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Oct 16, 2019carolwu96 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
⁣Is there a god? Is time traveling possible? Will artificial intelligence outsmart us? These are some of the questions world renowned physicist Stephen Hawking raises and answers in this book. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ The first chapters of Brief Answers are a little slow for me, as they include many scientific terms like cosmic strings and supertranslation as Hawking explains the current theories, which I had never heard of. He also talks about more familiar concepts like entropy and the Uncertainty Principle, which are high school materials that have since faded from my memory (oops).⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ But the book picked up after a few chapters, as Hawking discusses ideas such as black holes, space colonization and AI. I found myself nodding to many of his ideas, especially those around why further AI developments could be dangerous and possible candidates for space colonization. ⁣ ⁣⁣ Part of the reason his answers resonate so much is probably that his ideas have been so promulgated through his works, so that I have come across them repeatedly despite never having read his works. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ Overall, I think Hawking has touched on some fascinating topics and am glad I powered through despite the weak beginning. For more book reviews, visit me on Instagram @ RandomStuffIRead !