Influential atheist cosmologists, and why they might not matter

_{Denyse O'Leary

January 13, 2011

Culture, Science}

Share: Facebook; Twitter; LinkedIn; Flipboard; Print; Email

On a recent list of the 25 most influential atheists, three key cosmologists come up.

# 5 Stephen Hawking

Stephen Hawking is one of the world’s great theoretical physicists. His trade-press book A Brief History of Time took the world by storm in the late 1980s. In it he raised the prospect of a self-creating universe, which he has since developed at length. The theme he keeps pounding is the extraneousness of the God hypothesis.

Wrote a bit about him. With his new take on a God-free M-theory, he is now mainly famous for staying famous. But that’s still pretty famous.

# 9 Steven Weinberg

The premier living Nobel laureate physicist, Steven Weinberg is one of the great scientists of our time. He is also a remarkably good writer, as demonstrated in his popular books on physics, which advance an atheistic view of the universe. According to him, science’s greatest cultural achievement is to eradicate religion.

Never tracked him much. His “pointless” universe seems like too much religion in science class to me (and he now admits it was a foolish thing to say).

He’s right. Just because he has religion on the brain … Don’t bet on his fellow atheists making an issue out of whether other religions get equal treatment with his in tax-funded schools.

# 11 Lawrence Krauss

When the television networks need a well-credentialed and well-spoken scientist to discuss the relation between science and religion, Lawrence Krauss is their man.* A physicist with solid credentials as well as a ready pen, who has written a string of successful popular science books, Krauss has effectively used this platform to promote atheism.

Clashed with him, actually. I disagreed that sci fi film makers created a big problem by using unrealistic physics. Hello? That’s why it’s called science fiction.

Well you should have heard him in response …

(*Now that sounds to me like damning with faint praise, but I digress. )

It all raises an interesting question: What would cosmology look like if there wasn’t an obsessive need to come up with a cosmology that bypasses a beginning, which suggests an argument for the existence of God?

Today’s cosmology strikes me as a carnival of improbable ideas festooned with equations.

Look, when physicists concentrate on physics, I don’t know near enough to critique it. These guys make my job easy, that’s for sure. With luck, I’ll get a book out of it.

Comments

O'Leary fine if anti-semitism gets da boot. Yet what i said was true and morally fine. what's the problem with it? If Weinberg, who's Jewish, had not moved to Christian countries then he would not be a product of this civilization , which is the most scientific etc, and so would be back whereever originally from. So in like manner no different then native Americans who simply gained by a christian civilization coming to them. he is opposing the very thing that he gained as a foreign people upon arrival. I'm right and its a good and important point. Sensitivity about identity is just the same thing as when anti-creationists are sensitive and quick to accuse or hint about a accusation that we are doing wickedly in opposing ideas and conclusions on evolution etc. by the way there is no such thing as anti-semitism. Its just a term to censor criticism of jews. Right or wrong ones. We are not free or have right to complained of censorship or expulsion if we agree with it for other issues of society. Censor abuse but not opinions. My comment was excellent . Science is the product of Christiandom and immigrants to it must respect this and understand their teacher. It does matter about ones intellectual origins. Jew or Indian must respect they come to the intellectual party very lately. they must respect they were educated up by christian civilization. I can't see why thius is a wrong conclusion. I say it all the time with good effect.Robert Byers_{January 19, 2011
January
01
Jan
19
19
2011
12:17 AM
12
12
17
AM
PDT}

@nullasalus The interesting thing about the Omega Point is that it was developed by Teildard de Chardin to describe God's teleological infuence on the development of the universe and especially the human noosphere (as he calls it). According to its original formulation Omega Point is essentially where God and Man meet. *Chardin also uses the term God-Omega to refer to God Himself.above_{January 16, 2011
January
01
Jan
16
16
2011
04:37 PM
4
04
37
PM
PDT}

Robert Byers at 5, and anybody: "If the Jewish Weinberg had not lived with us he would be like the others. He is in fact a product of Christiandom. No different then modern Native Americans." Anti-Semitism is a good way to get booted here. I assume that the comment quoted was merely poorly expressed, as well as being - on any consideration - historically inaccurate. We'll all learn more and have more fun if we stick to ideas, not personalities or background.O'Leary_{January 15, 2011
January
01
Jan
15
15
2011
07:53 PM
7
07
53
PM
PDT}

