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00:00Hello, my name is Stephen Hawking, physicist, cosmologist, and something of a dreamer.
00:15Although I cannot move, and I have to sleep through a computer, in my mind I am free.
00:23Free to explore the deepest questions of the universe.
00:32Among them, the deepest of all.
00:36Is there a God who created and controls the universe?
00:41From the stars and the planets, to you and me.
00:47Finding out takes us on a journey through the laws of nature.
00:52For there I think lies the answer to the age-old mystery of how the universe was made, and how it really works.
01:00Check it out.
01:13I recently published a book that asked if God created the universe.
01:18It caused something of a stir.
01:21People got upset that a scientist should have anything to say on matters of religion.
01:32I have no desire to tell anyone what to believe, but for me, asking if God exists is a valid question for science.
01:41After all, it is hard to think of a more important, or fundamental mystery, than what, or who, created and controls the universe.
01:56Long ago, the answer was almost always the same.
02:09Gods made everything.
02:12The world was a scary place, so even people as tough as the Vikings believed in supernatural beings to make sense of natural phenomena, like lightning or storms.
02:28The Vikings had many different gods.
02:34The Vikings had many different gods.
02:36Thor was the god of lightning.
02:39Another god, Aedir, caused stormy seas.
02:45But the god they feared the most was named Skull.
02:53He was responsible for the terrifying natural event that we now call a solar eclipse.
03:05Skull was a wolf god who lived in the sky.
03:10Sometimes he would eat the sun, causing the dreadful moment when day turned to night.
03:18Without a scientific explanation, imagine how disturbing it would have been to see the sun vanish.
03:40The Vikings responded in the only way that made sense to them.
03:48They tried to scare away the wolf.
03:51They tried to scare away the wolf.
04:18The Vikings believed that their actions caused the sun to return.
04:29Of course, we now know they had nothing to do with it.
04:33The sun would have reappeared anyway.
04:35It turns out that the universe is not as supernatural or mysterious as it seems.
04:46But it takes more courage than even the Vikings had to discover the truth.
04:53Mere mortals, like you and I, can understand how the universe works.
04:59Mere mortals, like you and I.
05:00This was realized long before the Vikings, in ancient Greece.
05:17In about 300 BC, a philosopher called Aristarchus was fascinated by eclipses too.
05:24especially eclipses of the moon.
05:30He was brave enough to question whether they really were caused by gods.
05:38Aristarchus was a true scientific pioneer.
05:42He studied the heavens carefully and reached a bold conclusion.
05:48He realized the eclipse was actually the shadow of the earth
05:52passing over the moon.
05:54And not a divine event.
06:01Liberated by this discovery,
06:03he was able to work out what was really going on above his head
06:06and draw diagrams that showed the true relationship of the sun,
06:13the earth,
06:15and the moon.
06:19From there, he reached even more remarkable conclusions.
06:23He deduced that the earth was not the center of the universe as everyone had thought,
06:30but instead orbits the sun.
06:36In fact, understanding this arrangement explains all eclipses.
06:41When the moon casts its shadow on the earth,
06:46that's a solar eclipse.
06:49And when the earth shades the moon,
06:57that's a lunar eclipse.
07:00But Aristarchus took it even further.
07:03He suggested that the stars were not chinks in the floor of heaven as his contemporaries believed,
07:10but that stars were other suns like ours,
07:16only a very long way away.
07:18What a stunning realization it must have been.
07:25The universe is a machine governed by principles or laws.
07:32Laws that can be understood by the human mind.
07:36I believe the discovery of these laws has been humankind's greatest achievement.
07:47For it's these laws of nature, as we now call them,
07:51that will tell us whether we need a god to explain the universe at all.
07:55For centuries, it was believed that disabled people, like me,
08:06were living under a curse inflicted by God.
08:10While I suppose it's possible that I've upset someone up there,
08:16I prefer to think that everything can be explained another way,
08:20by the laws of nature.
08:22So what exactly is the law of nature,
08:26and why is it so powerful?
08:29I'll show you with a game of tennis.
08:36Tennis is governed by two sets of laws.
08:41One set is man-made, the rules of the game.
08:44They govern things such as the size of the court,
08:52the height of the net,
08:55and what determines if a shot is in,
08:58or if a shot is out.
08:59These rules could conceivably be changed
09:05if the governing body of tennis so desired.
09:13But the other set of laws that apply to the game
09:16are fixed, immutable.
09:19They govern what happens to the ball
09:22when it is hit.
