Customer Reviews

Biocosm: The New Scientific Theory of Evolution: Intelligent Life Is the Architect of the Universe

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If you like to explore provocative ideas, then you will enjoy Biocosm. Gardner begins by arguing that a strong version of the Anthropic Principal is required to account for the goodness of fit between the physical parameters of our current universe, and the parameters required for the evolution of intelligent life. He builds on Lee Smolin?s hypothesis (The Life of the Cosmos) that our current universe is the product of a long evolutionary history that has favored universes that could produce baby universes (in the form of black holes) and these same parameters are also favorable for intelligent life. Gardner points out (correctly) that Smolin's hypothesis does not explain how such baby universes inherit the parameters of their mothers, and then offers a provocative solution. It is our future intelligent progeny that program the physical laws into future universes (as they have in the past). This is Gardner's Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis (SB). Gardner rejects Linde's "eternal chaotic inflation" plus a weak version of the anthropic principal (ECI&WA) but it appears to me that Gardner needs Linde's idea to produce the FIRST universe with intelligent life. After that, SB might work. However, if ECI&WA is needed to get SB off the ground, then SB is no longer useful, since ECI&WA alone can account for the apparent goodness of fit between the parameters of the physical universe and the parameters necessary for intelligent life. Despite my concerns, I believe Gardner's book is worth reading because it addresses some of the critical issues and constraints that confront any acceptable theory of cosmic origins.

There have been various attempts to explain the Anthropic Cosmological Principle, from a "weak" version, advocated by those who argue that only those universes with observers are known, and as our universe has observers, the constants have to be those that permit observers. The "strong" version was explored by Frank Tipler, John Wheeler and John Barrow in "The Anthropic Principle", which suggests that rather than making humans being the purpose of the universe, it is to evolve the functional equivalent of the divine. Lee Smolin, in "Life in the Universe" proposes that universes, through black holes can create daughter universes, and that if this is the case the universe that maximises black holes will quickly statistically outnumber the others. This book avoids the weakness of the book by Tipler, that shows "a Big Crunch" will not happen, and puts life firmly at the centre of Cosmos, unlike Smolin.

Books like this are rare and precious. Garner is not presenting theology, yet the book lends itself to theological outcomes. Such a book would allow the fusion, after a centuries long divorse, of science and religion, without compromising either. I highly recommend it.

Every once in awhile a science book hits the market that has the power to forever change the public's perception of our existence. Books like Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time and Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe presented concepts so unique that they forced us all to take a big gulp and digest bold new thoughts about our existence.

James Gardner's Biocosm falls into this category. This book takes a fresh look at everything we know about life and the universe and makes us think in a radical new way. Ultimately, the importance of books like this lie not in the details of their theories (which are ultimately superseded by others) but in their power to help humanity grasp what we are and how we came to be. If the question of existence is a priority for you then you must read Biocosm.

This book poses the question--Why is the universe bio-friendly? To provide an answer, James Gardner draws on a wide range of scientific theories to form a synthesis:

The essence of that synthesis is that life, mind and the fate of the cosmos are intimately and indissolubly linked in a very special way. To echo the insightful phrase of Princeton astrophysicist Freeman Dyson, it is my contention that "mind and intelligence are woven into the fabric of our universe in a way that altogether surpasses our comprehension."

The answer to this question has usually been framed in one of two anthropic principles. The weak version states the tautology that that since humans inhabit this universe, it must be life-friendly. The strong version suggests that life and intelligence will eventually be shown to by inherent in the laws of nature.

But whereas the strong principle usually ends up floundering on the implication of a theistic creator, Gardner proposes a naturalistic solution:

The basic claim of this book is that the oddly life-friendly character of the fundamental physical laws and constants that prevail in our universe can be explained as the predictable outcome of natural processes--specifically the evolution of life and intelligence of tens of billions of years.

The way this evolution takes place forms the essence of his Selfish Biocosm hypothesis--that the cosmos replicates itself and propagates itself in successive universes leading to universes that are bio-friendly.

To develop his hypothesis, Gardner draws not just on cosmology, but on evolutionary biology, computer theory and complexity theory. He does this in a thorough but extraordinarily clear manner. Though he has published his theory in scholarly journals, this book form is done in a rich format of beautiful pictures, an excellent glossary and explanatory sidebars on various related topics which are almost a book in themselves . Perhaps the clarity of the writing is due to the fact that besides his scientific interests and writings, Gardner is an attorney, a former state legislator and a lobbyist.

The book can be seen as a response to the famous statement by the physicist Steven Weinberg that "the more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless":

In the final chapter, Gardner moves from scientific theory and considers the practical implications of the theory, including the ethical, legal and religious aspects. He concludes with Freeman Dyson's idea that a sufficiently evolved mind is indistinguishable from the mind of God.

