The Earth analogy does not determine the direction of disorder
Present a plausible explanation or expectation, show the observation or evidence gap it cannot account for, and return to the same question with a revised account that changes the later interpretation or application.
A Brief History of Time
Stephen Hawking · 112 weeksThe Earth analogy does not determine the direction of disorder
SHORT SOURCE EXCERPT“I was misled partly by the analogy”
Hawking first describes the reversal of disorder he expected in a contracting universe. He identifies a misleading transfer from the poles of Earth and a simple model, credits Page and Laflamme for corrections, and states that disorder would continue increasing before returning to why observers find the arrows aligned.
The passage retains the attractive first account so the reader can locate the failed inference. Its correction changes the question the remaining explanation must answer.
The source in context.
The chapter distinguishes thermodynamic, psychological and cosmological directions of time. Hawking explains why he changed his view about disorder during contraction, then returns to the question of why the arrows align in the conditions observers inhabit.
Open this chapterWhat this example supports
The passage retains the attractive first account so the reader can locate the failed inference. Its correction changes the question the remaining explanation must answer.
Its limit
This is the author’s account of a conceptual correction within this edition’s scientific framework. The full technical derivation and its current standing have not been checked.
Source & edition
Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time; supplied updated local ebook text; copyright 1988 and 1996, publishing history lists 1998 Bantam editions; eISBN 9780553896923. Includes the added chapter on wormholes and time travel.
Supplied text, lines 881–893. The short quotation is checked against the source.
The completed whole-source AI synthesis supplied candidate observations and the broad argument map. This Codex editorial pass checked original source headings, section boundaries, openings and selected argumentative contexts; inspected every retained example; checked the existing pattern dictionary and base examples; and rewrote or rejected nominations. It is a source-checked editorial pass, not a new independently adjudicated whole-book reading.
supplied updated local ebook text; copyright 1988 and 1996, publishing history lists 1998 Bantam editions; eISBN 9780553896923. Includes the added chapter on wormholes and time travel