09:24The force and angle of the racket strike
09:30determines exactly what happens next.
09:38The laws of nature are a description
09:40of how things actually work
09:42in the past, present, and future.
09:46In tennis, the ball always goes
09:49exactly where they say it will.
09:50And there are many other laws at work here, too.
10:00They govern everything that is going on,
10:03from how the energy of the shot
10:05is produced in the player's muscles,
10:11to the speed at which the grass grows
10:14beneath their feet.
10:17But what's really important
10:19is that these physical laws,
10:22as well as being unchangeable,
10:24are universal.
10:29They apply not just to the flight of a ball,
10:32but to the motion of a planet,
10:35and everything else in the universe.
10:38If you accept, as I do,
10:59that the laws of nature are fixed,
11:01then it doesn't take long to ask,
11:04what role is there for God?
11:06This is a big part of the contradiction
11:10between science and religion.
11:13And although my views have recently made headlines,
11:17it is actually an ancient conflict.
11:19Back in 1277,
11:28Pope John XXI felt so threatened
11:32by the idea of laws of nature
11:34that he decreed them
11:35a heresy.
11:41Unfortunately, that did nothing
11:43to change the law governing gravity.
11:47A few months later,
11:49the palace roof collapsed
11:51and fell on the Pope's head.
11:53A few months later,
12:01the palace roof collapsed
12:03and fell on the Pope's head.
12:05But organized religion
12:17soon found a solution.
12:23For the next few hundred years,
12:25it was simply stated
12:26that the laws of nature
12:28were the work of God,
12:30and God could break them
12:32if he wished to.
12:38This view was reinforced
12:40by the idea
12:41that our perfect blue planet
12:42was quite still
12:44at the center of it all.
12:47That all the stars and planets
12:49rotated around the Earth
12:50like some carefully designed clockwork.
12:56Aristarchus's idea,
12:57to the contrary,
12:58had been long forgotten.
13:02But humans are naturally inquisitive,
13:05and some,
13:07such as Galileo Galilei,
13:09couldn't help but look
13:10at God's clockwork once more.
13:13It was 1609,
13:15and this time,
13:16the results would change everything.
13:25Galileo is the founder
13:26of modern-day science
13:27and one of my heroes.
13:33He thought, as I do,
13:35that if you looked
13:35at the universe closely enough,
13:37you could discern
13:38what was really going on.
13:42He was so determined
13:44that he perfected lenses
13:45that for the first time
13:47could magnify the night sky
13:49by 20 times.
13:52Carefully,
13:53he assembled them
13:54into a telescope.
13:56from his house in Padua,
14:03he used this telescope
14:05to study Jupiter,
14:08night after night,
14:10and made a wonderful discovery.
14:16Three tiny dots
14:18very close to the giant planet.
14:20to begin with,
14:26he thought the dots
14:26must be very faint stars,
14:29but then as he watched
14:30for a few nights,
14:31he saw that they moved,
14:34and then a fourth dot appeared.
14:36one of them would vanish
14:45behind Jupiter,
14:46and then reappear.
14:49He realized
14:50they had to be moons
14:52circling the vast planet.
14:55Here was proof positive
14:57that at least some objects
14:59do not orbit the Earth.
15:00inspired by this discovery,
15:05Galileo went on to prove
15:06that the Earth
15:07must in fact
15:08orbit the Sun.
15:11Aristarchus had been right
15:12all along.
15:18Galileo's discoveries
15:19triggered a revolution
15:20in thought
15:21that would ultimately
15:22loosen the grip
15:23of religion
15:23over science.
15:26But back in the 17th century,
15:29they got him
15:29in a lot of trouble
15:31with the church.
15:34He narrowly avoided execution
15:36by recanting
15:37his so-called heresy,
15:40and was confined
15:41to house arrest
15:42for the last nine years
15:44of his life.
15:44legend has it
15:54that even as he confessed
15:55his sin,
15:56he muttered,
15:57but it does move.
16:06Over the next 300 years,
16:08as more and more
16:09of the laws of nature
16:10were discovered,
16:12science began to explain
16:13all kinds of things,
16:15from lightning,
16:17earthquakes,
16:17and storms,
16:18to what makes
16:20the stars shine.
16:22Each new discovery
16:24further removed
16:25the need
16:26for a god.
16:28After all,
16:29if you know
16:30the science
16:31behind an eclipse,
16:33you're much less likely
16:34to believe in wolf gods
16:35that live in the sky.
16:40Science does not
16:42deny religion.