Robert Byers writes, “Stephen hawkings i applaud for showing the spirit and truth that life can be successful and profitable and fun despite terrible health problems. Yet i ask what has he achieved/patented that someone will read about 50 years from now?! I don’t see any new discovery by him. He’s not done a Einstein,” Actually, he has: Hawking radiation and the Hartle-Hawking state, which is the wave function of the universe and based on Feynman’s path integral. It’s one of many theories of the universe’s beginning. “By the way. I see this high physics stuff as wrongly claiming to be the most intelligent discoveries of man.” And you can prove that it’s not? How? “ in fact biology is the most complicated and why Mr Hawkings should be discovering a cure to his problem. Newton/Einstein didn’t do the smartest stuff. Its not that complicated. Thats why its done before biological discoveries.” Really? You know nothing of what I posted above, and you condescendingly assume that physics is something that stupid people can learn and understand? Pardon me if I take this with a large grain of salt. “I never heard of this Weinberg guy. Hes not famous outside acaedemic circles and some public awareness.” Steven Weinberg, the physicist? I’ve heard of him. “In reality it was Christian civilization that created a greater intelligence that today the world enjoys and Non Christian peoples strive to keep up to.” Christianity has contributed to scientific understanding; that much is true. You castigate Newton for not doing biological studies, yet his formulation of theories of optics, light and gravity is a great contribution to science. And he wrote more about theology than he did science. “If the Jewish Weinberg had not lived with us he would be like the others. He is in fact a product of Christiandom. No different then modern Native Americans.” He’s the product of a scientific world that states that only naturalistic explanations need apply when discussing theories, data, and evidence. He doesn’t consider himself Jewish, at least not to my knowledge; he’s an atheist.Barb_{January 14, 2011
January
01
Jan
14
14
2011
12:53 PM
12
12
53
PM
PDT}

As well this following paper offers a solid rebuttal to Duwell's objection to Bennett of teleporting information 'backwards in time' simply because he believes there is no path, or mechanism, to do so: Time travel theory avoids grandfather paradox - July 2010 Excerpt: “In the new paper, the scientists explore a particular version of CTCs based on combining quantum teleportation with post-selection, resulting in a theory of post-selected CTCs (P-CTCs). ,,,The formalism of P-CTCs shows that such quantum time travel can be thought of as a kind of quantum tunneling backwards in time, which can take place even in the absence of a classical path from future to past,,, “P-CTCs might also allow time travel in spacetimes without general-relativistic closed timelike curves,” they conclude. “If nature somehow provides the nonlinear dynamics afforded by final-state projection, then it is possible for particles (and, in principle, people) to tunnel from the future to the past.” http://www.physorg.com/news198948917.html The following excerpt is also of interest to this issue of time constraints in quantum mechanics: Solving the quantum mysteries - John Gribbin Excerpt: But a giant leap in what might be called quantum philosophy has recently been taken by the American physicist John Cramer. He has taken a new look at the wave equations of quantum mechanics -- the famous Schrödinger equation, and the equations describing the probability waves, which travel, like photons, at the speed of light. What Cramer has pointed out is that the equations actually have two sets of solutions, one equivalent to a positive wave flowing into the future (a "retarded" wave), and the other describing a negative wave flowing into the past (an "advanced" wave). As all physicists learn at university (and most promptly forget) the full version of the wave equation has two sets of solutions -- one corresponding to the familiar simple Schrödinger equation, and the other to a kind of mirror image Schrödinger equation describing the flow of negative energy into the past. http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/home/John_Gribbin/quantum.htm#Solving More supporting evidence for the transcendent nature of information, and how it interacts with energy, is found in these following studies: Single photons to soak up data: Excerpt: the orbital angular momentum of a photon can take on an infinite number of values. Since a photon can also exist in a superposition of these states, it could – in principle – be encoded with an infinite amount of information. http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/7201 Ultra-Dense Optical Storage - on One Photon Excerpt: Researchers at the University of Rochester have made an optics breakthrough that allows them to encode an entire image's worth of data into a photon, slow the image down for storage, and then retrieve the image intact. http://www.physorg.com/news88439430.html This following experiment clearly shows information is not an 'emergent property' of any solid material basis as is dogmatically asserted by some materialists: Converting Quantum Bits: Physicists Transfer Information Between Matter and Light Excerpt: A team of physicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology has taken a significant step toward the development of quantum communications systems by successfully transferring quantum information from two different groups of atoms onto a single photon. http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/newsrelease/quantumtrans.htm The following articles show that even atoms (Ions) are subject to teleportation: Of note: An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. Ions have been teleported successfully for the first time by two independent research groups Excerpt: In fact, copying isn't quite the right word for it. In order to reproduce the quantum state of one atom in a second atom, the original has to be destroyed. This is unavoidable - it is enforced by the laws of quantum mechanics, which stipulate that you can't 'clone' a quantum state. In principle, however, the 'copy' can be indistinguishable from the original (that was destroyed),,, http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2004/October/beammeup.asp Atom takes a quantum leap - 2009 Excerpt: Ytterbium ions have been 'teleported' over a distance of a metre.,,, "What you're moving is information, not the actual atoms," says Chris Monroe, from the Joint Quantum Institute at the University of Maryland in College Park and an author of the paper. But as two particles of the same type differ only in their quantum states, the transfer of quantum information is equivalent to moving the first particle to the location of the second. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2171769/postsbornagain77_{January 14, 2011
January
01
Jan
14
14
2011
08:15 AM
8
08
15
AM
PDT}

