The Big Picture (Sean Carroll)
OVERVIEW
Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist and atheist. He wrote “The Big Picture – On The Origins of Life, Meaning, And The Universe Itself” with the intent to explain the story of the universe (so we might better understand ourselves and the stuff we are made of), and to answer big questions like “do we matter?” A rare blend of science and philosophy.
“The Big Picture” is a cosmic smorgasbord, containing a review of the fundamental laws of physics, the origins of the universe, how scientists think life began, all the way up to reflections about consciousness, free will, morality, and death. Eventually, we arrive at the question of meaning, and how our desire to matter “fits in with the nature of reality at its deepest levels.”
Like Stephen Jenkinson’s “Die Wise”, this book provided ample food for thought. I loved the flow from theoretical physics to philosophy to cosmology and back. Accordingly, there’s far too much to summarize here, but what I want to share are the thought-streams this book inspired:
What life is
Life is a process, not a substance. Stephen Cave wrote something similar in his book “Immortality.” Most atheists are naturalists and don’t believe in any immaterial soul that carries their mental life beyond death, but we’re still likely to behave as if life is a something rather than a way of things being. Cave used the example of waves to illustrate this, Carroll uses flames. When a candle is burning, there’s a flame that carries energy. When the candle is snuffed out, the energy doesn’t “go” anywhere. It would be foolish to say the flame now exists in some “state” of nothingness. Instead, what has happened is that the process of combustion has ceased. So too with life. It seems logical to me that how we describe life will ultimately inform our perspectives on death.
Thoughts on nothingness
There’s a passage where Carroll talks about the Big Bang and the conviction that “something can’t come from nothing.” He points out that it’s wrong to say the universe “came from nothing,” because nothing is not a state of being. And the universe couldn’t come from anything, because from implies the forward arrow of time. All of this reminds me of the conceptual fallacy that death is an event that will plunge us into a state of nothingness – that non-existence is something we could ever experience. There’s nothing I’m driving at here other than humans appear to have tremendous difficulty understanding what “nothing” is, and it’s curious that this is best illustrated when reflecting on opposites: cosmic beginnings and personal endings.
Mortality salience, writ large
I’ve talked a lot on the blog about the finitude of our lives. In “The Precipice,” Toby Ord encouraged us to think even bigger – to the potential finitude of our species. Now we have Carroll, reminding us that life is also a universal concept. The era of complex life that we currently enjoy in our medium-entropy universe is a temporary one, because the universe will ultimately reach a state of thermal equilibrium where no life can exist. All the stars will exhaust their nuclear fuel and be consumed by black holes, and those too, in time, will evaporate into a fine mist of particles. The universe will become a cold, empty place where no life is possible. Life – not just your life, but life – is ephemeral. If pondering the brevity of your own existence was cause for gratitude, this seems an invitation to cosmic gratitude. A real “holy sh*t” moment if there ever was one. And for those of us searching for something “bigger” to feel part of, maybe this fits.
Humans and their “why” questions
Like Jesse Bering in “The Belief Instinct,” Carroll recognizes that humans are drawn to “why” questions not because they have answers, but because it’s our intuition that they should have answers. Our brains constantly search for patterns and explanations. But when it comes to big questions like “why does the universe exist?” there might not be answers. According to the fundamental laws of physics (as we currently understand them), it’s entirely possible the universe didn’t exist, and then did. Equally as mind-bending, a universe that has always been also violates no physical rules. Science allows for a universe that exists all by itself and always has, and for a universe that simply wasn’t until it was. The existence of the universe could simply be a fact.
A gentle reminder that we search for answers to big questions because we evolved to do so, not because everything has an answer.
What does it all mean?
Meaning and purpose aren’t built into the architecture of the universe, they are human constructs, like bathtubs and gender and capitalism and the rules of badminton. For those of us searching for meaning in life, we would do well to remember that all meaning is self-constructed and always has been. Meaning, purpose, and the definition of a “good life” are not objective truths waiting to be found out there. We create them. The answer to “how do I craft a life that matters?” is as simple as what matters to you. There is no “mattering” in any cosmic sense. What matters is what matters to people.
Okay, but…
There are two types of meaning: synchronic meaning (your state of being at any one moment in time), and diachronic meaning (your state of being in relation to the progress you are making towards a goal). Given that life is a process, and that the universe is governed by entropy (activity and motion), Carroll wonders if we should focus more on diachronic meaning. There is no perfect, static state of being. Change is the essence of life. It could logically follow then that you should make change part of how you find that meaning. Embracing change, which includes embracing death, is one of the truest ways we can participate in the world.
And that’s how you can align your purpose in life with the fundamental laws of physics! (I take no responsibility for the accuracy of that statement).
The stories we tell ourselves
Let me end by reflecting on stories (which you know I’m very fond of). The theist’s story is that the universe was created by god for man, that we all possess immortal souls, and that death isn’t really the end. As far as stories go, it’s a pretty comforting one. What narrative could any atheist conjure to contend with that? Well, here’s Carroll’s pitch:
The universe is not a miracle. It simply is, unguided and unsustained, manifesting the patterns of nature with scrupulous regularity. Over billions of years it has evolved naturally, from a state of low entropy toward increasing complexity, and it will eventually wind down to a featureless equilibrium. We are the miracle, we human beings. Not a break-the-laws-of-physics kind of miracle; a miracle in that it is wondrous and amazing how such complex, aware, creative, caring creatures could have arisen in perfect accordance with those laws. Our lives are finite, unpredictable, and immeasurably precious. Our emergence has brought meaning and mattering into the world.
That’s a pretty darn good story, too. Demanding in its own way, it may not give us everything we want, but it fits comfortably with everything science has taught us about nature. It bequeaths to us the responsibility and opportunity to make life into what we would have it be.
WHAT NOW? (actions for mortal atheists)
There’s a great chapter called “Listening to the World,” where in place of the ten commandments Carroll proposes Ten Considerations for living. They are worth reading in full, but to sum:
Considerations for living
Life ends, and that’s part of what makes it special. Finitude and change are key features of the cosmos; so too is death. But we humans are a special assembly of star stuff. We can contemplate, and dream, and imagine, and discover. The universe may be indifferent, but we are not. What meaning and mattering that exist in the cosmos has always been a feature of human creation. And so, it pays to listen, to understand, and to care about others. If humans create meaning, then what matters is what matters to us. There are no natural laws of goodness, no objective moral standards, and no ultimate purpose to anything. There is only the purpose we fashion in alignment with what we care about.
IN SUM:
Is this book entirely secular? Yes.
If you had to describe the book in one sentence? A physicist’s thoughts on the universe and our place in it.
Who should read this book? Atheists who are interested in philosophy and theists who are interested in science.