Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

'Explore as much as we can': Nobel Prize winner Charles Townes on evolution & intelligent design
UC Berkeley News ^ | 06/17/2005 | Bonnie Azab Powell,

Posted on 05/16/2007 6:54:51 AM PDT by SirLinksalot

Charles Townes is the Nobel Prize Physics winner whose pioneering work led to the maser and later the laser.

The University of California, Berkeley interviewed him on his 90th birthday where they talked about evolution, intelligent design and the meaning of life.

I thought this would be good to share...

----------------------------------------

BERKELEY – Religion and science, faith and empirical experiment: these terms would seem to have as little in common as a Baptist preacher and a Berkeley physicist. And yet, according to Charles Hard Townes, winner of a Nobel Prize in Physics and a UC Berkeley professor in the Graduate School, they are united by similar goals: science seeks to discern the laws and order of our universe; religion, to understand the universe's purpose and meaning, and how humankind fits into both.

Where these areas intersect is territory that Townes has been exploring for many of his 89 years, and in March his insights were honored with the 2005 Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities. Worth about $1.5 million, the Templeton Prize recognizes those who, throughout their lives, have sought to advance ideas and/or institutions that will deepen the world's understanding of God and of spiritual realities.

Townes first wrote about the parallels between religion and science in IBM's Think magazine in 1966, two years after he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking work in quantum electronics: in 1953, thanks in part to what Townes calls a "revelation" experienced on a park bench, he invented the maser (his acronym for Microwave Amplification by Stimulated Emission), which amplifies microwaves to produce an intense beam. By building on this work, he achieved similar amplification using visible light, resulting in the laser (whose name he also coined).

Even as his research interests have segued from microwave physics to astrophysics, Townes has continued to explore topics such as "Science, values, and beyond," in Synthesis of Science and Religion (1987), "On Science, and what it may suggest about us," in Theological Education (1988), and "Why are we here; where are we going?" in The International Community of Physics, Essays on Physics (1997).

Townes sat down one morning recently to discuss how these and other weighty questions have shaped his own life, and their role in current controversies over public education.

Q. If science and religion share a common purpose, why have their proponents tended to be at loggerheads throughout history?

Science and religion have had a long interaction: some of it has been good and some of it hasn't. As Western science grew, Newtonian mechanics had scientists thinking that everything is predictable, meaning there's no room for God — so-called determinism. Religious people didn't want to agree with that. Then Darwin came along, and they really didn't want to agree with what he was saying, because it seemed to negate the idea of a creator. So there was a real clash for a while between science and religions.

But science has been digging deeper and deeper, and as it has done so, particularly in the basic sciences like physics and astronomy, we have begun to understand more. We have found that the world is not deterministic: quantum mechanics has revolutionized physics by showing that things are not completely predictable. That doesn't mean that we've found just where God comes in, but we know now that things are not as predictable as we thought and that there are things we don't understand. For example, we don't know what some 95 percent of the matter in the universe is: we can't see it — it's neither atom nor molecule, apparently. We think we can prove it's there, we see its effect on gravity, but we don't know what and where it is, other than broadly scattered around the universe. And that's very strange.

So as science encounters mysteries, it is starting to recognize its limitations and become somewhat more open. There are still scientists who differ strongly with religion and vice versa. But I think people are being more open-minded about recognizing the limitations in our frame of understanding.

You've said "I believe there is no long-range question more important than the purpose and meaning of our lives and our universe." How have you attempted to answer that question?

Even as a youngster, you're usually taught that there's some purpose you'll try to do, how you are going to live. But that's a very localized thing, about what you want with your life. The broader question is, "What are humans all about in general, and what is this universe all about?" That comes as one tries to understand what is this beautiful world that we're in, that's so special: "Why has it come out this way? What is free will and why do we have it? What is a being? What is consciousness?" We can't even define consciousness. As one thinks about these broader problems, then one becomes more and more challenged by the question of what is the aim and purpose and meaning of this universe and of our lives.

