The Big Lab Experiment Was our universe created by design?

Slate ^ | May 19, 2004 | Jim Holt

[Lorianne]

Was our universe created? That is, was it brought into being by an entity with a mind? This is a question I began pondering after my recent inquiry into the end of the universe. (For some reason, cosmic mysteries are best contemplated in pairs.) It is the fundamental issue that separates religious believers, ranging from Deists to Gnostics to Southern Baptists, from nonbelievers. To many atheists, the very idea that our world could have been created by a conscious being seems downright nutty. How could anyone, even a god, "make" a universe?

To get a better understanding of this matter, I thought it might be wise to consult the man who has done more than anyone else to explain how our universe got going. His name is Andrei Linde, and he is a physicist at Stanford University. (He's also an artist and an acrobat, but never mind.) In the early 1980s, the then-thirtysomething Linde came up with a novel theory of the Big Bang that answered three vexing questions: What banged? Why did it bang? And what was going on before it banged? Linde's theory, called "chaotic inflation," explained the shape of space and how galaxies were formed. It also predicted the exact pattern of background radiation from the Big Bang that was observed by the COBE satellite in the 1990s. Linde has been amply honored for his achievement, most recently by being awarded the 2004 Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation (along with Alan Guth, another pioneer of the theory of cosmic inflation).

[Fiat volvntas tva]

His theory still doesn't address the Law of First Cause.

His "hacker physicists" who "create another universe", first have to start off with a little matter as Linde said. So, they had to come from somewhere and so did the matter they work with.

When you extrapolate the Law of First Cause to infinity, you arrive at an uncaused first cause....God.

[mmercier]

intelligence was behind the creation. there is no other explanation, and objective logic (rather than objectivist philosophy) eventually leads one to this conclusion.

the creation is too perfect and too synchronized to be random. the chicken and the egg analogy dictates some intervention... unless one believes in some form of fractal evolutionary theory.

i read too much.

[Waco]

Or, it's all a figment of something's imagination? What something?

[expat_panama]

The way most people decide what is naturally occurring and what is a created artifact, is by checking for orderliness and purpose.  A manufacturer's label is a tip-off too.   So when we walk outside and we see a pencil and a rock, we can pretty much guess that the pencil is an artifact and the rock is natural.  

It's real easy to see order and purpose in the cosmos.  IMHO we even have manufacturer's labels and instruction manuals.  The problem comes with the concept of 'is'.  'Is' a characteristic of the universe-- IOW, before the beginning, 'is' wasn't.  

So if anyone asks 'is' there a God?, I might have to answer "no" -- that as far as I can tell, our Creator makes 'is' and can't be characterized by it.

[jwalsh07]

Linde is the poster boy for atheistic ID. Remember next time somebody tells you that ID is synomous with religion that Linde says the designer was Joe Blow in the garage in Universe 6.

[mountainlyons]

Dr Hugh Ross has the best explanations of the universe. The universe was created to the smallest detail. A college girl majoring in Microbiology said there were no atheist in microbiology. Visit Reasons.org and get the details explained better than this guy.

[jwalsh07]

Animal House cribbed that from me, I had that dream when is was 12, over 40 years ago. There's just no respect for intellectual property in the multiverse.

[SwinneySwitch]

Yes.

[joem15]

Hey, lighten up, OK? I am new at this. This is only my 10 x 1,000,000,000 times that I have tried to do this. Trust me, I will get it right eventually. I just need to tweak a few equations.

In the mean time, with your kind permission, I might take a few precious moments, say 10 x 1,000,000 light years, to work on my Jerk Chicken recipe, if you don't mind. And then, Shazzam! (Shazzam = a Google of light years), I will have the answer for you. As they used to say, back in the 10 to the negative tenth days, keep the "faith baby".

Hang in there people, God

[silverleaf]

big bang ping badabing

[mmercier]

the mobius strip.

[muir_redwoods]

If the universe had to have a cause because it simply is and it's too perfect to explain away otherwise, doesn't that require G-d to have a cause because G-d simply is and is too perfect to explain away otherwise?

Doesn't your argument inevitable devolve into circular reasoning?

[mmercier]

greg iles, "the footprints of god" a good work of fiction that has a nice bit within on the initial force behind the creation.

"earth" (forget the author and lost the book) is likewise a novel, but has very good and scientifically accurate information on the nonrandom interaction of life-forms. so does livescience.com...

scientific inquiry today almost rules out randomness, and is pointing towards the inevitable conclusion that there is, not was, in fact intelligence behind this creation.

the creation is the initial and singular thought "i am". it is not a force. it is the first thought of being, expressed into matter. it is ever expanding, as every manifestation creates ever more possibilities which must therefrom manifest... i think.

this subject can drive one insane, and for some it is a shorter ride than for others. the above is all merely subjective opinion and one individuals speculation (obviously).

so nice to have this time.

[mmercier]

thanks for the response... see post 13, a circle with a twist.

[GregoryFul]

The eminent physicist Richard Fyneman predicted particle interactions by summing over all possible histories of the particles (including time reversed). It could be that the universe came into creation and just as such, when some potential intelligence of some incipient universe could conceive of the unfolding of such a universe.

[muir_redwoods]

Okay, now your logic isn't circular, it isn't even logic.

[dread78645]

Science pinglist?

[dread78645]

Dizzy placemark