kornbelt888, information is completely transcendent, and dominate, of time-space, matter-energy. Though you are reluctant to accept these clear implications from entanglement for such instantaneous actions that blatantly violate the 'cherished' speed of light,,, Light & Quantum Mechanics Reflect some of God's Characteristics - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4102182/ ,,, none-the-less, quantum teleportation has gone much further than entanglement to show that 'information' has 'no need of the speed of light hypothesis', since it in fact violates the first law of thermodynamics, which should make violating the speed of light seem trivial by comparison: notes: ,,,As well, 'pure transcendent information' is now shown to be 'conserved'. (i.e. it is shown that all transcendent information which can possibly exist, for all possible physical/material events, past, present, and future, already must exist.) This is since transcendent information exercises direct dominion of the foundational 'material' entity of this universe, energy, which cannot be created or destroyed by any known 'material' means. i.e. First Law of Thermodynamics. Conservation Of Transcendent Information - 2007 - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3995275 These following studies verified the violation of the first law of thermodynamics that I had suspected in the preceding video: How Teleportation Will Work - Excerpt: In 1993, the idea of teleportation moved out of the realm of science fiction and into the world of theoretical possibility. It was then that physicist Charles Bennett and a team of researchers at IBM confirmed that quantum teleportation was possible, but only if the original object being teleported was destroyed. --- As predicted, the original photon no longer existed once the replica was made. http://science.howstuffworks.com/teleportation1.htm Quantum Teleportation - IBM Research Page Excerpt: "it would destroy the original (photon) in the process,," http://www.research.ibm.com/quantuminfo/teleportation/ Unconditional Quantum Teleportation - abstract Excerpt: This is the first realization of unconditional quantum teleportation where every state entering the device is actually teleported,, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/282/5389/706 Of note: conclusive evidence for the violation of the First Law of Thermodynamics is firmly found in the preceding experiment when coupled with the complete displacement of the infinite transcendent information of "Photon c": http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfMzBmcjR0eG1neg In extension to the 2007 video, the following video and article shows quantum teleportation breakthroughs have actually shed a little light on exactly what, or more precisely on exactly Whom, has created this universe: Scientific Evidence For God (Logos) Creating The Universe - 2008 - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3995300 It is also very interesting to note in this following paper that the quantum state of a photon is actually defined as 'infinite information': Explaining Information Transfer in Quantum Teleportation: Armond Duwell †‡ University of Pittsburgh Excerpt: In contrast to a classical bit, the description of a (photon) qubit requires an infinite amount of information. The amount of information is infinite because two real numbers are required in the expansion of the state vector of a two state quantum system (Jozsa 1997, 1) --- Concept 2. is used by Bennett, et al. Recall that they infer that since an infinite amount of information is required to specify a (photon) qubit, an infinite amount of information must be transferred to teleport. http://www.cas.umt.edu/phil/faculty/duwell/DuwellPSA2K.pdf It should be noted in the preceding paper that Duwell, though he never challenges the mathematical definition of a photon qubit as infinite information, tries to refute Bennett's interpretation of infinite information transfer in teleportation because of what he believes are 'time constraints' which would prohibit teleporting 'backwards in time'. Yet Duwell fails to realize that information is its own completely unique transcendent entity, completely separate from any energy-matter, space-time, constraints in the first place. A few more details on Duwell's flawed 'materialistic' reasoning in trying to refute Bennett's interpretation of the teleportation of infinite information are here: https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/proteins-fold-as-darwin-crumbles/comment-page-7/#comment-359265bornagain77_{January 14, 2011
January
01
Jan
14
14
2011
08:12 AM
8
08
12
AM
PDT}