16:43the dust offers
16:44a simpler alternative.
16:47But several mysteries remain.
16:50After all,
16:51if the earth moves,
16:53could it be god
16:54that moves it?
16:57Ultimately,
16:58did god create
16:59the universe
17:00in the first place?
17:01in 1985,
17:02in 1985,
17:11I attended a conference
17:12on cosmology
17:13at the Vatican
17:14in Rome.
17:19The gathering of scientists
17:21had an audience
17:22with Pope John Paul II.
17:25He told us
17:26that it was okay
17:27to study
17:28the workings
17:29of the universe.
17:32But we should not
17:33ask questions
17:34about its origin,
17:36for that
17:37was the work
17:38of God.
17:39I am glad to say
17:53I, for one,
17:54haven't followed
17:55his advice.
17:57I can't simply
17:58switch off
17:59my curiosity.
18:00I believe it's
18:03a cosmologist's duty
18:04to try and work
18:06out where
18:06the universe
18:07came from.
18:09Luckily,
18:10it's not quite
18:11as difficult
18:12as it seems.
18:13despite the complexity
18:17and variety
18:18of the universe,
18:19it turns out
18:20that to make one,
18:21you need just
18:22three ingredients.
18:29Let's imagine
18:30we could list them
18:30in some kind
18:31of cosmic cookbook.
18:37So,
18:38what are
18:39the three ingredients
18:40we need
18:40to cook up
18:41a universe?
18:48The first
18:49is matter,
18:52stuff that has
18:53mass.
18:58Matter is all
18:59around us,
19:00in the ground
19:01beneath our feet,
19:02and out in space.
19:07dust,
19:12rock,
19:13ice,
19:14liquids,
19:15vast clouds
19:16of gas,
19:18massive spirals
19:19of stars,
19:20each containing
19:21billions of suns,
19:24stretching away
19:25for incredible
19:26distances.
19:26The second thing
19:38you need
19:38is energy.
19:44Even if we've
19:45never thought about it,
19:46we all know
19:47what energy is.
19:51It's something
19:52we encounter
19:53every day.
19:54look up at the sun
19:58and you can feel
20:00it on your face.
20:03Energy produced
20:05by a star
20:0693 million miles away.
20:15Energy permeates
20:16the universe,
20:17driving the processes
20:21that keep it
20:22a dynamic,
20:23endlessly changing
20:24place.
20:33So,
20:34we have matter
20:35and we have energy.
20:37The third thing
20:38we need to build
20:39the universe
20:39is space.
20:41lots of space.
20:51You can call
20:52the universe
20:52many things.
20:55Awesome,
20:56beautiful,
20:58violent.
20:59But one thing
21:01you can't call it
21:02is cramped.
21:03wherever we look,
21:07we see space.
21:10And more space.
21:12And even
21:13more space.
21:16Stretching in
21:17all directions.
21:19It's enough
21:20to make your head
21:21spin.
21:21So where could
21:33all this matter,
21:34energy
21:34and space
21:36come from?
21:38We had no idea
21:39until well
21:41into the 20th century.
21:48The answer
21:49came from
21:50the insights
21:50of one man.
21:53Probably the most
21:54remarkable scientist
21:56who has ever lived.
22:03His name
22:04was Albert Einstein.
22:07Sadly,
22:08I never got to meet him
22:09since I was only 13
22:11when he died.
22:12Einstein realized
22:20something
22:21quite remarkable.
22:23That two
22:23of the main
22:24ingredients
22:24needed to make
22:25a universe,
22:27mass
22:27and energy,
22:29are basically
22:30the same thing.
22:32Two sides
22:32of the same coin,
22:34if you like.
22:34his famous equation
22:42E equals
22:43mc squared
22:45simply means
22:46that mass
22:47can be thought
22:48of as a kind
22:48of energy
22:49and vice versa.
22:55So instead
22:56of three ingredients,
22:58we can now say
22:59the universe
23:00has just two,
23:03energy
23:03and space.
23:08So where did
23:09all this energy
23:10and space
23:11come from?
23:13The answer
23:13was found
23:14after decades
23:15of work
23:15by scientists.
23:17Space
23:17and energy
23:18were spontaneously
23:20created
23:21in an event
23:22we now call
23:23the Big Bang.
23:24At the moment
23:30of the Big Bang,
23:31an entire universe
23:33full of energy
23:33came into existence
23:35and within
23:36space.
23:39It all inflated
23:40just like a balloon
23:42being blown up.