Those aren't easy questions to answer, of course, but they're important and they're what religion is all about. I maintain that science is closely related to that, because science tries to understand how the universe is constructed and why it does what it does, including human life. If one understands the structure of the universe, maybe the purpose of man becomes a little clearer. I think maybe the best answer to that is that somehow, we humans were created somewhat in the likeness of God. We have free will. We have independence, we can do and create things, and that's amazing. And as we learn more and more — why, we become even more that way. What kind of a life will we build? That's what the universe is open about. The purpose of the universe, I think, is to see this develop and to allow humans the freedom to do the things that hopefully will work out well for them and for the rest of the world.

How do you categorize your religious beliefs?

I'm a Protestant Christian, I would say a very progressive one. This has different meanings for different people. But I'm quite open minded and willing to consider all kinds of new ideas and to look at new things. At the same time it has a very deep meaning for me: I feel the presence of God. I feel it in my own life as a spirit that is somehow with me all the time.

You've described your inspiration for the maser as a moment of revelation, more spiritual than what we think of as inspiration. Do you believe that God takes such an active interest in humankind?

[The maser] was a new idea, a sudden visualization I had of what might be done to produce electromagnetic waves, so it's somewhat parallel to what we normally call revelation in religion. Whether the inspiration for the maser and the laser was God's gift to me is something one can argue about. The real question should be, where do brand-new human ideas come from anyway? To what extent does God help us? I think he's been helping me all along. I think he helps all of us — that there's a direction in our universe and it has been determined and is being determined. How? We don't know these things. There are many questions in both science and religion and we have to make our best judgment. But I think spirituality has a continuous effect on me and on other people.

That sounds like you agree with the "intelligent design" movement, the latest framing of creationism, which argues that the complexity of the universe proves it must have been created by a guiding force.

I do believe in both a creation and a continuous effect on this universe and our lives, that God has a continuing influence — certainly his laws guide how the universe was built. But the Bible's description of creation occurring over a week's time is just an analogy, as I see it. The Jews couldn't know very much at that time about the lifetime of the universe or how old it was. They were visualizing it as best they could and I think they did remarkably well, but it's just an analogy.

Should intelligent design be taught alongside Darwinian evolution in schools as religious legislators have decided in Pennsylvania and Kansas?

I think it's very unfortunate that this kind of discussion has come up. People are misusing the term intelligent design to think that everything is frozen by that one act of creation and that there's no evolution, no changes. It's totally illogical in my view. Intelligent design, as one sees it from a scientific point of view, seems to be quite real. This is a very special universe: it's remarkable that it came out just this way. If the laws of physics weren't just the way they are, we couldn't be here at all. The sun couldn't be there, the laws of gravity and nuclear laws and magnetic theory, quantum mechanics, and so on have to be just the way they are for us to be here.

Some scientists argue that "well, there's an enormous number of universes and each one is a little different. This one just happened to turn out right." Well, that's a postulate, and it's a pretty fantastic postulate — it assumes there really are an enormous number of universes and that the laws could be different for each of them. The other possibility is that ours was planned, and that's why it has come out so specially. Now, that design could include evolution perfectly well. It's very clear that there is evolution, and it's important. Evolution is here, and intelligent design is here, and they're both consistent.

They don't have to negate each other, you're saying. God could have created the universe, set the parameters for the laws of physics and chemistry and biology, and set the evolutionary process in motion, But that's not what the Christian fundamentalists are arguing should be taught in Kansas.

People who want to exclude evolution on the basis of intelligent design, I guess they're saying, "Everything is made at once and then nothing can change." But there's no reason the universe can't allow for changes and plan for them, too. People who are anti-evolution are working very hard for some excuse to be against it. I think that whole argument is a stupid one. Maybe that's a bad word to use in public, but it's just a shame that the argument is coming up that way, because it's very misleading.

That seems to come up when religion seeks to control or limit the scope of science. We're seeing that with the regulation of research into stem cells and cloning. Should there be areas of scientific inquiry that are off-limits due to a culture's prevailing religious principles?

