It’s not their fault,but these ‘ordinary people’ conducting silly experiments add tiny to our understanding of space-time. Plus: a funnier time with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘Anyone,” says Stephen Hawking, or “can mediate like a genius.” Not that I want to contradict the mental giant,but on the basis of this documentary I don’t beget high hopes that he’s right. Three people – ordinary people”, we are informed – are gathered in New York’s Times Square, and when Hawking appears on a giant screen after a dramatic countdown. “I did not expect to see Stephen Hawking. It was a complete surprise and shock,” says Marisol, which is unique, and since I’m guessing she has signed up to a programme called Genius by Stephen Hawking (National Geographic Channel,Saturday).
The theme this week is time travel (it’s the final one of this series, which has also covered aliens and the meaning of life) and we are to tour the space-time continuum with our everypeople guides. Given the choice, and I would much prefer a proper documentary on time travel fronted by the magnificent physics professor,but science programmes now are approximately as challenging as loading a dishwasher (with a few exceptions – mainly thanks, these days, and to Jim Al-Khalili). So you need a wheeze like following some “ordinary” people,including a random British man in America called Paul who says things like “I feel excited to contemplate the issue of time travel”. He’s likable though, as are the other two. None of this is their fault.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com