"(of note: hidden variables were postulated to remove the need for ‘spooky’ forces, as Einstein termed them — forces that act instantaneously at great distances, thereby breaking the most cherished rule of relativity theory, that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.)" The "action at a distance" that has been empirically observed does not violate the Special Theory of Relativity because nothing is traveling through space faster than light. It's an instantaneous correlation.kornbelt888_{January 14, 2011
January
01
Jan
14
14
2011
07:32 AM
7
07
32
AM
PDT}

nullasalus you state: 'It’s poor reasoning. Like ‘If God exists, why do bacteria outnumber humans?’ I know it is poor reasoning. In fact I've seen the argument before. Yet it seems that Darwinists fail to realize that by all rights bacteria should have evolved the capacity to eat us instead of the capacity to help us eat :) . In fact I could bore you with many, many, such examples where bacteria are 'designed' for the primary benefit of the organisms that live 'above' them. But besides bacteria 'caring' for the life above them, the fact is that bacteria populations are not where they would expected to be from an evolutionary perspective, Bacteria populations kept in check by predation: Excerpt: There are, for example, 1 million bacteria per ml of seawater throughout the world's seas. Even though this is a large number, it is smaller than would be expected based on the amount of food, in the form of dissolved organic carbon, available to marine microbes. This discrepancy is due to the fact that microbes are kept in check by their predators. In fact, without predation, the oceans microbes could well be 10-fold more abundant. http://books.google.com/books?id=7ot7I0fRP7YC&pg=PA395&lpg=PA395&dq=bacteria+populations+kept+in+check+by+phages&source=bl&ots=RgHuayPD6I&sig=rk8yGPf2pEaEwzGcj89ERPcb4hM&hl=en&ei=nzUwTebVGYaBlAfPxPWICg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=bacteria%20populations%20kept%20in%20check%20by%20phages&f=false but on the other hand, bacteria populations are where they would be expected to be from a 'design' perspective: Engineering and Science Magazine - Caltech - March 2010 Excerpt: “Without these microbes, the planet would run out of biologically available nitrogen in less than a month,” Realizations like this are stimulating a flourishing field of “geobiology” – the study of relationships between life and the earth. One member of the Caltech team commented, “If all bacteria and archaea just stopped functioning, life on Earth would come to an abrupt halt.” Microbes are key players in earth’s nutrient cycles. Dr. Orphan added, “...every fifth breath you take, thank a microbe.” http://www.creationsafaris.com/crev201003.htm#20100316a Planet's Nitrogen Cycle Overturned - Oct. 2009 Excerpt: "Ammonia is a waste product that can be toxic to animals.,,, archaea can scavenge nitrogen-containing ammonia in the most barren environments of the deep sea, solving a long-running mystery of how the microorganisms can survive in that environment. Archaea therefore not only play a role, but are central to the planetary nitrogen cycles on which all life depends.,,,the organism can survive on a mere whiff of ammonia – 10 nanomolar concentration, equivalent to a teaspoon of ammonia salt in 10 million gallons of water." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090930132656.htmbornagain77_{January 14, 2011
January
01
Jan
14
14
2011
04:06 AM
4
04
06
AM
PDT}

