Thinking Stardust: When Atoms Wonder - Softcover

Tiger, Arthur

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798898680008

Publisher: Textbook, 2025

Synopsis

You are made of 45 kilograms of oxygen, 12 kilograms of carbon, 7 kilograms of hydrogen, and a handful of other ordinary elements-the same stuff found in soil and seawater. Yet somehow, this collection of atoms has learned to think, to wonder, to create, and to contemplate its own existence.

In Stardust That Learned to Think, we embark on a profound journey through modern physics and philosophy to explore the deepest questions about consciousness, free will, and our place in the cosmos. Can the universe think? Are we simply sophisticated machines, or something more? What happens when matter becomes complex enough to ponder itself?

Drawing from cutting-edge research in cosmology, neuroscience, and quantum physics, this book reveals the startling parallels between the structure of the human brain and the cosmic web of galaxies, examines whether consciousness might emerge from quantum processes, and confronts the unsettling possibility that our sense of free will might be an illusion.

Yet this is not a story of reductionism triumphant. Instead, it's an exploration of emergence, complexity, and the beautiful mystery of how unconscious matter can give rise to conscious experience. From the enigma of supermassive black holes to the puzzle of consciousness, from the possibility of creating universes in laboratories to the question of whether God might be a cosmic engineer-this book tackles the biggest questions with scientific rigor and philosophical depth.

"A thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be conscious matter in an unconscious universe."

For readers of Carlo Rovelli, Sean Carroll, and Max Tegmark-a book that will change how you think about thinking itself.

Edition details

• Publisher: Textbook
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798898680008
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 120