My answer to that is, we should explore as much as we can. We should think about everything, try to explore everything, and question things. That's part of our human characteristic in nature that has made us so great and able to achieve so much. Of course there are problems if we do scientific experiments on people that involve killing them — that's a scientific experiment sure, but ethically it has problems. There are ethical issues with certain kinds of scientific experimentation. But outside of the ethical issues, I think we should try very hard to understand everything we can and to question things.

I think it's settling those ethical issues that's the problem. Who decides what differentiates a "person" from a collection of cells, for example?

That's very difficult. What is a person? We don't know. Where is this thing, me — where am I really in this body? Up here in the top of the head somewhere? What is personality? What is consciousness? We don't know. The same thing is true once the body is dead: where is this person? Is it still there? Has it gone somewhere else? If you don't know what it is, it's hard to say what it's doing next. We have to be open-minded about that. The best we can do is try to find ways of answering those questions.

You'll turn 90 on July 28. What's the secret to long life?

Good luck is one, but also just having a good time. Some people say I work hard: I come in on Saturdays, and I work evenings both at my desk and in the lab. But I think I'm just having a good time doing physics and science. I have three telescopes down on Mt. Wilson; I was down there a couple nights last week. I've traveled a lot. On Sundays, my wife [of 64 years] and I usually go hiking. I'd say the secret has been being able to do things that I like, and keeping active.

---------------------------------------------

'Faith is necessary for the scientist even to get started, and deep faith is necessary for him to carry out his tougher tasks. Why? Because he must have confidence that there is order in the universe and that the human mind — in fact his own mind — has a good chance of understanding this order.'

-Charles Townes, writing in "The Convergence of Science and Religion," IBM's Think magazine, March-April 1966

---------------------------------------

Who created us? U.S. vs. UC Berkeley beliefs

A Nov. 18-21, 2004 New York Times/CBS News poll on American mores and attitudes, conducted with 885 U.S. adults, showed that a significant number of Americans believe that God created humankind. UC Berkeley's Office of Student Research asked the same question on its 2005 UC Undergraduate Experience Survey, results for which are still coming in. As of June 8, 2,057 students had responded.

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE TABLE THAT SHOWS THE RESULT


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: charlestownes; evolution; fsmdidit; gagdad; id; intelligentdesign; templetonprize; townes
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260 ... 641-655 next last
To: betty boop
Thank you for your understanding on my lost post! Since I can't remember anything else, whatever else was in there probably wasn't important. LOL!

You think it strange that a "platonist" like Einstein would take the "aristotelian" position in his debate with Godel. I just think that Einstein is this splendid, magnificent, walking-around "complementarity" in his own self! He's an absolutely fascinating personality....

I think you have him figured out, dearest sister in Christ! He would have surely protested but that Yin-Yang logo would have fit him, too.


221 posted on 06/07/2007 12:24:37 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 220 | View Replies]

To: js1138

“Sort of like the folks in Acts?”

No, not at all. Apparently you have heard about that passage from someone else and have not studied it on your own.

They lived that way by choice, not coercion. That’s the important point to remember.


222 posted on 06/07/2007 2:30:57 PM PDT by webstersII
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 206 | View Replies]

To: Alamo-Girl; hosepipe; marron; cornelis; YHAOS; metmom; MHGinTN; editor-surveyor; omnivore; ...
I think you have him figured out, dearest sister in Christ! He would have surely protested but that Yin-Yang logo would have fit him, too.

Though I can't possibly claim to have "figured him out," I think your observation that the Yin-Yang logo would suit Einstein pretty well is fitting.

On the one hand, it seems very clear to me that Einstein is a thinker of platonist persuasion: He expected science to ultimately find the underlying "geometry" that orders the universe. I'm personally sympathetic to that view. I call it the Logos, or maybe the "algorithm from inception."

