Cosmology: Latest theories of everything (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, August 01, 2017, 17:39 (2670 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: Yes, something brought life into existence. What you skip in your discussion is that the biochemistry of life is so complex to create it logically requires a planning mind. The ID logic never goes any further. Can you go that far?

dhw: Nothing skipped. When I say “I find your arguments concerning design perfectly logical”, I mean that the biochemistry of life is so complex that I accept the logic of the argument that it appears to be designed. Yes, I can go that far, but for the reasons I have given, the logic cannot go any further, which is why “faith that the "something" could be an unknown and unknowable superbeing is as irrational as the faith that it could be a stroke of luck.” I presume you now agree.

DAVID: No, the complexity of the biochemistry of life requires a planning mind to develop and design it. We all can identify design when we see it. Design requires a designer.

dhw: And I have said many times over, I find this argument perfectly logical. I have not skipped it. But as I have said many times over, there is another argument that counterbalances it: the sheer incredibility, not to mention the lack of evidence, of a single sourceless mind that can create and encompass a universe, is unknown and unknowable and, according to you, deliberately hides itself. In two of your posts today (concerning water and our special position in the Milky Way), you make the point that we are a very special planet. True. So if you can believe in conscious energy that is eternal and infinite, why should you not believe in eternal and infinite matter and energy endlessly forming an INFINITE number of different combinations until at last it produces one that is “special” – the atheist’s stroke of luck? In fact, I would expect other planets to be capable of harbouring life, but not necessarily to have life. The really big stroke of luck would be the formation of the first living cells. But no, I don’t believe it. I find it as difficult to believe in as a single hidden, universe-encompassing, omniscient mind that never came from anywhere. And yet, as I have said many times over, one of these equally incredible hypotheses must be nearer the truth than the other: the agnostic’s dilemma.

Your view is well stated.