Cosmology: standard universe model confirmed (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, August 05, 2017, 08:45 (2667 days ago) @ David Turell

TONY: Basically, that theory is still a bunch of "We don't know but we assume that.,..." and "Because we assume our initial assumptions are true, we assume that this information we have confirms our initial assumptions, none of which can, at this point be proven."

dhw: And I agree with Tony. The whole theory is based on an unproven premise, and in order to explain the unproven premise, scientists invent two mysterious unknown forces called dark matter and dark energy! In certain respects (but not all, because I am an agnostic), it reminds me of the unproven premise that the whole universe and life were specially designed, and that can be explained by a mysterious unknown force called God.

DAVID: But Tony's point, I think, is God did it. His further point is we think we may know how it all came about, but we don't, but can still believe in God

Tony has gone to a great deal of trouble to explain the possible scientific flaws in the whole theory, for which he has my thanks. I’m sure reblak will support this scientific debunking, and reblak is an atheist. But of course Tony thinks God did whatever happened – he is a theist – and of course we don’t know how everything came about, and of course you can believe in God whatever anybody else’s theory may be. In the great quest for knowledge – one of the most admirable manifestations of the indomitable human spirit – we come up with all kinds of nebulous theories to explain the things we do not understand: dark matter, dark energy, strings, multiverses, Mother Nature, God…But giving them a name doesn’t make them real. A quote from Dawkins has stuck firmly in my mind as a wonderful example of blinkered faith: “If there is something that appears to lie beyond the natural world as it is now imperfectly understood, we [= atheists] hope eventually to understand it and embrace it within the natural.” (The God Delusion, p. 14). Substitute “…we [theists] hope eventually to understand it and embrace it within the supernatural” and you have the complete package! Meanwhile, we poor old agnostics are attacked by both sides because all we want to do is “understand it”, and we don’t allow our endeavours to be directed by our hopes!