On the other hand, as an admirer of Spinoza, he committed himself to a philosophy of strict determinism: Even God is "bound." There is no such thing as "free will": Even God doesn't have free will; he's just executing the "program" (so to speak) that is inherent in his nature, in his "substance." (Einstein really loses me here; I mean I get what Spinoza is saying; I just don't understand why Einstein finds it persuasive.)

In this, I imagine he takes a major departure from Plato's philosophy. He seems to have these two tensions -- Plato and Spinoza -- to reconcile in his own thought, though by the Law of the Excluded Middle, both cannot be "right"; and he himself has said that if there are two mutually-exclusive propositions, at least one of them has to be "wrong."

On the surface, it seems Einstein would perhaps have rejected the Yin-Yang analogy. But it seems he lived it all the same, in his life and work.

So if Einstein conceives of a cosmological constant, it is in answer to his need for a deterministic account of the Universe. Later he admitted he had "kluged" his science by introducing this notion. On the other hand, as you note dearest sister, there may well be a "need" for a cosmological constant in order to reconcile and harmonize physical observations of reality in a mathematical way. If this can be done, it's because of "the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics" to describe the world.

As you know, Einstein rejected Bohr's (and Heisenberg's) Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, because "God does not play dice" -- a reference to its statistical approach to quantum phenomena.

Lindley finds it "ironic" that Einstein "objected to religious principles in others [like Spinoza, he was what we today call a "secular Jew"] when his authority for disliking quantum mechanics derived from his direct access to the thoughts of 'the Old One' [Einstein's name for God]."

Bohr chastised him for this: "Don't you think caution is needed when using ordinary language to ascribe attributes to God?" Personally, I think that's a dandy question. :^)

A lovely excerpt regarding the "germ of what became Einstein's perennial objection to quantum mechanics" comes to mind, from Lindley's Uncertainty (2007):

Since Einstein could not countenance faster-than-light phenomena, he insisted ... that quantum mechanics could not be the whole story. There must be some way, within a theory grander than mere quantum mechanics, of calculating the behavior of electrons in detail so that you could predict exactly where each and every one would end up. In that case, the probability inherent in quantum mechanics would turn out to be like the probability enshrined in the old kinetic theory of heat. There, atoms have definite properties at all times and behave, in theory, with absolute predictability. But the physicist cannot hope to know precisely what every atom is doing, so is forced to resort to a statistical description. Quantum mechanics ought to work the same way, Einstein insisted. Beneath the surface it ought to be deterministic in the traditional way. And the intrusion of probability would not indicate a fundamental breakdown in physical determinism, only that physicists had not yet figured out the complete picture.

By way of counterargument, Bohr used the newly-minted uncertainty principle to prove there was no way to extract more information about the electrons in Einstein's thought experiment -- without, that is, destroying the diffraction pattern in the process. You could get details of each electron's trajectory before it hit the screen, or you could get the diffraction pattern, but you couldn't get both.

It's not hard to imagine Einstein's exasperation at this response. Of course quantum mechanics can't give you all the information you would like. That was precisely the problem that Einstein wanted to bring into the open. Far from demolishing the difficulty, Bohr had reinforced it. Quantum mechanics couldn't be the whole story.

Here's another complementarity: Einstein and Bohr themselves! I wouldn't choose between these two men: Both are "right," depending on the context. :^) The "middle" between them ought not to be excluded, for it is what holds the complementarity of their differing views together, in tension. There's no use in "choosing sides" here: You need them both. IMHO, FWIW.

I love both these guys. Add in Eric Voegelin, and you have my Top Three Greatest Thinkers of the Twentieth Century.

LOLOL! My two cents, FWIW.

Thank you so much dearest sister A-G for your brilliant essay/posts of the past two days! And for your kind support.

223 posted on 06/07/2007 5:06:18 PM PDT by betty boop ("Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." -- A. Einstein.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 221 | View Replies]

To: betty boop

Thanx for keeping me pinged ...


224 posted on 06/07/2007 5:35:17 PM PDT by MHGinTN (You've had life support. Promote life support for those in the womb.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 223 | View Replies]

To: webstersII
They lived that way by choice, not coercion. That’s the important point to remember.