23:46So where did
23:48all this energy
23:49and space
23:49come from?
23:52How does
23:53an entire universe
23:54come from?
23:55It's full of energy,
23:55the awesome
23:56vastness of space
23:57and everything in it
23:59simply appear
24:01out of nothing.
24:03For some,
24:04this is where God
24:06comes back
24:06into the picture.
24:11It was God
24:13that created
24:14the energy
24:15and the space.
24:17The Big Bang
24:17was the moment
24:18of creation.
24:21But science
24:23tells a different
24:24story.
24:27At the risk
24:28of getting myself
24:29into trouble,
24:30I think we can
24:31understand far more
24:33the natural phenomena
24:34that terrified
24:35the Vikings.
24:37We can even
24:38go beyond
24:38the beautiful symmetry
24:40of matter
24:40and energy
24:41discovered by Einstein.
24:43We can use
24:44the laws of nature
24:45to grasp
24:46the very origins
24:47of the universe
24:48and discover
24:49if the existence
24:50of a God
24:51is the only way
24:51to explain it.
24:55As I was growing up
24:57in England
24:57after the Second World War,
24:59it was a time
25:00of austerity.
25:03We were taught
25:04that you never get
25:05something for nothing.
25:09But now,
25:10after a lifetime
25:11of work,
25:12I think that in fact
25:13you can get
25:14a whole universe
25:15for free.
25:23The great mystery
25:24at the heart
25:25of the Big Bang
25:25is to explain
25:27how an entire
25:28fantastically
25:29enormous universe
25:30of space
25:31and energy
25:32can materialize
25:33out of nothing.
25:37The secret lies
25:39in one of the strangest
25:40facts about our cosmos.
25:41The laws of physics
25:46demand the existence
25:47of something called
25:48negative energy.
26:02To get your head
26:03around this weird
26:04but crucial concept,
26:06let me draw
26:07a simple analogy.
26:10Imagine a man
26:11wants to build
26:12a hill
26:12on a flat piece
26:14of land.
26:15The hill
26:16will represent
26:17the universe.
26:26To make this hill,
26:28he digs a hole
26:29in the ground
26:29and uses that soil
26:31to build his hill.
26:33But of course,
26:37he's not just
26:38making a hill.
26:40He's also making
26:42a hole.
26:44In effect,
26:45a negative version
26:46of the hill.
26:54The stuff that was
26:55in the hole
26:55has now become
26:56the hill.
26:58So it all perfectly
26:59balances out.
27:00This is the principle
27:05behind what happened
27:06right at the beginning
27:07of the universe.
27:15When the Big Bang
27:16produced a vast amount
27:17of positive energy,
27:19it simultaneously
27:20produced the same amount
27:22of negative energy.
27:23In this way,
27:27the positive
27:27and the negative
27:28add up to zero.
27:31Always.
27:34It's another law
27:35of nature.
27:39So where is
27:40all this negative energy
27:42today?
27:47It's in the third ingredient
27:49in our cosmic cookbook.
27:53It's in space.
27:59This may sound odd,
28:01but according to
28:02the laws of nature
28:03concerning gravity
28:04and motion,
28:05laws that are among
28:06the oldest in science,
28:09space itself
28:10is a vast store
28:11of negative energy.
28:14Enough to ensure
28:15that everything
28:16adds up to zero.
28:21I'll admit
28:22that unless
28:23mathematics is your thing,
28:25this is hard to grasp,
28:27but it's true.
28:32The endless web
28:33of billions
28:34upon billions
28:35of galaxies,
28:36each pulling on one another
28:38by the force of gravity,
28:40acts like a giant
28:41storage device.
28:42The universe
28:44is like an enormous
28:46battery
28:47storing negative energy.
28:53The positive side
28:54of things,
28:55the mass
28:55and the energy
28:56we see today,
28:58is like the hill.
29:01The corresponding
29:02whole
29:03or negative
29:03side of things
29:04is spread
29:06throughout space.
29:10So what does
29:11that mean,
29:11on our quest
29:13to find out
29:13if there is a god?
29:17It means that
29:18if the universe
29:19adds up to nothing,
29:21then you don't need
29:22a god to create it.
29:25The universe
29:26is the ultimate
29:27free lunch.
29:28since we know
29:41that the positive
29:42and negative
29:43in the universe
29:44adds up to zero,
29:45all we have to do now
29:47is work out what,
29:48or dare I say who,
29:50triggered the whole process
29:52in the first place.
29:53what could cause
29:59the spontaneous
30:00appearance
30:00of a universe?
