I came across this 8min video of Paul Davies from 5 years ago, where I was surprised to find that he and I had very similar ideas regarding the ‘Purpose’ of the Universe. In more recent videos, he has lighter hair and has lost his moustache, which was a characteristic of his for as long as I’ve followed him.
Now, one might think that I shouldn’t be surprised, as I’ve been heavily influenced by Davies over many years (decades even) and read many of his books. But I thought he was a Deist, and maybe he was, because not halfway through he admits he had recently changed his views.
But what makes me consider that this video probably comes closest to expressing my own philosophy is when he says that meaning or purpose has evolved and that it’s directly related to the fact that the Universe created the means to understand itself. Both these points I’ve been making for years. In his own words, “We unravel the plot”.
Or to quote John Wheeler (whom Davies admired): “The universe gives birth to consciousness, and consciousness gives meaning to the universe.”
P.S. This is also worth watching: his philosophy on mathematics; to which I would concur. His metaphor of a 'warehouse' is unusual, yet very descriptive and germane in my view.
5 comments:
I can't find the link in your article to the 8 minute clip that you are writing about. Please, either add a hyperlink or explain to me where the link is.
Thank you.
Hi Weed,
I'm not sure why it's not working for you, as I embedded the video in the post and it works for me.
Cut and paste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp_7WSVmEZM&t=1s
Or you can try this
I watched the clip from Paul Davies and thought it was great. I’ve always liked him and have read two of his books..All About Time and The Mind of God, I think it was. He explains things so easily and smoothly, so the layman , like me, can understand what he means.
The UTube site "Closer to Truth" has tons of short and longer interviews with physicists of all persuasions. It’s a fascinating series.
Hi Mary,
I watch a lot of Closer to Truth videos on all sorts of topics.
I've read a good many of Davies' books, including the 2 you mention.
The best I'd recommend is The Goldilocks Enigma.
I started reading him when he lived in Australia - he's now at the University of Arizona.
The first book of his I read was The Cosmic Blueprint (really about chaos) and I still have a copy.
I can still remember listening to an interview with him on that book in a car - must have been late 80s - and that was the start. It was the first book I read on chaos theory.
I wrote a lengthy post on The MInd of God.
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