Book Reviewed: The God Equation: The Quest for a Theory of Everything by Michio Kaku

An ultimate theory that explains the cosmos Is there such a thing as the God Equation? Physicists rarely speak of consciousness in working physics theories. They don’t even consider God as a part of physical laws that operate independently on matter and energy in spacetime. In fact, no one believes that a single tidy equation codifies the operations of the cosmos. General relativity explains physics at larger cosmic scale. It predicts things like the bending of spacetime by cosmic bodies, but quantum theory works at the sub-atomic scale. The four fundamental forces of nature like gravity, electromagnetism, the “weak force” responsible for radioactive decay of some nuclei, and the “strong force” binding the atomic nucleus together are responsible for all physical forces in nature. The standard model of physics that emerges from these developments results in a zoo of subatomic particles. But the quest to unify all four fundamental forces has stalled due to the confounding features of gravity. It is easy to understand gravity in classical and relativistic physics, but at quantum scales, it is difficult to comprehend. When we look at the universe today, we see the four forces working independently of from each another. Gravity, light, and the nuclear forces, at first glance, seem to have nothing in common. But as you go back in time, these forces begin to converge resulting in one super-force at the instant of the Big Bang. At this moment, the two theories, quantum mechanics and general relativity collapse into one working theory. At Big Bang, with one super-force and one physical law, the matter obeyed a primary symmetry, which could rotate all particles into one another. The equation that governed one super-force may be called the God equation. But we cannot produce one elegant formula that accounts for the birth of the cosmos. Physicists frequently use consciousness to interpret quantum reality, but it is never found in physics equations, and they shy away to include that in the physical reality we experience in everyday life. Consciousness seems to pervade spacetime on which matter-energy are embedded. The spacetime and matter-energy collapses into the Pure Consciousness, this is called “Brahman” which forms the core of the teachings Vedanta Philosophy of Hinduism. The reality we experience is interpreted as illusion called “Maya.” After the Big Bang, as the universe expanded, then it began to cool and the various forces and symmetries began to break into pieces, leaving the fragmented weak and strong force symmetries of the Standard Model of today. But to understand the physics we need a mechanism that can precisely break original primary symmetry. In addition, we must address how did the laws of physics evolve, and what is the nature of quantum vacuum where particles and anti-particles come into existence momentarily out of nothing, and then annihilate instantly. The author discusses the basic framework of physics and string theory in a readable manner but fails to explain why he used this title for his book. I can’t help but think that this a good marketing strategy. This title enabled this book to be listed in the New York Times Best Sellers page.