Ask the Author: Pierre St. Clair
Answered Questions (7)
Pierre St. Clair
Clearly, you haven't read the book - probably skimmed it - because the content mostly references books, papers, and scientific journals quoting more than 64 luminaries of astrophysics both past and present.
Therefore, your comment "no technical nor academic competence" would apply to the greatest physicists the world has known. And that reveals your comment to be nonsense.
People with a biased mindset about certain topics cannot speak objectively about them. Thus they enter the realm of nonsense without even realizing it.
Therefore, your comment "no technical nor academic competence" would apply to the greatest physicists the world has known. And that reveals your comment to be nonsense.
People with a biased mindset about certain topics cannot speak objectively about them. Thus they enter the realm of nonsense without even realizing it.
Pierre St. Clair
I don't really experience writer's block because I think a lot about my topic. Then ideas begin to formulate. I get my best ideas musing in bed or during a shower.
Pierre St. Clair
The best thing is that one is able to express his opinions in a clear and educated manner. Also, working in pajamas is a plus :)
Pierre St. Clair
My advice is to find a topic that holds interest for you, and then look for a fresh angle to write about.
Alternatively, find dissenting opinions on a subject and focus on whether the dissent is factual or bogus.
Alternatively, find dissenting opinions on a subject and focus on whether the dissent is factual or bogus.
Pierre St. Clair
I'm currently working on a book about neuromania. I had no idea what that was until a friend mentioned that it was the "cutting edge" branch of neuroscience.
So i'm in the research stage and I do believe this is cutting edge. Hope to have the first draft ready before spring.
So i'm in the research stage and I do believe this is cutting edge. Hope to have the first draft ready before spring.
Pierre St. Clair
What inspires me first is an idea. Then I do some research to discover whether the concept has any merit for a book. Once I begin a project it is the material itself that keeps me inspired. Sometimes I get so involved in the writing I forget to eat :)
Pierre St. Clair
This is a good question that I answer in the Introduction to my book. Here it is:
Young people think for themselves. My sister didn’t buy that we came from God. She became an atheist. I didn’t buy it either, because I thought both atheists and theists were fanatics since there is no evidence either way. So I became agnostic.
I had real questions about the meaning of life. Why are we all here and what’s the purpose of everything? To satisfy my intellectual and trustworthy inclinations I needed comprehensive answers.
In 1980 I was fascinated by the Cosmos series on TV. The renowned American astronomer Carl Sagan took us on a journey through the universe to discover its secrets. I liked him because he was reasonable, logical, and confident. His explanations were systematic, plausible, and provable. That’s how he portrayed the modern scientific understanding of the universe.
My visit to London in April, 2011, was a turning point in my search for answers. I was staying with friends, who, in the best tradition of British hospitality, offered tea and pleasant conversation on arrival. Seeing I was tired, they showed me where I could rest after a long flight.
The room had a dark wooden shelf running the entire height and length of the wall filled with books; a veritable library. On a whim, I looked over the titles. One title caught my attention: The Goldilocks Enigma.
Perhaps the word “enigma” spoke to my own quest for answers. As I browsed through the pages, the author, British physicist Dr. Paul Davies, revealed to readers an issue that has baffled cosmologists since the 1960s.
Science has discovered that the universe is so finely-tuned in every detail that even the slightest adjustments in the laws of nature would mean that life as we know it could never have arisen. In other words, everything in the cosmos is “just right” to support life; similar to what Goldilocks discovered at the house of the three bears.
Wow! Why is our universe so precisely tailor-made for life to emerge? I stayed up most of the night reading. My desire to know was re-ignited. I had a renewed appreciation for the power of science to provide insights and explanations. My thoughts returned to my own adventure to unravel the mysteries of life. I was excited.
My first inclination was to watch the Cosmos series again. I got the DVDs and traveled back through time and space with Professor Sagan a second time. After reading The Goldilocks Enigma and watching Cosmos, a lot of questions arose.
I embarked on a journey to have a good look at the scientific data explaining reality and the origin of the universe. Finding illogical and outlandish assertions in every creation account I studied, I needed to get real facts.
