I haven’t yet read Cosmosapiens, but it looks very interesting. Here is a KIRKUS review of it referred to The Teilhard de Chardin Project by our scholar Stephen White:
COSMOSAPIENS: How We Are Evolving from the Origin of the Universe
by John Hands
KIRKUS REVIEW:
Hands has spent the last 10 years assembling a critical overview of scientific orthodoxy in an attempt to answer the fundamental questions âwhat are we?â and âwhy are we here?â
The author, who has had managerial responsibilities in the British government and has tutored in physics and management studies for the Open University, acknowledges the help of more than 50 accredited scientists with expertise in the fields he explores. The first target of his scrutiny is modern cosmologists, who face the dilemma of attempting to explain the putative origin of the universe in a big bang. Hands finds their efforts to be fundamentally inadequate due to their necessary reliance on both Einstein’s general relativity theory and the Standard Model of particle physics. Even though âeach has been extremely successful in making predictions that have been verified by observation and experiment within its own realm,â they are incompatible theoretically. Another of the authorâs bones of contention concerns the rate of expansion of the universe and whether it is constant or cyclical. He examines various attempts to explain the process, including string theory, loop theory, and the existence of undetectable dark matter and energy. In the author’s view, an even more fundamental issue is that scientists today mistakenly âconflate mathematical theory with scientific theory.â Moving on to the origins of life on Earth, Hands suggests that Darwin’s reputation is overblown and finds fault with the current âgene-focused paradigm.â Although the author refutes the claims of intelligent design proponents, he accepts the views of the Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin that the evolution of self-reflective humans has created a new stage in the evolution of the biosphere by our use of tools, artistic creations, and philosophy. Hands speculates on new stages of development involving âpsychicâ energy, and he provides an extensive glossary, which is helpful given the amount and depth of the material, much of which is esoteric.
A compendious work that will intrigue serious readers; others may find it overlong and too comprehensive.
John Hands responds:
Iâm baffled when the reviewer says that much of the material is esoteric (a term usually applied to the occult, at least in the UK). COSMOSAPIENS received pre-publication endorsements from a dozen leading scientists and philosophers, including the Albert Einstein Professor in Science at Princeton. Moreover two non-scientists have just selected it as their Book of the Year in the UKâs Times Literary Supplement. Most reviewers to date comment on how lucidly the book is written for the non-specialist.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-hands/cosmosapiens/
