Over the past few years I have read so many books and articles about symmetry and spacetime that it is impossible to keep track of all the threads of thought that have passed through my mind. In writing the ECOS 2007 paper about spacetime, shape, symmetry and thermodynamics I wanted to include a reference to a particular idea I had read about, but was unable to find it when I went looking for it. The general notion was that if we look out into the sky, i.e. look out into spacetime, we can see the image of the structure of spacetime at the smallest scales. I found that thought very appealing and sensible.

Today I came across the source that I had not been able to find: the book The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene. On p. 308 he states:

According to inflation, the more than 100 billion galaxies, sparkling throughout space like heavenly diamonds, are nothing but quantum mechanics writ large across the sky.

I’m glad to have found that again.