They lived that way because they understood it to be according to the instructions of Jesus. I assume the first Christians might have had first or second hand knowledge of Jesus' teachings, and were much closer to the source than we are.

225 posted on 06/07/2007 5:40:54 PM PDT by js1138
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 222 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN; Alamo-Girl; hosepipe
Thanx for keeping me pinged ...

Will keep it up. Am looking forward to hearing from you soon -- actually I hope you will weigh in whenever you feel like it. Soonest.

Thanks so much for writing MHGinTN!

226 posted on 06/07/2007 7:00:25 PM PDT by betty boop ("Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." -- A. Einstein.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 224 | View Replies]

To: omnivore

You sound like Descartes raised from the dead. Remember, with or without yakking, no fallacies allowed, for you or Descartes.


227 posted on 06/07/2007 7:42:23 PM PDT by cornelis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 214 | View Replies]

To: betty boop
So if Einstein conceives of a cosmological constant, it is in answer to his need for a deterministic account of the Universe.

Could be. Existence is pretty constant. If the cosmos exists of its own accord, the cosmos is divine. But perhaps that's getting ahead of things. For Plato, it is always touched first with a question, what is, and always is and never becomes . . and what is always becoming, but never is?

228 posted on 06/07/2007 8:03:47 PM PDT by cornelis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 223 | View Replies]

To: betty boop; Alamo-Girl; .30Carbine
[.. Here's another complementarity: Einstein and Bohr themselves! I wouldn't choose between these two men: Both are "right," depending on the context. :^) The "middle" between them ought not to be excluded, for it is what holds the complementarity of their differing views together, in tension. There's no use in "choosing sides" here: You need them both. ..]

Exactly... what if they are both more or less on the right track.(Einstein and Bohr)
I have been in arguments in the past with a person and we were both right(I learned later) but we were seeing a subject from different angles.. with different agendas..

How much we need each other.. Even on this thread.. Observation is such a crap shoot.. Its so easy to have blind spots.. Some lean toward the literal and others lean toward the spiritual.. Some like formulaeic mental precision others the artistic freedom of creative thought..

How wonderful it will be when human language becomes obsolete.. and spiritual complementarity becomes obvious.. And spiritual harmonics becomes normal.. When thought becomes colorful light and musical harmony on a field of joyful sacrifice.. and words are primitive gruntings..

Did I say anything?... (shineing fingernails) ;)

229 posted on 06/07/2007 9:06:07 PM PDT by hosepipe (CAUTION: This propaganda is laced with hyperbole....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 223 | View Replies]

To: betty boop
Thank you so much for your outstanding essay-post! And thank you for that fascinating excerpt!

Einstein certainly was a fascinating man. Perhaps it was his uncanny understanding of the "lofty structure" of the universe that compelled him to believe in his heart of hearts that the quantum world is equally sensible, e.g. local realism.

In the end, geometric physics may hold the key to unlocking some of the mysteries of the quantum, e.g. superposition, non-locality. That would be ironic considering the shifting of views towards a cosmological constant.

Nevertheless, Einstein's story is a case study in how presuppositions can become traps and embarassments - and conversely, that the instincts of our brightest minds should be remembered, even when they cannot be formalized as a theory. Modern scientists would be wise to take note.

Here's another complementarity: Einstein and Bohr themselves! I wouldn't choose between these two men: Both are "right," depending on the context. :^) The "middle" between them ought not to be excluded, for it is what holds the complementarity of their differing views together, in tension. There's no use in "choosing sides" here: You need them both. IMHO, FWIW.

I strongly agree.

230 posted on 06/07/2007 10:17:59 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 223 | View Replies]

To: hosepipe
How wonderful it will be when human language becomes obsolete.. and spiritual complementarity becomes obvious.. And spiritual harmonics becomes normal.. When thought becomes colorful light and musical harmony on a field of joyful sacrifice.. and words are primitive gruntings..

