The writing of The Final Danger began by considering how rare we may be. Of all the species that have lived on Earth, human beings appear to be the only ones that have learned to reach far beyond their natural senses and explore the universe. Other creatures perceive things we cannot. Some see wavelengths of light invisible to us. Some hear frequencies beyond our range, sense magnetic fields, navigate across oceans, communicate in ways we are only beginning to understand

It began simply enough. I was listening to my song Space Bends, and one of its central ideas caught my attention again: space is not the empty, rigid stage we once imagined it to be. Space bends. Of course, even saying “space bends” is incomplete. One of the great discoveries of modern physics is that space and time are not really separate things. They are dimensions of a single reality: spacetime. Move through space and you are also moving through time. Change your rela