The Grand Design

The eventual goal of science is to provide a single theory that describes the whole universe. However, the approach most scientists actually follow is to separate the problem into two parts. First, there are the laws that tell us how the universe changes with time. (If we know what the universe is like at any one time, these physical laws tell us h

What caused the Big Bang? Why are the physical constants just right to allow galaxies, planets, and, ultimately, conscious life? Where do the physical laws come from? If they aren’t of divine providence, how can they be explained? Why is nature shadowed by a mathematical reality? In short, why do theoretical physics work?

Grand unification and its even grander super-extensions all point to the stunning conclusion that the relative strengths of the particle forces, the masses and species of particles, and perhaps even the mere existence of matter and forces aren’t mathematical truths carved in stone but fossil relics of an ancient and largely hidden epoch of evolutio