The Selfish Biocosm hypothesis takes Dyson's assertion of equivalence one step further by suggesting that there is a discernible and comprehensible evolutionary ladder by means of which mortal minds will one day ascend into the intellectual stratosphere that will be the domain of superminds--what Dyson would call the realm of God.

By broadening our vision of the larger process, it provides a naturalistic and scientific basis for the search for meaning and for other "Big Questions" of our past and our future.

Once in a generation, if that often, comes a writer with a clarity of vision and a clarity of expression who can transport the reader into realms of human inquiry that are usually not part of that reader's usual areas of uncderstanding. James N. Gardner in BIOCOSM has accomplished this task with admirable skill, even brilliance. He is that rare writer whose thoughts and imagination can open your eyes to phenomena that were always there, but to which you yourself may never given as much consideration as has he. He is an extraordinary writer and thinker and this work deserves the highest praise.
I only wish Amazon.com had 100 stars, for that is what this book should have. Read it and see the world around you in a new and deeper way. Splendid!

For centuries science has wrestled with the question of how our amazingly complex, life-filled, universe could have formed without the aid on an outside intelligence. Biocosm proposes the most surprising answer of all, that life itself provided the intelligence that created our bio-friendly universe.

The central hypothesis of the book is that at some time in the future, intelligent beings will have the capability of creating universes with the precise characteristics required to spawn life. Whether or not you buy this thesis, Biocosm presents a kaleidoscope of scientific possibilities so advanced that it makes Star Trek look like a buggy ride.

Gardner does an admirable job of weaving together relativity, evolution and complexity theory in a way that keeps the reader glued to each page. The result is a scientific roller coaster that stretches the readers concepts of time, space and intelligence beyond the limits of imagination.

The fatal flaw of the 'Biocosm' hypothesis is that of infinite regress: Each designed universe had a designer, which in turn had to have a super-designer, and so on. Ultimately, to avoid such a regress of designers, we must begin with a universe capable of producing designers that was not itself designed. But the possibility of an undesigned universe capable of producing intelligent designers undermines the whole purpose of proposing the Biocosm hypothesis in the first place. So ultimately 'Biocosm' doesn't solve the fundamental problem it sets out to solve, it merely postpones it. Note that the theistic argument from design fails for a similar reason: If organized complexity (e.g., life) requires a designer, then so does an intelligent living God (who must be organized and complex if he is to be intelligent and alive). This God, in turn, would require a super-intelligent designer, ad infinitum. It's time we all bravely faced reality, and let go of our anthropocentric hubris.

I read Biocosm and the Intelligent Universe. Both are very thought provoking books. I really enjoyed them. Gardner brings up some facinating points that are generally well supported, though he does stretch the boundaries between the metaphysical and hard science. I've always firmly believed in the concept of eternal progression, whether it's via some evolutionary means or extraterrestial. I really connected deeply with his books almost as if I was just being reminded what I really knew to be true.

Initially intrigued with this book, I quickly lost interest. It starts out well but then degenerates into a bunch of random points which the author tries to use to argue his hypothesis that the universe was designed to give rise to intelligent life as a final outcome. The blurbs along the margin were major distractions & made it hard to stay focused on the actual material in the book. The book just kind of wanders around the various fields of science trying to find evidence to support the author's premise and then ends with the pronouncement that we're the peak of creation (very Genesis-like). I'd have to pronounce this book mildly interesting if you can wade through the claptrap and the biased agenda.

Since the greeks, two contrasting ideas are the main players in the discussion of the Cosmos origin. Today, Inteligent Design postulates an inteligent creator for our Universe (with the hidden agenda that "He" is possibly the Christian or Islamic onipotent God). Another view postulates an infinite Landscape of possible Universes, from those, by pure chance, a tiny fraction enables complexity and life to emerge (and we, of course, inhabit one of these lucky universes). The authors discuss a Third Way, a vision that fuses both ideas: the universes evolve by Darwinian or even Genetic Engineering mechanisms where galactic biospheres play a catalizing role in the creation of baby universes. In contrast to some naive reviews done here, apparently writen by ID supporters, it is indeed an intriging and non-trivial alternative. The idea does not involves an infinite regress because at each generation the universe parameters (akin to genes) are selected as to produce more easily the next inteligent biospheres. This means that the biophylic character of the universes pool is increasing along time, it is not an stationary process. So, what it is need is a proto-evolutionary model for the first biophilic universe. Perhaps the Smolin model of baby universes catalized by black holes is such protoevolutionary mechanism. This means that the Inteligent Designer is not omnipotent or omniscient, but evolves along time by a Darwinian mechanism: a true synthesis between the ID and standard science. This means that any argument or "evidence" for ID is also favourable to the Biocosmo Hypotesis(BH), and BH should be discussed in schools where ID is taught. So, the final question is: the Designer is onipotent? If so, why the Cosmos is full of "problems" and "evil", from the point of view of Life. The Selfish Biocosmo accounts this, Christian or Islamic ID, not.