The Arts (Art)

by David Turell , Thursday, October 02, 2008, 22:56 (5679 days ago) @ Carl

Certainly there are emergent properties as complexity develops. That is Stuart Kauffman's thesis in a nutshell. My approach is different. I think the Greeks make a good case for a first cause. We may be in the only universe around, but it doesn't seem to be eternal if the Big Bang is a truism. On the other hand if there are multiple universities like a huge pile of detergent soap bubbles, that could certainly be an eternal arrangement with an occasional universe supporting life popping in to existence. We can imagine anything we want to, but we should consider only that which can be studied and proven in trying to conclude what is really possible. - In a sense I am like George. I trust that science can bring us information, but perhaps unlike George, I think the findings may have several alternate interpretations, each one just as reasonable, until new findings give us more guidance. Science is just as much interpretation as it is experimental study. A scientist can be the experimenter or the interpreter. Thus I accept that the Intelligent Design folks are performing an aspect of science. They interpet differently, but that doesn't mean they are wrong. - On that underlying basis of thought, I can't accept the idea of an emergent God, or god-like subsets. Something came first. Carl mentioned me in his thinking, but his thoughts are not at all like mine. The odds are enormous that chance did not cause what complexity we observe both at the level of cosmology and in evolution. A super-intelligent force fits best for me, but I doubt that all the attributes the religions to God are true. Those attributes may well be wishful thinking.