Antiphony

"What if the universe, instead of being a giant machine, is really a giant thought?"

Theodore Reveil is one of the leading lights in String Theory physics, on his way to present his latest research at a triumphant meeting of his colleagues from around the world, when he realizes he has lost the notes for his presentation. On the verge of panic, he is in the middle of ransacking his hotel room in search of the missing notes when he is stopped in his tracks by a voice-a vision of madness.

Thrown off his game, without his notes and shaken by what he has just experienced, he goes to the podium to deliver his speech nonetheless. And in the midst of his distraction and confusion, he poses the question: "What if the universe, instead of being a giant machine, as we have looked at it and studied it for the past three hundred years, is really a giant thought." Then he crosses a line which he can never step back over again, saying, "The infinities and singularities in our equations may be telling us that what we are missing is unknowable in terms of physical science. These unsolvable terms in our equations may be roadsigns pointing to consciousness-to God-as the missing piece of the puzzle."

Antiphony traces the downward spiral of Theodore's career in the wake of what he has said, and the remarkable transformation that leads him into the depths of madness . . . or the revelation of the Final Theory, the ultimate secret of the universe.