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The Universe That Discovered Itself
Are there really laws of nature out there waiting to be discovered? Or are they simply an illusion?
448 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
John D. Barrow
91 books170 followersJohn D. Barrow was a professor of mathematical sciences and director of the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University and a Fellow of the Royal Society.
He was awarded the 2006 Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities" for his "writings about the relationship between life and the universe, and the nature of human understanding [which] have created new perspectives on questions of ultimate concern to science and religion".
He was a member of a United Reformed Church, which he described as teaching "a traditional deistic picture of the universe".
He was awarded the 2006 Templeton Prize for "Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities" for his "writings about the relationship between life and the universe, and the nature of human understanding [which] have created new perspectives on questions of ultimate concern to science and religion".
He was a member of a United Reformed Church, which he described as teaching "a traditional deistic picture of the universe".
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 4, 2026
Um livro difícil pela extensão e volume de informação. Faz uma viagem sobre o conhecimento, de que forma ele surgiu nos clássicos onde a filosofia a dominava, a forma como, mais tarde, enquanto conhecimento científico conviveu com a religião e a metafísica e, mais tarde ainda, de que forma se emancipou.
Hoje temos conhecimento científico que procura uma teoria que abranja tudo, uma teoria que envolva o mundo micro com o macro e compatibilize, o que parece inconciliável - a gravidade com o mundo quântico.
Não sei se tal objectivo alguma vez será possível pois a realidade desses mundos é demasiado diferente para ser articulada. Aliás, creio mesmo que esta demanda seja inglória, pois sempre que há uma emergência as regras do jogo passam a ser outras. Há mundos dentro de mundos, mas não haverá uma lei que os governe a todos. Num universo de complexidades acrescentadas cada patamar é regido pelas suas próprias regras.
No fim, há mundos dentro de mundos, numa infinidade de explicações todas apoiadas noutras subjacentes, mas sem a visão exterior de uma metalinguagem que nos permita descrever criticamente e com exatidão a realidade do mundo e universo em que vivemos. No mundo dos porquês, estamos condenados a apenas responder ao como.
Hoje temos conhecimento científico que procura uma teoria que abranja tudo, uma teoria que envolva o mundo micro com o macro e compatibilize, o que parece inconciliável - a gravidade com o mundo quântico.
Não sei se tal objectivo alguma vez será possível pois a realidade desses mundos é demasiado diferente para ser articulada. Aliás, creio mesmo que esta demanda seja inglória, pois sempre que há uma emergência as regras do jogo passam a ser outras. Há mundos dentro de mundos, mas não haverá uma lei que os governe a todos. Num universo de complexidades acrescentadas cada patamar é regido pelas suas próprias regras.
No fim, há mundos dentro de mundos, numa infinidade de explicações todas apoiadas noutras subjacentes, mas sem a visão exterior de uma metalinguagem que nos permita descrever criticamente e com exatidão a realidade do mundo e universo em que vivemos. No mundo dos porquês, estamos condenados a apenas responder ao como.
January 8, 2013
Originally published on my blog here in December 2001.
Barrow's book, an updated version of The World Within the World, is a philosophical look at the history of science and contemporary scientific ideas with a rather unusual slant. It takes a list of nine statements about the laws of science and how they relate to the underlying reality of the universe, and then sees a general trend up to the work of Newton to establish these statements, followed in the twentieth century by the opposite trend with the development of new theoretical frameworks very different from the Newtonian one. These statements are things like "Space and time exist" or "The world can be described by mathematics", and are a set of basic philosophical assumptions about the universe, informing scientists' attitudes to physical theories.
The Universe That Discovered Itself is aimed at the experienced reader of popular science. Even though brief explanations are given, it would be difficult to follow without a previous acquaintance with relativity, quantum mechanics, string theory, and the anthropic principle among other ideas. With a familiarity with these concepts and an interest in the philosophical, there is much pleasure to be obtained from the book. The title refers to the thought that we, as part of the universe, have discovered a great deal about it, and is particularly appropriate given the quite lengthy discussion of the role of the observer in quantum mechanics and particularly quantum cosmology.
The presentation is typical of Barrow, with each section enlivened by interesting and frequently amusing quotations, including the following anecdote. In an Oxford physics viva in the 1890s, a student was asked to define electricity. His response was that he did know but had forgotten, to which the examiner drily replied, "How very unfortunate. Only two persons have ever known what electricity is, the Author of Nature and yourself. Now one of them has forgotten".
I'm not sure how radical a revision was made to the earlier book, and there are some sections which seem to be less up to date than others, which is a pity. Still, I found The Universe That Discovered Itself a fascinating exploration of the philosophy behind modern physics.
Barrow's book, an updated version of The World Within the World, is a philosophical look at the history of science and contemporary scientific ideas with a rather unusual slant. It takes a list of nine statements about the laws of science and how they relate to the underlying reality of the universe, and then sees a general trend up to the work of Newton to establish these statements, followed in the twentieth century by the opposite trend with the development of new theoretical frameworks very different from the Newtonian one. These statements are things like "Space and time exist" or "The world can be described by mathematics", and are a set of basic philosophical assumptions about the universe, informing scientists' attitudes to physical theories.
The Universe That Discovered Itself is aimed at the experienced reader of popular science. Even though brief explanations are given, it would be difficult to follow without a previous acquaintance with relativity, quantum mechanics, string theory, and the anthropic principle among other ideas. With a familiarity with these concepts and an interest in the philosophical, there is much pleasure to be obtained from the book. The title refers to the thought that we, as part of the universe, have discovered a great deal about it, and is particularly appropriate given the quite lengthy discussion of the role of the observer in quantum mechanics and particularly quantum cosmology.
The presentation is typical of Barrow, with each section enlivened by interesting and frequently amusing quotations, including the following anecdote. In an Oxford physics viva in the 1890s, a student was asked to define electricity. His response was that he did know but had forgotten, to which the examiner drily replied, "How very unfortunate. Only two persons have ever known what electricity is, the Author of Nature and yourself. Now one of them has forgotten".
I'm not sure how radical a revision was made to the earlier book, and there are some sections which seem to be less up to date than others, which is a pity. Still, I found The Universe That Discovered Itself a fascinating exploration of the philosophy behind modern physics.
October 14, 2022
As I approached the end of this book, I found myself getting slower and slower, and felt that it would take an infinite amount of time to finish it, though to an outside observer it would have seemed that I was proceeding at a constant speed and would reach the end within a predictable time. This is the opposite of what supposedly happens on approaching the event horizon of a black hole, so I've no idea what conclusion to draw from it.
Barrow takes a metaphysical view of physics and introduces enough mind-boggling ideas to make this book worth the slog, though he is much clearer when expounding aspects of physics than when drawing out their metaphysical implications.
Barrow takes a metaphysical view of physics and introduces enough mind-boggling ideas to make this book worth the slog, though he is much clearer when expounding aspects of physics than when drawing out their metaphysical implications.
November 6, 2015
Some of the astrophysics os outdated (from a 2015 reading) , but much remains germane. I found parts tedious, but was sufficiently caught up in it t see it through the end. Damning with weak praise, I suppose.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews