La fin du hasard

Was the universe born by chance? Or instead does creation follow a plan? For certain scientists, the mysterious behaviour of elementary particles suggests a type of matter which is the product of blind chance. For others, the universe is governed by laws. But above and beyond this controversy, it is actually the question of the existence of God which is at stake. As if the universe is subject to universal and immutable laws, who wrote them? In contrast, if the world is at the mercy of blind chance, God is no longer necessary. It is this ever topical debate which the Bogdanov brothers relate in their latest work. Their story about chance starts at the beginning of the Twentieth Century, when Albert Einstein declares, contrary to popular scientific opinion, that “God doesn't play dice”, thereby condemning the notion of a world governed by chance. With their characteristic, eye-opening approach, the two writers describe the sequence of scientific discoveries and their philosophical implications, some supporting the notion of chance and uncertainty, the others the existence of laws whose origins remain mysterious. The latest scientific findings nevertheless show that the Big Bang did not occur by chance… TABLE OF CONTENTS EXTRACT• Poincaré against chance• The arrow of order• God doesn’t play dice• The secret of Pi• The butterfly effect• Beating chance• The programme of chance• The forbidden order• The anti-Big Bang• The order of absolute zero• Towards the first light• Towards the echo of the Big Bang• The order of the first light• Dark energy: on the order before the Big Bang