First three minutes

The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is at all comprehensible.

-Albert Einstein

The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.

-Steven Weinberg

The latter quote is from 'First three minutes', a truly wonderful book [Weinberg won the 1979 Nobel prize in Physics with Glashow and Salam]. It chronicles the early history of the universe (the first three minutes after the Big Bang). SW develops the subject in a very logical way (though some parts are easier to penetrate than others). The book shows its age in some places (It was first published in 1976 and e.g. Quark was just one of the possible hypotheses back then), but is thoroughly enjoyable. Also the history of search for Cosmic Microwave Background is told is great detail.

The author also speculates on the future of the universe towards the end of the book. As per our current understanding, the universe has two possible futures. In one case it will go on expanding forever, the stars will eventually exhaust their fuel, with no new stars being formed. The universe will end up a cold dark place. In the other case, the current expansion will halt, the universe will start contracting and end in a state of immense temperature and density. Needless to say, both these scenarios are not very supportive of life. We are not going to go on forever. But that's true on the puny scale of our personal lives too. Our friendships, our thoughts, our love, everything is ephemeral. Linkin park put it better than anybody else, "In the end, it doesn't even matter".

But does that make us a sorry little affair? No. The author eloquently expounds the human spirit, "Men and women are not content to confine their thoughts to the daily affairs of their life, .. they sit at their desks for endless hours working out the meaning of the data they gather. The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts the human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of a tragedy". I guess that's what people long for, not only when they do science, but also when they do art or meditation, a search for meaning where there appears to be none. We need not be despondent. And he puts the conclusion very clearly, "If there is no solace in the fruits of our research, there is at least some consolation in the research itself". And to me it is just another way of saying 'Journey is the reward'.