It certainly will be. Thank you so much for sharing your insights!

231 posted on 06/07/2007 10:23:15 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 229 | View Replies]

To: hosepipe
How wonderful it will be when human language becomes obsolete.. and spiritual complementarity becomes obvious.. And spiritual harmonics becomes normal.. When thought becomes colorful light and musical harmony on a field of joyful sacrifice.. and words are primitive gruntings..

Did I say anything?... (shineing fingernails) ;)

You said a mouthful (;

232 posted on 06/08/2007 3:49:58 AM PDT by .30Carbine (Sacrifice is not always simple...but let it always be glorious, holy, and good, amen.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 229 | View Replies]

To: hosepipe
How much we need each other.. Even on this thread.. Observation is such a crap shoot.. Its so easy to have blind spots.. Some lean toward the literal and others lean toward the spiritual.. Some like formulaeic mental precision others the artistic freedom of creative thought..

How much we need each other -- indeed!

What a beautiful essay/post, dear 'pipe! Thank you!

233 posted on 06/08/2007 6:04:00 AM PDT by betty boop ("Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." -- A. Einstein.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 229 | View Replies]

To: cornelis; Alamo-Girl; hosepipe; marron; metmom; js1138; Coyoteman; ahayes
For Plato, it is always touched first with a question, what is, and always is and never becomes . . and what is always becoming, but never is?

Yes; the relations of being and becoming: I love Plato's cosmology.... Heraclitus thought there must be something that persists changeless, and something capable of change. Leibniz thought the universe fundamentally depends on two principles: (1) that which stays the same and (2) that which is capable of changing.

I see an analogy to these philosophical propositions in the first and second laws of thermodynamics:

Symmetry, Broken-Symmetry
and the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics

The laws of thermodynamics are special laws that sit above the ordinary laws of nature as laws about laws or laws upon which the other laws depend (Swenson & Turvey, 1991). It can be successfully shown that without the first and second laws, which express symmetry properties of the world, there could be no other laws at all. The first law or the law of energy conservation which says that all real-world processes involve transformations of energy, and that the total amount of energy is always conserved expresses time-translation symmetry. Namely, there is something that unifies the world (constitutes it as a continuum) which if you go forward or backward in time remains entirely the same. It is, in effect, through this conservation or out of it that all real-world dynamics occurs, yet the first law itself is entirely indifferent to these changes or dynamics. As far as the first law is concerned, nothing changes at all, and this is just the definition of a symmetry, something that remains invariant, indifferent or unchanged given certain transformations, and the remarkable point with respect to the first law is that it refers to that which is conserved (the quantity of energy) or remains symmetric under all transformations.

Although intuited at least as early as the work of the Milesian physicists, and in modern times particularly by Leibniz, the first law is taken to have been first explicitly "discovered" in the first part of the last century by Mayer, then Joule, and later Helmholz with the demonstration of the equivalence of heat and other forms of energy, and completed in this century with Einsteins's demonstration that matter is also a form of energy....

The second law was formulated in the middle of the last century by Clausius and Thomson following Carnot's earlier observation that, like the fall or flow of a stream that turns a mill wheel, it is the "fall" or flow of heat from higher to lower temperatures that motivates a steam engine. The key insight was that the world is inherently active, and that whenever an energy distribution is out of equilibrium a potential or thermodynamic "force" (the gradient of a potential) exists that the world acts spontaneously to dissipate or minimize. All real-world change or dynamics is seen to follow, or be motivated, by this law. So whereas the first law expresses that which remains the same, or is time-symmetric, in all real-world processes the second law expresses that which changes and motivates the change, the fundamental time-asymmetry, in all real-world process. Clausius coined the term "entropy" to refer to the dissipated potential and the second law, in its most general form, states that the world acts spontaneously to minimize potentials (or equivalently maximize entropy), and with this, active end-directedness or time-asymmetry was, for the first time, given a universal physical basis. The balance equation of the second law, expressed as S > 0, says that in all natural processes the entropy of the world always increases, and thus whereas with the first law there is no time, and the past, present, and future are indistinguishable, the second law, with its one-way flow, introduces the basis for telling the difference. -- Rod Swenson

I find this so fascinating. :^)

Thank you oh so much for writing, cornelis!

