As we look out into the Universe and identify the many accidents of physics and astronomy that have worked together to our benefit, it almost seems a… - Freeman Dyson

The more I examine the universe and the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.

The more I examine the universe and study the details of its architecture, the more evidence I find that the universe in some sense must have known we were coming.

The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple. A good example of a simple technology with profound historical consequences is hay. Nobody knows who invented hay, the idea of cutting grass in the autumn and storing it in large enough quantities to keep horses and cows alive through the winter. All we know is that the technology of hay was unknown to the Roman Empire but was known to every village of medieval Europe. Like many other crucially important technologies, hay emerged anonymously during the so-called Dark Ages. According to the Hay Theory of History, the invention of hay was the decisive event which moved the center of gravity of urban civilization from the Mediterranean basin to Northern and Western Europe. The Roman Empire did not need hay because in a Mediterranean climate the grass grows well enough in winter for animals to graze. North of the Alps, great cities dependent on horses and oxen for motive power could not exist without hay. So it was hay that allowed populations to grow and civilizations to flourish among the forests of Northern Europe. Hay moved the greatness of Rome to Paris and London, and later to Berlin and Moscow and New York.

Anyone who compares the bibliography with the reprinted papers will notice that mathematics and physics have not been given equal treatment. There is a strong bias in favor of mathematics. The bias arises from the fact that mathematical papers, provided that are correct and not trivial, have permanent value, whereas most papers in physics journals are ephemeral. For this reason, it is customary to publish complete collected works of mathematicians but only selected works of physicists.

Duas vozes falam pelo futuro, a voz da ciência e a voz da religião. A ciência e a religião são dois grandes empreendimentos humanos, que perduram ao longo dos séculos e nos ligam a nossos descendentes. Sou um cientista e, ao tentar neste livro olhar para o futuro, falo com a voz da ciência. Descrevo o passado e o futuro conforme o ponto de vista científico que me é familiar. Mas não afirmo que a voz da ciência fale com uma autoridade singular e única. A religião tem, no mínimo, autoridade igual na definição do destino humano. A religião fica mais próxima do coração da natureza humana, e tem mais penetração do que a ciência. Como a natureza humana, a qual reflete. a religião é muitas vezes cruel e pervertida. Nas ocasiões em que a ciência atingiu poder igual ao poder da religião, também ela tornou-se cruel e pervertida.