Hard Questions without Easy Answers - A Review of Existential Physics by Sabine Hossenfelder
This past summer, my dad heard an interview on National Public Radio with Sabine Hossendelfer. For some context, Hossendelfer is a research fellow at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies in Germany and has published more than eighty research articles on physics. The interview piqued my dad's curiosity about her new book, so to expand my burgeoning knowledge of physics, he ordered a copy for me. Admittedly, I would have never come across a book like this if it wasn’t for my dad since I’m not routinely checking for new publications on physics. Nevertheless, I read the book and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ll share what I learned, which might pique your interest too.
If I had to describe Hossenfelder’s book in one sentence, I would describe it as “The book asks the big questions.” I want to emphasize asks the big questions since Hossenfelder doesn't actually provide many concrete answers, or at least the concreteness that I have come to expect in physics. Most of the chapters are spent asking a question and breaking down the evidence, and at the very end of her discussion is a brief paragraph with an answer. However, the answers Hossenfelder provides are really a mix of questions and opinions; there is no real answer for every question. At first this was strange for me, as I have come to expect most things in physics to have a singular answer. However, some of the questions being asked are so impossibly big that no one answer can be provided. For example, the line between philosophy and science is quite blurry in this book, and I often wondered whether I was reading an opinion or a fact.
One of the big questions asked early on is whether “science and religion can coexist?’ The truth is if you asked this question to ten different people you would get ten different answers. Hossenfelder gives her own opinion and shares the views of other scientists. Although a lot of them believe that religion and science cannot coexist, their personal understanding of why they can't coexist are all quite different. Ultimately, Hossenfelder offers an open ended question that connects religion, entropy, and physics, however, she does not provide a concrete answer.
Although not many answers are given in the book, a ton of information is provided. For example, this book first introduced me to Thomas Young's Double Slit experiment and entropy, and it also gave me a much better understanding of time dilation and the universe's layout. There is so much information dispersed throughout the chapters that I am reading through the book again, just for a better understanding of some of the more complex topics.
At first I was upset that no real answers were given. However, when I finished the book I realized something. The book provides you with the questions, the knowledge, and the ability to understand these complex topics. Hossenfelder did not intend to give us the answers; rather she is pushing us to go find them ourselves.
I would strongly recommend you pick up a copy of Existential Physics so that you can offer your own opinion and, just as importantly, answer the questions.