Every civilization and culture since time immemorial has a creation story. Curiously, we see them all as myths – except our own. Ideas about who we are and where we come from are important. They influence our actions. We use our understanding of the past to make decisions about the present to create the future we desire tomorrow.
Ancient cultures always believed their creation story to be correct, and we are equally confident that our scientific story is the most correct. In every tradition, my own belief system always sounds best.
Today we have access to all the creation stories that came before us. The general public likes stories with large brush strokes and bold characters. The scientific creation account taught at schools and colleges is also a story – a story based on science – but a story nonetheless.
Most physicists readily admit that what we know today is likely to be revised significantly in the future. Society, however, does not thrive on uncertainty. When the scientific creation account is told in the form of a narrative, or story, it filters down to schools and the general public as a concrete, coherent plot. Most, if not all, of the uncertainty is removed. Thus, the creation account is presented as facts to be learned, rather than ideas to be explored.
Young people think for themselves. My sister didn’t buy that we came from God. She became an atheist. I didn’t buy it either, because I thought both atheists and theists were fanatics since there is no evidence either way. So I became agnostic.
I had real questions about the meaning of life. Why are we all here and what’s the purpose of everything? To satisfy my intellectual and trustworthy inclinations I needed comprehensive answers.
In 1980 I was fascinated by the Cosmos series on TV. The renowned American astronomer Carl Sagan took us on a journey through the universe to discover its secrets. I liked him because he was reasonable, logical, and confident. His explanations were systematic, plausible, and provable. That’s how he portrayed the modern scientific understanding of the universe.
My visit to London in April, 2011, was a turning point in my search for answers. I was staying with friends, who, in the best tradition of British hospitality, offered tea and pleasant conversation on arrival. Seeing I was tired, they showed me where I could rest after a long flight.
The room had a dark wooden shelf running the entire height and length of the wall filled with books; a veritable library. On a whim, I looked over the titles. One title caught my attention: The Goldilocks Enigma.
Perhaps the word “enigma” spoke to my own quest for answers. As I browsed through the pages, the author, British physicist Dr. Paul Davies, revealed to readers an issue that has baffled cosmologists since the 1960s.
Science has discovered that the universe is so finely-tuned in every detail that even the slightest adjustments in the laws of nature would mean that life as we know it could never have arisen. In other words, everything in the cosmos is “just right” to support life; similar to what Goldilocks discovered at the house of the three bears.
Wow! Why is our universe so precisely tailor-made for life to emerge? I stayed up most of the night reading. My desire to know was re-ignited. I had a renewed appreciation for the power of science to provide insights and explanations. My thoughts returned to my own adventure to unravel the mysteries of life. I was excited.
My first inclination was to watch the Cosmos series again. I got the DVDs and traveled back through time and space with Professor Sagan a second time. After reading The Goldilocks Enigma and watching Cosmos, a lot of questions arose.
I embarked on a journey to have a good look at the scientific data explaining reality and the origin of the universe. Finding illogical and outlandish assertions in every creation account I studied, I needed to get real facts.
Every civilization and culture since time immemorial has a creation story. Curiously, we see them all as myths – except our own. Ideas about who we are and where we come from are important. They influence our actions. We use our understanding of the past to make decisions about the present to create the future we desire tomorrow.
Ancient cultures always believed their creation story to be correct, and we are equally confident that our scientific story is the most correct. In every tradition, my own belief system always sounds best.
Today we have access to all the creation stories that came before us. The general public likes stories with large brush strokes and bold characters. The scientific creation account taught at schools and colleges is also a story – a story based on science – but a story nonetheless.
Most physicists readily admit that what we know today is likely to be revised significantly in the future. Society, however, does not thrive on uncertainty. When the scientific creation account is told in the form of a narrative, or story, it filters down to schools and the general public as a concrete, coherent plot. Most, if not all, of the uncertainty is removed. Thus, the creation account is presented as facts to be learned, rather than ideas to be explored.
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