Posted on 08/04/2011 2:02:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Stephen Hawking is squaring off with God, saying that God did not have a hand in creating the universe and that the "laws of science" can explain how the universe created itself from nothing.
In the premiere episode of The Discovery Channel’s latest series "Curiosity," set for Sunday at 8 p.m. ET, Hawking takes on the question: "Is There a Creator?"
Hawking, who has done extensive research on several contentious topics such as time travel, parallel universes and black holes, says that God was not necessary for the creation of the universe. He proposes that it is possible that the universe created itself out of nothing.
“Because these is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist,” Hawking writes in his recently published book, The Grand Design.
During the episode, Hawking talks about experiments in which sub-atomic particles have been observed to appear from nowhere. He feels this is proof that the universe is self-creating, as the Big Bang started out as a particle smaller than an atom.
Hawking says it is likely the universe “popped into existence without violating the known laws of Nature.”
He uses his book to detail how discoveries by people have fleshed out the origin and structure of the universe, from Vikings observing eclipses to cosmology, the field dedicated to the study of the universe.
“I believe the discovery of these laws is mankind’s greatest achievement,” he said.
Once upon a time, Hawking didn’t rule out God’s involvement in the creation of the universe, stating in his 1988 book, A Brief History of Time, that if a complete theory was ever discovered, "we would know the mind of God."
Now, through his new book and corresponding "Is There a Creator?" episode, he attempts to dispel the theory posed by Sir Isaac Newton that the creation of the universe was set in motion by God.
“The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can’t understand, or was it determined by a law of science. I believe the second,” Hawking writes in The Grand Design.
“If you like, you can call the laws of science ‘God,’ but it would be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions.”
Among other topics to be addressed on the "Curiosity" series are “I, Caveman,” by "Supersize Me" director Morgan Spurlock and "Why Sex is Fun," by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
>>> In the 1970s a British astronomer, Sir Frederick Hoyle, calculated the probability of spontaneous generation of a single celled organism.
Now have Sir Hoyle calculate the odds on an all-powerful sentiment deity at some point popping into existence from nothingness, which THEN creates the rest of the universe from more nothingness. When mathematically looking at adding this extra step, which better qualifies as likely per Occam’s Razor?
Face it. It’s all impossible, and you only exist in my imagination.
Remember the old cartoon of the mathematicians at the blackboard...
“And then a miracle occurs...”
>> Hawking: “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist,”
Creationist!!!
And judging by appearances, God is beating the crap out of him.
This stuff is sophistry. Quantum fluctuations require prerequisites to occur. By definition those prerequisites are energy and space. Neither is nothing.
Hawking is a sophist when he perverts science to promote his beleief system just like any other sophist.
ah solipsism
It amazes me how to so many scientists philosophy is just a barren landscape.
Well said.
Whew.. Talk about an overrated, politically correct media darling.
Hawking was wrong in his original theories about black holes as well.
More atheist theology as usual.
“The universe created itself out of nothing.”
This should be on a bumpersticker with Hawking’s name on it.
Have you ever heard of eternal self-existence?
Exactly. I have a sneaking suspicion that the current world of theoretical physics is going to be dumped on its ear by some mind bending discoveries in the years to come.
Creationism vs. evolution. Neither of them can be proved by experiment in a lab. None of us were there when the world came into being so both of these beliefs require faith since they cannot be proved beyond the shadow of a doubt by scientists. Given the high levels of complexity in our world I find it easier to believe that our world was created instead of having created itself. I have yet to see evolution give adequate explanations of the rise of pollination in plants, symbiotic relationships between organisms, how the first spark of life came into being or how organisms advanced through mutation (all mutations mankind have seen have always been detrimental instead of beneficial). Evolution also cannot explain why there is a mountain in the Swiss alps in which the fossil layers are reversed and why there have been petrified trees found that stick through many fossilized rock layers (if the rock layers took so long to form why did the trees no rot?). Also, the second law of Thermodynamics tells us that things tend to disorder and not to order. When a garden is left uncared for it gets messy and weedy. A house left uncared for rots and falls apart. Things don't advance and improved themselves naturally or by accident. This key law flies in the face of the evolutionary claim that all sorts of cool advancements happened just by accident.
Life cannot create itself anymore than a car can create itself or Mona Lisa can paint herself. It takes more faith to believe that life just somehow happened to create itself that to believe that it had a designer.
Late to the thread, but thought I’d point out that even if “the “laws of science” can explain how the universe created itself from nothing,” it does absolutely nothing to prove that “God did not have a hand in creating the universe.”
That something “could” happen by itself cannot prove that it did.
Because these is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist......but not why the law of gravity exists in the first place. Hawking has, and has had, his head up his ass.
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