234 posted on 06/08/2007 7:01:03 AM PDT by betty boop ("Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." -- A. Einstein.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 228 | View Replies]

To: betty boop; cornelis
Thank you so much for all your excellent insights!

BTW, fractals also remind me of this relationship between that which changes and that which does not, e.g. the Mandelbrot set. Another example, the shorter the ruler, the longer the coastline.

235 posted on 06/08/2007 9:31:01 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 234 | View Replies]

To: cornelis; betty boop; Alamo-Girl; hosepipe
The cosmos is not divine, per se, but the origin of the cosmos is divine ... the cosmos we can see and measure and that portion we cannot yet sense for measurement and purposed manipulations has dimensional variable characteristics; the combinatorics of these variables constitute continuua in which energy manifests differing qualitative expressions limited by the variability of the expressions woven into the continuua; just as a photon wave collapses into a photon 'particle' when interaction occurs (such as measurement or arrival at your retina) so all manifestations are in one degree or another results of a collapse of some higher, less confined manifestation of energy.

Going back to near the bang, quark confinement is an early evidence of such 'collapse', otherwise called condensation. As variable expressions of dimension time and dimension space evidenced, continuua wov the ven of the expressions came into existence into which energy may manifest differing qualities ... the qualities being characteristics of the condesnation phenomena we measure and quantify as forces and spatio-temporal reality.

236 posted on 06/08/2007 10:08:05 AM PDT by MHGinTN (You've had life support. Promote life support for those in the womb.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 228 | View Replies]

I might add, though it is inferred in the above missive the dimensions are the characterisitcs of The Creator which He has offered/allowed ‘disunified’ expression of and each dimension has three variable characteristics (like space is linear, planar, and volumetric; time is past, present, and future in a similitude of spatial variability). The above is a new paradigm for considering the universe, not meant to be a replacement notion for consensus cosmology ... but I’m working on it.


237 posted on 06/08/2007 10:12:29 AM PDT by MHGinTN (You've had life support. Promote life support for those in the womb.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 236 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN; betty boop; cornelis; hosepipe; .30Carbine; omnivore
Thank you so much for your engaging proposal of a new paradigm for considering the universe!

The cosmos is not divine, per se, but the origin of the cosmos is divine ...

Amen!

the cosmos … has dimensional variable characteristics; the combinatorics of these variables constitute continuua in which energy manifests differing qualitative expressions limited by the variability of the expressions woven into the continua…

I see this as the relationship between quantum field theory (a field exists in all points of space/time) and geometric physics (dimensionality).

betty boop, I’m getting shades of Lanza here too because a collapse of a wave function (e.g. observation) effects the field itself.

… the dimensions are the characterisitcs of The Creator which He has offered/allowed ‘disunified’ expression of and each dimension has three variable characteristics (like space is linear, planar, and volumetric; time is past, present, and future in a similitude of spatial variability)….

Again I believe MHGinTN and I (and many physicists btw) are in agreement on the worldview that the creation of space/time causes energy/matter. The opposing worldview is that energy/matter causes space/time. Space/time doesn't pre-exist, it is created as the universe expands.

Lurkers: One of the most important laws of physics is the “The Law of Conservation of Energy” – that energy can neither be created nor destroyed but only transformed. This immediately presents a problem which has never been solved by science – and very likely never can be solved because of the “observer problem” – namely, where did the energy come from?

Some string theorists assert that the geometry (string vibration, etc.) gave rise to energy/matter. Likewise, physicist Andrei Linde points to the geometric inflationary phase of the universe as the cause of energy. During the inflationary phase, space/time itself expanded faster than the speed of light.