30:06At first,
30:07it seems a baffling
30:08problem.
30:10After all,
30:11in our daily lives,
30:12things don't simply
30:13materialize
30:14out of the blue.
30:15You can't just
30:27click your fingers
30:28and summon up
30:29a cup of coffee
30:30when you feel
30:31like one,
30:31can you?
30:35You have to make it
30:37out of other stuff,
30:38like coffee beans,
30:40water,
30:41perhaps some milk
30:42and sugar.
30:46But travel down
30:47into this coffee cup,
30:49through the milk
30:51particles,
30:52down to the atomic
30:55level,
30:56and right down
30:58to the subatomic
30:59level,
31:00and you enter
31:03a world
31:04where conjuring
31:05something out of
31:06nothing is possible,
31:08at least for a
31:10short while.
31:12That's because
31:14at this scale,
31:16particles,
31:17such as protons,
31:18behave according
31:19to the laws of nature
31:21we call
31:21quantum mechanics.
31:24And they really
31:25can appear
31:25at random.
31:28Stick around
31:29for a while,
31:30and then vanish
31:32again,
31:33to reappear
31:34somewhere else.
31:37Since we know
31:38the universe itself
31:39was once
31:40very small,
31:41smaller than
31:42a proton,
31:43in fact,
31:44this means
31:45something quite
31:46remarkable.
31:50It means
31:51the universe itself,
31:53in all of its
31:54mind-boggling
31:55vastness and
31:56complexity,
31:57can simply have
31:58popped into
31:59existence
32:00without violating
32:02the known laws
32:04of nature.
32:04From that moment
32:09on, vast amounts
32:11of energy
32:11were released
32:12as space
32:12itself expanded.
32:15A place to store
32:17all the negative
32:18energy needed
32:19to balance the books.
32:26But of course,
32:27the critical question
32:28is raised again.
32:29did God create
32:33the quantum laws
32:34that allowed
32:35the Big Bang
32:36to occur?
32:43In a nutshell,
32:44do we need
32:45a God
32:46to set it all up
32:47so that the Big Bang
32:48could
32:49bang?
32:50I have no desire
32:54to offend anyone
32:55of faith,
32:57but I think
32:57science has a
32:58more compelling
32:59explanation than
33:00a divine creator.
33:02This explanation
33:09is made possible
33:10because of
33:11something strange
33:11about the principle
33:12of cause
33:14and effect.
33:16Our everyday
33:17experience
33:18makes us convinced
33:19that everything
33:20that happens
33:20must be caused
33:21by something
33:22that occurred
33:23earlier in time.
33:26So it's natural
33:27for us to assume
33:28that something,
33:30perhaps God,
33:30must have caused
33:32the universe
33:32to come into existence.
33:35But when we're
33:36talking about
33:36the universe
33:37as a whole,
33:38that isn't
33:40necessarily so.
33:41Let me explain.
33:44Imagine a river
33:45flowing down
33:47a mountainside.
33:49What caused
33:50the river?
33:54Well,
33:55perhaps the rain.
33:56Rain that fell
33:57earlier in the mountains.
34:00But then
34:01what caused
34:02the rain?
34:04A good answer
34:05would be the sun.
34:07The sun that shone
34:08on the ocean
34:08and lifted water vapor
34:10up into the sky
34:11and made clouds.
34:14Okay,
34:15so what caused
34:15the sun to shine?
34:18Well,
34:19if we look inside,
34:20we see the process
34:21known as fusion,
34:22in which hydrogen atoms
34:24join to form helium,
34:26releasing vast quantities
34:27of energy in the process.
34:30So far,
34:31so good.
34:32Where does the hydrogen
34:33come from?
34:38Answer?
34:39The Big Bang.
34:45But here's the crucial bit.
34:47The laws of nature
34:51themselves tell us
34:52that not only
34:52can the universe
34:53have popped into existence
34:55like a proton
34:55and have required
34:57nothing in terms
34:58of energy,
35:01but also
35:03that it is possible
35:03that nothing
35:04caused the Big Bang.
35:08Nothing.
35:09Nothing.
35:09Nothing.
35:09Nothing.
35:09Nothing.
35:17Nothing.
35:18Nothing.
35:19Nothing.
35:20Nothing.
35:21Nothing.
35:22Nothing.
35:23The explanation
35:24lies back
35:25with the theories
35:25of Einstein
35:26and his insights
35:28into how space
35:29and time
35:30in the universe
35:31are fundamentally
35:32intertwined.