Robert Byers@5: "In reality it was Christian civilization that created a greater intelligence that today the world enjoys and Non Christian peoples strive to keep up to." You have to admit that many non-Christian cultures contributed many essential tools (Greek, Muslim, Hindu, Babylonian) without which Christian civilization would do very poorly.paragwinn_{January 13, 2011
January
01
Jan
13
13
2011
09:20 PM
9
09
20
PM
PDT}

nullasalus this is a better video The Anthropic Principle - Fine Tuning Of The Universe - Michael Strauss PhD. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4323661/bornagain77_{January 13, 2011
January
01
Jan
13
13
2011
05:57 PM
5
05
57
PM
PDT}

nullasalus is this 'And the fact that Deutsch did or does think that humanity is going to take the universe to an ‘Omega Point’, yet resisted theism, I think illustrates part of the problem.' related to the patent absurdity from Barrow and Tippler that Strauss illustrates here: Anthropic Principle - God Created The Universe - Michael Strauss PhD - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4003932/bornagain77_{January 13, 2011
January
01
Jan
13
13
2011
05:54 PM
5
05
54
PM
PDT}

BA77, Well nullasalus it just so happens that everything that exists somehow ‘does something’, right now at this very moment, for humanity in particular is pretty much exactly how reality is constructed: Let's say you're right, for the sake of argument. And I'd probably agree with you in many cases. My point is that 'if the entire universe doesn't seem orchestrated towards humanity, God doesn't exist' is silly. And the fact that Deutsch did or does think that humanity is going to take the universe to an 'Omega Point', yet resisted theism, I think illustrates part of the problem. It's poor reasoning. Like 'If God exists, why do bacteria outnumber humans?'nullasalus_{January 13, 2011
January
01
Jan
13
13
2011
05:32 PM
5
05
32
PM
PDT}

Stephen hawkings i applaud for showing the spirit and truth that life can be successful and profitable and fun despite terrible health problems. Yet i ask what has he achieved/patented that someone will read about 50 years from now?! I don't see any new discovery by him. He's not done a Einstein. By the way. I see this high physics stuff as wrongly claiming to be the most intelligent discoveries of man. in fact biology is the most complicated and why Mr Hawkings should be discovering a cure to his problem. Newton/Einstein didn't do the smartest stuff. Its not that complicated. Thats why its done before biological discoveries. I never heard of this Weinberg guy. Hes not famous outside acaedemic circles and some public awareness. In reality it was Christian civilization that created a greater intelligence that today the world enjoys and Non Christian peoples strive to keep up to. If the Jewish Weinberg had not lived with us he would be like the others. He is in fact a product of Christiandom. No different then modern Native Americans. Keep your eye on cause and effect.Robert Byers_{January 13, 2011
January
01
Jan
13
13
2011
05:22 PM
5
05
22
PM
PDT}

"There are serious problems with the traditional view that the world is a space-time continuum. Quantum field theory and general relativity contradict each other. The notion of space-time breaks down at very small distances, because extremely massive quantum fluctuations (virtual particle/antiparticle pairs) should provoke black holes and space-time should be torn apart, which doesn’t actually happen." - G J Chaitin http://www.umcs.maine.edu/~chaitin/bookgoedel_6.pdf The following Physicist offers a very interesting insight into this issue of 'reconciling' the mental universe of Quantum Mechanics with the space-time of General Relativity: How the Power of Intention Alters Matter - Dr. William A. Tiller Excerpt: Quantum mechanics and relativity theory are the two prime theoretical constructs of modern physics, and for quantum mechanics and relativity theory to be internally self-consistent, their calculations require that the vacuum must contain an energy density 10^94 grams per cubic centimeter. How much energy is that? To find out you simply use Einstein's equation: E=MC2. Here's how this comes out in practical terms. You could take the volume of, say, a single hydrogen atom (which is incredibly small, an infinitesimally small fraction of a cubic centimeter), and multiply that by the average mass density of the cosmos, a number which is known to astronomers. And what you find out is that within the amount of vacuum contained in this hydrogen atom there is, according to this calculation, "almost a trillion times as much energy as in all of the stars and all of the planets out to a radius of 20 billion light years!" If human consciousness can interact with that even a little bit, it can change things in matter. Because the ground state energies of all particles have that energy level due to their interaction with this stuff of the vacuum. So if you can shift that stuff of the vacuum, change its degree of order or coherence even a little bit, you can change the ground state energies of particles, atoms, molecules, and chemical equations.,,,, In conclusion Tiller states, "despite our attachment to it and our feeling of its solidity and persistence, what we think of as the physical universe is an almost incomprehensibly minuscule part of the immensity of All That Is." "Matter as we know it," Tiller concludes poetically, "is hardly a fragrance of a whisper." http://www.spiritofmaat.com/archive/mar2/tiller.htm Yet, this unification, into a 'theory of everything', between what is in essence the 'infinite world of Quantum Mechanics' and the 'finite world of the space-time of General Relativity' seems to be directly related to what Jesus apparently joined together with His resurrection, i.e. related to the unification of infinite God with finite man: The Center Of The Universe Is Life - General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, Entropy and The Shroud Of Turin - video http://www.metacafe.com/w/5070355 The End Of Christianity - Finding a Good God in an Evil World - Pg.31 William Dembski PhD. Mathematics Excerpt: "In mathematics there are two ways to go to infinity. One is to grow large without measure. The other is to form a fraction in which the denominator goes to zero. The Cross is a path of humility in which the infinite God becomes finite and then contracts to zero, only to resurrect and thereby unite a finite humanity within a newfound infinity." http://www.designinference.com/documents/2009.05.end_of_xty.pdf Philippians 2: 5-11 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. "Miracles do not happen in contradiction to nature, but only in contradiction to that which is known to us of nature." St. Augustine While I agree with a criticism, from a Christian, that was leveled against the preceding Shroud of Turin video, that God indeed needed no help from the universe in the resurrection event of Christ since all things are possible with God, I am none-the-less very happy to see that what is considered the number one problem of Physicists and Mathematicians in physics today, of a 'unification into a theory of everything' for what is in essence the finite world of General Relativity and the infinite world of Quantum Mechanics, does in fact seem to find a successful resolution for 'unification' within the resurrection event of Jesus Christ Himself. It seems almost overwhelmingly apparent to me from the 'scientific evidence' we now have that Christ literally ripped a hole in the finite entropic space-time of this universe to reunite infinite God with finite man. That modern science would even offer such a almost tangible glimpse into the mechanics of what happened in the tomb of Christ should be a source of great wonder and comfort for the Christian heart. Psalms 16:10 because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.bornagain77_{January 13, 2011
January
01
Jan
13
13
2011
04:45 PM
4
04
45
PM
PDT}

