Where will the science of black holes, gravitational waves, and time travel lead us? Our minds tell us that some things in the universe must be true. The new physics tells us that they are not, and in the process it blurs the line between science and science fiction. Here are five accessible essays by those who walk that line, moving ever further out in discovering the patterns of nature, aimed at listeners who share their fascination with the deepest mysteries of the universe.
Stephen W. Hawking: Chronology Protection
Our fantasies of time travel and why they probably violate physical laws that we have yet to discover.Kip S. Thorne: Speculations About the Future
What we might expect to discover about general relativity and its interface with quantum theory in the new century.Igor Novikov: Can We Change the Past?
An exploration of the problems time machines pose to logic and free will.Timothy Ferris: On the Popularization of Science
How scientists can communicate to the public the new, often counterintuitive ideas of spacetime.Alan Lightman: The Physicist as Novelist
The creative similarities of and differences between working in theoretical physics and writing fiction.The Future of Spacetime is also available in print from W.W. Norton & Company.
