The Nine Numbers of the Cosmos [ペーパーバック]

One of my pet peeves about books on cosmology is the constant rehashing of ancient conceptions of how and why the universe came into being, along with mistaken ideas from the early days of astronomy, anything, it sometimes seems, to pad out the requisite three hundred pages or so. Consequently I was pleased not to encounter any tales of turtles holding up the world or any retracing of the Ptolemaic model before the author gets to the current state of affairs (although he does give some brief history as he goes along).

The nine numbers serve as an organizing device through which a picture of modern cosmology is revealed, or as the author puts it in the Prologue, "a peg on which to hang different aspects of our knowledge." Incidentally, the Prologue, "Que sais-je," is particularly well written and candid and valuable for what it reveals about what Rowan-Robinson's knowledge. The first number is the amount of baryonic matter in the universe, as revealed in Chapter 1 entitled, "We exist." Chapter 2 is "We are not in a special place," revealed by the considerable extent to which the universe is isotropic and homogeneous. The third number is the Hubble constant, the fourth, the age of the universe, the fifth, the temperature of the background radiation, etc. I'll leave it to the reader to discover the other numbers. What I want to focus on are Professor Rowan-Robinson's speculations on extraterrestrial life from Chapter 1.

He begins by expressing his "difficulty...with the idea that advanced technological civilizations like ourselves are common in our Galaxy" (p. 16). I think he has expressed it exactly right here with the words "like ourselves," which I want to emphasize. However on the next page he goes on to present the familiar argument (from Fermi) that a civilization much in advance of ours would have found us by now. He cautions that he doesn't accept the view that "they keep themselves hidden so as not to interfere with our development." Hence the tired conclusion that THEY probably do NOT exist.

The main problem with this argument is that it projects human psychology and desire onto beings of an advanced civilization. They might very well have their reasons for leaving us alone. Additionally, it's not clear that the problem of interstellar travel is as easily solved as some might think, and I'm thinking here of the emotional and psychological difficulties as well as the technical ones. Rowan-Robinson writes that he doesn't accept "any really fundamental limits on colonizing the Galaxy" (p. 17). Even if he is right, would such beings have the desire to colonize? I suspect that their psychology might differ, perhaps startlingly, from our own, and that they may prefer to stay at home.

Rowan-Robinson also considers the case of an advanced civilization, unable to colonize other planets, facing the death of its star. He believes they "would surely put some effort into demonstrating that they had existed. There would be the astronomical equivalent of the pyramids, some kind of beacon signaling forever" ( p. 17). To me, such a vain glorious enterprise is more characteristic of human psychology than anything else, especially that of our pre-technological civilizations. I would add that in advancing it, Rowan-Robinson is guilty of anthropomorphizing the aliens! Surely, one would think, after a billion years or so of development, there would be some advance on this sort of psychology. Perhaps Professor Rowan-Robinson would appreciate being reminded of the lesson of Shelley's poem, "Ozymandias," that "king of kings" whose "shattered visage lies" amid the drifting sands.

Rowan-Robinson concludes the book with a prediction for the year 2100 (repeated from page 64) that the Planck era (10 to the minus 43 seconds after the Big Bang) will remain "shrouded in mystery." He adds, "It would not surprise me if this were still a mystery in the year 3000." There are some helpful diagrams and tables, some black and white photos, a brief glossary, and a name, and a subject index.