Junk DNA: goodbye!: Review article (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, March 13, 2015, 20:01 (3543 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

dhw: I find it perfectly feasible that either this universe has existed for eternity, or first cause energy has spawned an infinite number of universes throughout eternity. That offers an infinity of combinations of matter, and if you have an infinity of combinations, anything is possible.-(A note for Tony: if you believe, as David does, in an eternal God, it is not unreasonable to assume that he did not spend past eternity doing nothing. If he made this universe, he might well have made others, and so the idea of other universes should not seem quite as absurd as you make out.)
 
DAVID: Very large numbers of chances can be very comforting. Unfortunately there is no evidence of many universes, and we are trapped in one universe which had can obvious beginning. It is easier to decide upon an intelligent first cause.-“Easier”? You do yourself an injustice. In your two books you have taken it upon yourself to pursue (with much scholarship and skill) the extremely difficult task of enrolling science to your aid in the battle against atheism. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of a universal mind, and we are trapped in one universe which prevents access to any information prior to or outside that universe. It is easier to take no decision, though easiness should not be our criterion (and is certainly not mine)! -TONY: Theists are not the only ones that look at the probabilities. That is why people like Steven Hawking agree that the probabilities for life occurring our infinitesimally small. Moreover, that is why they have to keep coming up with older ages, multi-verses, and other increasingly absurd theories to try and bolster the probabilities. String Theory is a direct response to the fact that the chances of our universe existing without divine intervention are practically nil. The chances of both the universe, planet earth, AND life existing are beyond nil, that is to say, far beyond statistically impossible.-Thank you for this and for the rest of your post. For brevity's sake I shan't repeat the rest of your excellent arguments, which echo my own at the end of the “brief guide”, as an example of our mad world: humans believe that if they “ever can consciously and deliberately design such an organism, it will prove that they themselves were not designed.” I agree with you: life is almost infinitely improbable, and yes people come up with unprovable theories such as older ages, multiverses (though please see the first paragraph in this post), string theory, and...God theory. Of course you can ridicule atheist theories, just as they ridicule your own - and for the same reasons. There is nothing here but imagination and speculation. (I appreciate the fact that you are not bringing the Bible into this discussion, because that would lead us down other tracks.) You and David see the absurdity of the atheist argument, but not that of your own: nobody knows how life and the universe came into being, so let's invent an eternal, all-knowing designer of no origin, who simply IS, and let's call him God. Unprovable, unknown, unknowable, devoid of any scientific basis, but providing an “easy” (David's word) answer to the mystery of our origins, as well as providing scope for the human imagination to work on (hence the vast variety of gods, and stories about gods). Life is a mystery, so we solve it by creating an even greater mystery.-That should not be taken as a sign of disrespect for your beliefs. I'm merely trying to explain why I keep seeing pots calling kettles black. One side has to be closer to the truth than the other, but reason certainly won't help me decide which one it is!