Introduction: There’s
Something, Not Nothing
Our doubt is our passion.
Henry JamesImagine that Stephen Hawking, the famous theoretical physi-
cist, is reincarnated. In his last life, in a book called The Grand
Design, he had declared that philosophy is dead. So, this time
round karmic law decrees that his father is a philosopher.
One day, when little Stephen is about fi ve years old, they’re
sitting in the summer house with Fido, the pet dog. And
Stephen asks one of those questions children love to repeat.
Daddy. Yes Stephen? Why is Fido? Well, Stephen, Fido had a
mummy and daddy like you.
Yeah but, why is Fido? Err, you mean why is he a dog? That’s
because his parents were dogs, and his parents’ parents were
dogs too. They belong to what we call the same species.
[Stephen is precocious in this life too.]
But why is Fido? Well, we know that Fido’s parents’ parents’
parents’ parents – a long way back – were not dogs, but were
wolves. That was before human beings made them pets.
Oh. Why is Fido? Before there were wolves there was another
species out of which wolves grew. We call it evolution, Stephen,
and it’s a very important process in the natural world.
Ev-o-lu-tion. [Stephen likes the feel of that word.] But why is
Fido? Before that species, there was another, and another, and
another, all the way back to tiny animals we call cells.
Why IS Fido? I think you’re asking about biochemistry
now. Err, roughly you can say that when the stuff of which
everything is made is put together in a very complicated