Posted on 06/10/2005 8:04:42 PM PDT by CHARLITE
For a few moments there, “Intelligent Design” seemed to be making headway.
Two weeks ago, the Smithsonian announced it would screen the movie, “The Privileged Planet,” produced by the Discovery Institute, at the National Museum of History on June 23rd. The outcry in the New York Times and The Washington Post was immediate. The Smithsonian was caving to religious fundamentalists. “While `The Privileged Planet’ is an extremely sophisticated religious film, it is a religious film nevertheless,” pronounced The Post in an editorial entitled “Dissing Darwin.”
Within a week, the Smithsonian had yielded to liberal opinion. It cancelled its “co-sponsorship” of the event and gave back Discovery’s $16,000 contribution – although the movie will still be shown on schedule. It’s a fitting resolution. Thanks to the Times and Post, Discovery will now have an extra $16,000 with which to spread its heresies.
I haven’t seen the movie, but I did read the excerpt from the book, The Privileged Planet, in the March 2004 issue of The American Spectator. I don’t know whether I’d call authors Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards’ argument “religious.” “Creepy” would seem a better term.
Some of “Privileged Planet” is legitimate science. Gonzalez and Richards are addressing the question of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe. We know there are billions of galaxies, each of them containing somewhere between 100,000 and 1,000,000 stars. (The Spectator made a telling typographical error when it said there are “1022 visible stars.” They meant to say “1022.”) With astronomers now finding that planets are fairly common around nearby stars, the odds that there is life out there somewhere seem reasonably good.
Not so fast, say Gonzalez and Richards. Instead they approach the question from a different angle. There may be billions and billions of stars with billions of planets circling around them, but how many of these planets are right in the earth’s sweet spot – the “temperate orbit” where temperatures range only between 0o and 100o so that life can survive? How many have a liquid ocean, rather than icebergs or infernos? How many have a moon that massages the oceans so they circulate nutrients and even (so G&R claim) stabilize the parent planet in its orbit? How many suns are in the mid-range of their galaxy, where they aren’t overwhelmed by cosmic radiation or starved for lack of it?
Fair enough. These are legitimate arguments that illustrate the earth’s very unique position in relation to the solar system and the galaxy.
But then Gonzalez and Richards start talking about other strange “coincidences.” How many planets have a clear atmosphere so they can look out on the stars? they ask. How many have a moon that is exactly the size of the sun in its sky? Without that, say Gonzalez and Richards, we wouldn’t be able to see a perfect solar eclipse. “Newton was able to examine the spectrum of sunlight because of the solar eclipse,” they argue. “Einstein’s Theory of Relativity was only proved by observing the bending of starlight during a solar eclipse.”
All this leads them to one conclusion. Not only is our planet “designed” for life, it is also “designed” with a “purpose”—to breed a species just like ourselves capable of looking out on the rest of the universe and discovering its secrets.
Now wait a minute. Are you trying to argue that not only did God put us here on earth but also arranged the size of the sun and the moon so that Einstein’s theory of relativity could be verified? This seems a little far-fetched to me. I don’t think even firm believers in Hinduism, Christianity, or any other religion who would go quite that far.
Instead of arguing that everything on earth has been “designed” for some mysterious “purpose,” I think it’s much more instructive to look at some of God’s little errors. The one that has always struck me is the density of ice.
One thing we learn right away in elementary physics is that gas is the least dense state of matter, liquids are in the middle, and solids are the densest. That’s because the molecules are loosely associated in gases, adhere together somewhat in liquids, and are tightly bound together in solids.
There is one glaring exception, however—ice. Unlike any other element or compound, H2O is lighter as a solid—ice—it is as a liquid—water. No other substance has this property. Is this a big deal? It certainly is. It just so happens that it made the evolution of life possible.
If ice were heavier than water, it would sink to the bottom in a lake or shallow sea. Then, more water would freeze on the surface and sink again and soon the whole body of water would be frozen solid from top to bottom. Anything living in that lake or shallow sea would die. Since most life originated in water, living forms never could have survived.
Instead, ice floats. Why? There doesn’t seem to be any real explanation. I’ve always thought it was evidence that God was willing to admit His mistakes and bend the rules when it counted. When He was finished designing the fundaments of the universe – gases, liquids, and solids – He said, “Oh, darn, I forgot. This isn’t going to work.” So, He made that one exception. All solids shall be denser than their liquids except water. That way life could evolve.
Is there a better explanation? The Darwinian “anthropogenic” view now popular in scientific circles, would say, “Of course ice has to be lighter than water. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here to observe it. Therefore, Q.E.D.” At the other end of the room, the “Privileged Planet” people would say, “It has to be more than coincidence. Things like that don’t just happen. It’s proof of Intelligent Design.”
Personally, I prefer the explanation offered in the Book of Job. “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?” The ways of God are still more mysterious than any of us can comprehend.
NOTE: You’ll notice I haven’t even gotten around to mentioning Charles Darwin, who is supposed to be the target of “Intelligent Design” theory. Next week I’ll talk about whether complexity theory supports ID—as Dan Peterson argues in this month’s American Spectator— or whether it indicates something different.
William Tucker is a contributing writer for TAE Online.
It looks to me like every single number in this article is made up.
Have you lost your mind? The earth is the most beautiful and wondrous place imaginable! If not for the evil of man, and of Satan, this would be heaven!