35:36Something very wonderful
35:37happened to time
35:38at the instant
35:39of the Big Bang.
35:42Time itself
35:43began.
35:44To understand
35:49this mind-boggling idea,
35:52consider one of these,
35:54a black hole
35:56floating in space.
36:02A typical black hole
36:04is a star
36:05so massive
36:05that it has collapsed
36:07in on itself.
36:09It's so massive
36:10that not even light
36:12can escape
36:13its gravity.
36:14which is why
36:15it's almost
36:15perfectly black.
36:18Its gravitational field
36:19is so powerful.
36:21It doesn't only
36:22warp and distort light,
36:24but also time.
36:28To see how,
36:29imagine a clock
36:30is being sucked
36:31into it.
36:32as the clock
36:42gets closer
36:42and closer
36:43to the black hole,
36:45it begins
36:45to get slower
36:46and slower.
36:48time itself
37:02begins to slow down.
37:12Now imagine the clock
37:14as it enters
37:15as it enters
37:15the black hole.
37:21Well,
37:22assuming of course
37:23it could withstand
37:23the extreme
37:24gravitational forces,
37:27the clock
37:27would actually
37:29stop.
37:31it stops not because
37:48it's broken,
37:50but because inside
37:51the black hole itself,
37:53time doesn't exist.
37:55and that's exactly
37:58what happened
37:58at the start
38:00of the universe.
38:03The role played
38:04by time
38:05at the beginning
38:06of the universe
38:07is,
38:08I believe,
38:09the final key
38:10to removing
38:10the need
38:11for a grand designer
38:12and revealing
38:14how the universe
38:15created itself.
38:26As we travel
38:27back in time
38:28towards the moment
38:29of the Big Bang,
38:31the universe
38:35gets smaller
38:36and smaller
38:38and smaller.
38:42until it finally
38:46comes to a point
38:47where the whole
38:49universe
38:49is in a space
38:51so small
38:51that it is,
38:52in effect,
38:53a single,
38:55infinitesimally small,
38:57infinitesimally dense
38:58black hole.
39:00and just as
39:15with modern-day
39:16black holes
39:17floating around
39:17in space,
39:19the laws of nature
39:20dictate something
39:21quite extraordinary.
39:25They tell us
39:26that here, too,
39:29time itself
39:29must come
39:31to a stop.
39:41You can't get
39:42to a time
39:43before the Big Bang
39:44because
39:45there was no
39:47before the Big Bang.
39:50We have finally
39:51found something
39:52that doesn't have
39:53a cause
39:54because there was
39:56no time
39:56for a cause
39:58to exist in.
40:01For me,
40:02this means
40:03there is no
40:03possibility
40:04of a creator
40:05because there is
40:07no time
40:07for a creator
40:08to have existed.
40:09since time itself
40:19began at the moment
40:20of the Big Bang,
40:21it was an event
40:23that could not
40:23have been caused
40:24or created
40:25by anyone
40:27or anything.
40:28so science
40:34has given us
40:35the answer
40:35we set out
40:36to discover.
40:38An answer
40:39that took
40:39more than
40:403,000 years
40:41of human endeavor.
40:42We have discovered
40:50how the laws
40:51of nature
40:52acting on the mass
40:53and energy
40:54of the universe
40:55started a process
40:56that would eventually
40:57produce us
40:58sitting here
41:02on our planet
41:03pretty pleased
41:05at having
41:05worked it all out.
41:06So when people
41:21ask me
41:21if a god
41:22created the universe
41:23I tell them
41:25that the question
41:25itself
41:26makes no sense.
41:30Time
41:31didn't exist
41:32before the Big Bang
41:34so there is no time
41:36for god
41:36to make the universe
41:37in.
41:40It's like asking
41:41for directions
41:41to the edge
41:43of the earth.
41:45The earth
41:45is a sphere
41:46it doesn't have
41:47an edge
41:48so looking for it
41:49is a futile exercise.
41:54We are each
41:55free to believe
41:55what we want
41:56and it's my view
41:58that the simplest
41:59explanation is
42:00there is no god.
42:02no one created
42:04the universe
42:05and no one
42:06directs our fate.
42:10This leads me
42:11to a profound
42:12realization.
42:14There is probably
42:15no heaven
42:16and no afterlife
42:17either.
42:20We have this
42:21one life
42:22to appreciate
42:22the grand design
42:24of the universe
42:24and for that
42:28I am extremely
42:30grateful.
42:32I have a
43:02You