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To: Fatalis
You're misreading the word "impersonal", as others have pointed out. Here it means "impartial" and "universal". In other words, the laws don't have preferences.
32 posted on 12/03/2004 7:13:20 AM PST by Physicist
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To: Physicist
You're misreading the word "impersonal", as others have pointed out. Here it means "impartial" and "universal". In other words, the laws don't have preferences.

No, you've missed the earlier context:

It used to be obvious that the world was designed by some sort of intelligence. What else could account for fire and rain and lightning and earthquakes? Above all, the wonderful abilities of living things seemed to point to a creator who had a special interest in life. Today we understand most of these things in terms of physical forces acting under impersonal laws.

"Impersonal laws" are being offered by Weinberg as the necessary alternatives to "designed by some sort of intelligence." That is a statement of theology, not science.

You can't give Weinberg a pass on this.

103 posted on 12/03/2004 6:06:41 PM PST by Fatalis
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