Food For Thought: Turtles All The Way Down

6 Comments by Nicolas Sampson on 18th Jan 2012

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In his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking touches on the notion of infinite regress and the repetition of structures in what seems to be an endless cascade of reality. The book itself starts with an anecdote that captures the concept in both scientific and vernacular terms, setting the tone for an extraordinary journey:

‘A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!” ‘