STEPHEN HAWKING:    [on camera, Nick Warner translating]  From the age
 of 13 or 14, I wanted to know how the universe worked  and why, and why
 it is what it is.  But now I have some idea of how the universe works,
 but I still do not really understand--but I still do not really understand why.

                                   *****

 TIMOTHY FERRIS:   [at Pigeon Point, California]  Einstein used to say
 the incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it's comprehensible.
 an old riddle: What is there about the human mind that so resonates with
 the rest of the universe that we're able to understand anything about the
 work of nature on the largest scale?  It's a philosophical question, I
 suppose, but science has been able to provide us with a little bit of the
 answer. When we look at subatomic particles, and we look at the stars and
 galaxies, we see evidence from every direction that the universe is all of
 a piece, and that it began as a single seed smaller than an atom.

 And in a very real sense, you and I were there.  Every scrap of matter
 and energy in our blood and bones and in the synapses of our thoughts,
 can trace its lineage back to the origin of the universe.  The natural
 laws that fragmented and multiplied as the young universe expanded and
 cooled continue to operate today in the beating of our hearts, as in
 the trajectories of the stars.

    As the Koran puts it, "The universe is as close as the veins in our
 necks." The evolution of the universe goes on, not just around us, but
 within us.  Our thoughts and feelings, after all, are part of the uni-
 verse too.  And its story is our story as well.

                                * * * * *

 end.

Thank you for reading.

Best regards,

Jack

--- FMail 1.22