As a Christian, I agree in that God created the geometry (space and time) first. "In the beginning, God created" - Gen 1:1

I further assert that the number and types of dimensions of this geometry (temporal v spatial, compactified v expanded) are not only unknown to mortals but are unknowable.

Our vision and minds sense three dimensions of space and one dimension of time – and mathematically, we perceive additional dimensions likely exist and mathematically, we find evidence of it (e.g. Strominger/Vafa calculation of the Bekenstein/Hawking black hole entropy using string theory.) But we cannot step outside space and time to observe the creation in its entirety so the full extent of God's geometry will remain unknown to mortals, as God has said here:

Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD. – Jer 31:37


238 posted on 06/08/2007 12:44:58 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 237 | View Replies]

To: Alamo-Girl
:-) ... are we havin' fun yet? I know I am!
239 posted on 06/08/2007 2:12:45 PM PDT by MHGinTN (You've had life support. Promote life support for those in the womb.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 238 | View Replies]

To: MHGinTN; Alamo-Girl; cornelis; hosepipe
The cosmos is not divine, per se, but the origin of the cosmos is divine ... the cosmos we can see and measure and that portion we cannot yet sense for measurement and purposed manipulations....

M., I'm so glad you recognize that the idea of a "divine cosmos" doesn't come from Plato. Cornelis states Plato's questions on the matter, above at #228: "...what is, and always is and never becomes . . and what is always becoming, but never is?"

For Plato, "What is, and always is and never becomes?" is Being. "What is always becoming, but never is?" is existence. The Kosmos and all things in it belong to the latter, to the realm of becoming, or existence. That which exists does so because it "participates" in Being. That is, what exists is born from Being, is ordered by it, and eventually returns to it.

This existent called Kosmos is therefore not divine, but finite and contingent on eternal Being. Plato thought that the Kosmos was "a living creature endowed with soul and intelligence" -- the same description he uses for man, the "microkosmos." Man is the image or reflection (eikon) of the Kosmos, WRT which he is "syngenes," or alike by nature -- alive, ensouled, intelligent.

Just as the Kosmos, belonging to the realm of becoming, gains existence from its participation in Being, so does the microkosmos, man.

Yet there is another fascinating aspect to Plato's cosmology. As Eric Voegelin writes, for Plato, "the realms of being are ... penetrated to their limits by psyche. As far as metaphysical construction is concerned, no corner of the universe is left to the materialists as a foothold from where the order of the psyche could be negated on principle. The order of the cosmos has become consubstantial with the order of the polis and of man."

Now as for this Being: It is eternal; and it is "Beyond" the Kosmos. For Plato, this was the God of the Beyond, beyond the Kosmos, beyond space and time; and yet somehow involved with the Kosmos, and drawing it into its good order at all levels.

Plato offers no details about this God, this ultimate, changeless being. I sense a failure of language, of adequate concepts, to articulate his own direct experiences of a certain divine drawing from the Beyond manifesting itself in his own consciousness, in psyche and nous (mind). I imagine Plato's God of the Beyond to be the "Unknown God" of Acts: 17-23. Thus Saint Paul suggests that Christ is not only the fulfillment of the law given unto the Jews, but also the fulfillment of the metaphysics given unto the Greeks.

So just as you say, M., "the origin of the cosmos is divine." Certainly Plato thought so.

I'm intrigued, fascinated, by the cosmological model you're developing. Not to criticize, but there were some typos in the second graph that perplexed me a little. I hope you can set me straight! I've been thinking a good deal of late about the problem of time. Actually, reading William James' Principles of Psychology has caused me to reflect on the way humans experience time. If man is microkosmos, maybe such understandings can lead to a wider application, i.e., at the level of the Kosmos itself.

At least, I think this would be so, provided Plato was right about the living, conscious, intelligent nature of the Kosmos at large, which, like man, is an existent drawing its life from participation in divine Being.

Thank you so much for your fascinating essay/post!

240 posted on 06/08/2007 5:52:58 PM PDT by betty boop ("Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." -- A. Einstein.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 236 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 201-220221-240241-260 ... 641-655 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson