A review by neo1
The Universe in a Single Atom by Dalai Lama XIV

5.0

This is going on the stack again for a second read. The Universe in a Single Atom is a highly compelling look at the social responsibility scientists should assume in order to earn our trust and respect. The book starts with the demonstration of how physicists have helped us know our universe at the micro and macro level. Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, admits that he struggles to fully understand these posits, but does not disregard the work of great minds. This is good, because this is the stuff I struggled to fully comprehend too. There is so much scientific detail and information given in chapter three, "Emptiness, Relativity, and Quantum Physics," hence my need for a second read.

Later chapters on ethics and the study of sentience speak to the need to NOT reduce our unique experiences as humans to chemistry, neurology, and biology. "At the fundamental level, quantum mechanics tells us that it is impossible to predict accurately how a particle might behave in a given situation. One can, therefore, make predictions about the behavior of particles only on the basis of probability. If this is so, no matter how powerful one's mathematical formulas might be, since our knowledge of the initial conditions of a given phenomenon or an event will always be incomplete, we cannot fully understand how the rest of the story unfolds."

The Universe in a Single Atom is the Dalai Lama's call to both scientists and laypeople to concern ourselves with the pace of technology. We can appreciate and respect our scientific advances, but we should also take caution that each of these can have far-reaching and unpredictable outcomes affecting our planet and our people.