? The Eclectic Sole and New Pathways for Sock Knitters.