Maybe it is. Read carefully...
"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." -- Genesis 1:6-10
So far, so good. Now, read this very carefully...
"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good." -- Genesis 1:20
Winged fowl fly around in heaven? Then is Heaven not our atmosphere?
You may know Kurt Vonnegut's book, Ice Nine.
I've lost track, but there are at least 14 forms of ice, depending on temperature and pressure. Some of these occur in snow, resulting in many different crystals.
When water molecules crystalize, hydrogen bonding and van der Waals forces become dominant. This is well understood and needs no miracles to explain.
In fact with enough miracles, anything whatsoever can be "explained".
It is also possible for liquid water, ice, and steam to co-exist. This is at the triple point. Any thermodynamics text can provide details. Oxygen, sulfur, iron, uranium, etc. also have a triple point. Also molecular compounds, such as ethanol, sulfur dioxide.
Of course not. But the odds that there are other beings who share any part of our unique reality, let alone share one or more of our "senses", are slim. It's not even likely that other beings would have any concept of what "planets", "suns", or "universes" are. They may have no concept of "time" or "space"; of "solid", "liquid", or "gas"; of "sight", "sound", or "touch". They may have no concept of what a concept is.
The point is, we are never going to contact any other "beings" in any usual way. The notion that we will someday "talk" with little green men or beings which are even remotely humanoid, complete with brains and hearts, etc., is laughable on its face, although it is certainly the vanity of human nature to dream of the possibility. Not all that long ago it was a difficult proposition for men to slowly, reluctantly, give up the idea that the sun and stars all revolved around the earth.
Agree with you.
Planet Earth is a wonderful gift from the Creator.
"We know the dinosaurs had 200 million years to develope technology and they failed."
They died out, but primates evolved and did develope tools.
How old is the universe? No one can answer that. How old is our milky way? Again no one can answer that. We will probably never know in our lifetimes if there is any intelligent life out there. No one can say for certain if there is or isn't. We can believe it, or not believe it. With billions of stars and other solar systems out there, to think we are the only ones, seems narrow minded.
Why would we not think or believe that there is other intelligent life? Maybe life (civilizations?)that are a million lifetimes older than us. Are we to be the new Flat Earth Society? Every day brings us closer to the answers, did we know there was another planet beyond Pluto until recently? (Sedna). We have begun to reach out into the universe, this is only the begining, to go where no man has gone, in hopes to find other intelligent life. When (if) we make contact that will surely present additional questions to ponder and answer. Will we stop there? I doubt it, mankind's quest for knowledge is endless. Will we ever develope the technology to do all those things? I believe we will in the far future, provided of course we don't end up destroying ourselves.
If life is just the result of spontaneous generation like the scientists believe then it is imperative that any intelligent species that pops up has a very limited time to escape their original planet. A few hundred years into technologically advanced industrial existence and everything is used up. Thus the need for a new planet.
But there's a problem. Bio-organisms. Like viruses. In order to survive on a new planet the colonizing life forms must co-mingle their DNA with some suitable resident species.
If Somebody made up the Bible out of whole cloth then something like the above could be a reasonable explanation for what's going on around here.
I think it's extreme hubris to think that we're the only intelligent form of life in the Universe (or that we're even all that intelligent to begin with.) Besides, Slartibartfast really made the Earth. He even won an award for the Fjords.
Vonnegut's book which featured Ice 9 was called 'Cat's Cradle'.
Terrific read.
Regards,
LH
No, Jesus is not a liar. AFAIK he did not discuss these things. God is the Lord of the Universe. He works in mysterious ways.
"You may know Kurt Vonnegut's book, Ice Nine."
Wasn't the title of that book "Cat's Cradle"? (LOL - I've made the same mistake.)
Another good book of his was Slaughterhouse-Five
"Vonnegut's book which featured Ice 9 was called 'Cat's Cradle'. "
LOL - you beat me to it, Lancey.
Actually there are three heavens in the Bible. The heaven we see in the day, the nighttime heaven and Heaven where God resides.
They weigh the same, of course, but the frozen water expands, being less dense, and therefore floats.
Just as the Chihuahua is the result of intelligent design - by humans.
As I understand it, the two hydrogen molecules do not go to opposite ends of the oxygen molecule. The angle between them is less than 180 degrees. This means that a water molecule has a "positive" side and a "negative" side. This is what allows a microwave oven to work. The alternating magnetic field grabs onto the water molecule by the polar ends, and causes the molecule to oscillate back and forth as the microwave magnetic field changes. This movement produces friction that produces heat. If the two hydrogen molecules were at opposite ends of the water molecule, there would be no polar ends on the water, and we would have no microwave ovens.
Used to work with Missler but he was still in the closet then.
Yes. The Chihuahua is made from off-the-shelf components though. I believe the aliens would have broken it down even further, experimenting on a fundamental level hundreds of millions of years ago.
Six hundred out of billions upon billions is a conservative figure. It's simply a high probability, but - of course - says nothing about what state of development such life would be at on the life supporting planets.
You could look at it as "the lottery of the universe." How many lotteries are run every year? How many people buy tickets? What is the % of ticket holders who won?
There is a science to the Law of Probability. I just don't know what the facts about it are, but obviously it has to do with pure numbers, and the occurrence of random chance within such massive numbers.
Char :)
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