Professor Stephen Hawking Conference at the opening ceremony of the 25th anniversary of the Prince of Asturias Awards

Abstract

After pointing out that the Second Law of Thermodinamics is fullfilled because the universe started in a state of order, and that to predict its initial state both the general relativity law and the quantum theory must be used, Hawking proposes that the universe does not have only one history, but all possible histories, each one with its own amplitud of probability. He postulates that the histories of the universe depend on what is being measured, in opposition to the common idea that the universe has an objective history, independent from the observer: we create history through our observation, it is not history is that creates us.

He sustains that the initial condition for the universe is one of absence of frontiers, which implies that the primitive universe must have been almost flat, but with small irregularities; and that these would have grown -by the influence of gravity- and led to the formation of galaxies, stars, and finally to ‘intelligent considered’ beings.