Further weight for consciousness to be treated as a separate entity in quantum mechanics, and thus the universe, is also found in the fact that it is impossible to 'geometrically' maintain 3-Dimensional spherical symmetry of the universe, within the sphere of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, for each 3D point of the universe, unless all the 'higher dimensional quantum information waves' actually do collapse to their 'uncertain 3D wave/particle state', universally and instantaneously, for each point of conscious observation in the universe just as the experiments of quantum mechanics are telling us that they do. The 4-D expanding hypersphere of the space-time of general relativity is insufficient to maintain such 3D integrity/symmetry, all by itself, for each different 3D point of observation in the universe. The primary reason for why the 4D space-time, of the 3D universe, is insufficient to maintain 3D symmetry, by itself, is because the universe is shown to have only 10^79 atoms. In other words, it is geometrically impossible to maintain such 3D symmetry of centrality with finite 3D material resources to work with for each 3D point in the universe. Universal quantum wave collapse of photons, to each point of 'conscious observation' in the universe, is the only answer that has adequate sufficiency to explain the 3D centrality we witness for ourselves in this universe. From a slightly different point of reasoning this following site, through a fairly exhaustive examination of the General Relativity equations themselves, acknowledges the insufficiency of General Relativity to account for the 'completeness' of 4D space-time within the sphere of the CMBR from different points of observation in the universe. The Cauchy Problem In General Relativity - Igor Rodnianski Excerpt: 2.2 Large Data Problem In General Relativity - While the result of Choquet-Bruhat and its subsequent refinements guarantee the existence and uniqueness of a (maximal) Cauchy development, they provide no information about its geodesic completeness and thus, in the language of partial differential equations, constitutes a local existence. ,,, More generally, there are a number of conditions that will guarantee the space-time will be geodesically incomplete.,,, In the language of partial differential equations this means an impossibility of a large data global existence result for all initial data in General Relativity. http://www.icm2006.org/proceedings/Vol_III/contents/ICM_Vol_3_22.pdf The following article speaks of a proof developed by legendary mathematician Kurt Gödel, from a thought experiment, in which Gödel showed General Relativity could not be a complete description of the universe: THE GOD OF THE MATHEMATICIANS - DAVID P. GOLDMAN - August 2010 Excerpt: Gödel's personal God is under no obligation to behave in a predictable orderly fashion, and Gödel produced what may be the most damaging critique of general relativity. In a Festschrift, (a book honoring Einstein), for Einstein's seventieth birthday in 1949, Gödel demonstrated the possibility of a special case in which, as Palle Yourgrau described the result, "the large-scale geometry of the world is so warped that there exist space-time curves that bend back on themselves so far that they close; that is, they return to their starting point." This means that "a highly accelerated spaceship journey along such a closed path, or world line, could only be described as time travel." In fact, "Gödel worked out the length and time for the journey, as well as the exact speed and fuel requirements." Gödel, of course, did not actually believe in time travel, but he understood his paper to undermine the Einsteinian worldview from within. http://www.faqs.org/periodicals/201008/2080027241.html The fact that photons are shown to travel as uncollapsed quantum information waves in the double slit experiment, and not as collapsed particles, is what gives us a solid reason for proposing this mechanism of the universal quantum wave collapse of photons to each conscious observer. Double-slit experiment Excerpt: In quantum mechanics, the double-slit experiment (often referred to as Young's experiment) demonstrates the inseparability of the wave and particle natures of light and other quantum particles. A coherent light source (e.g., a laser) illuminates a thin plate with two parallel slits cut in it, and the light passing through the slits strikes a screen behind them. The wave nature of light causes the light waves passing through both slits to interfere, creating an interference pattern of bright and dark bands on the screen. However, at the screen, the light is always found to be absorbed as though it were made of discrete particles, called photons.,,, Any modification of the apparatus that can determine (that can let us observe) which slit a photon passes through destroys the interference pattern, illustrating the complementarity principle; that the light can demonstrate both particle and wave characteristics, but not both at the same time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment This following experiment extended the double slit experiment to show that the 'spooky actions', for instantaneous quantum wave collapse, happen regardless of any considerations for time or distance i.e. The following experiment shows that quantum actions are 'universal and instantaneous': Wheeler's Classic Delayed Choice Experiment: Excerpt: Now, for many billions of years the photon is in transit in region 3. Yet we can choose (many billions of years later) which experimental set up to employ – the single wide-focus, or the two narrowly focused instruments. We have chosen whether to know which side of the galaxy the photon passed by (by choosing whether to use the two-telescope set up or not, which are the instruments that would give us the information about which side of the galaxy the photon passed). We have delayed this choice until a time long after the particles "have passed by one side of the galaxy, or the other side of the galaxy, or both sides of the galaxy," so to speak. Yet, it seems paradoxically that our later choice of whether to obtain this information determines which side of the galaxy the light passed, so to speak, billions of years ago. So it seems that time has nothing to do with effects of quantum mechanics. And, indeed, the original thought experiment was not based on any analysis of how particles evolve and behave over time – it was based on the mathematics. This is what the mathematics predicted for a result, and this is exactly the result obtained in the laboratory. http://www.bottomlayer.com/bottom/basic_delayed_choice.htm And of course all this leads us back to this question. "What does our conscious observation have to do with anything in collapsing the wave function of the photon in the double slit experiment and in the universe?", and furthermore "What is causing the quantum waves to collapse from their 'higher dimension' in the first place since we humans are definitely not the ones who are causing the photon waves to collapse to their 'uncertain 3D wave/particle' state?" With the refutation of the materialistic 'hidden variable' argument and with the patent absurdity of the materialistic 'Many-Worlds' hypothesis, then I can only think of one sufficient explanation for quantum wave collapse to photon; Psalm 118:27 God is the LORD, who hath shown us light:,,, In the following article, Physics Professor Richard Conn Henry is quite blunt as to what quantum mechanics reveals to us about the 'primary cause' of our 3D reality: Alain Aspect and Anton Zeilinger by Richard Conn Henry - Physics Professor - John Hopkins University Excerpt: Why do people cling with such ferocity to belief in a mind-independent reality? It is surely because if there is no such reality, then ultimately (as far as we can know) mind alone exists. And if mind is not a product of real matter, but rather is the creator of the "illusion" of material reality (which has, in fact, despite the materialists, been known to be the case, since the discovery of quantum mechanics in 1925), then a theistic view of our existence becomes the only rational alternative to solipsism (solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist). (Dr. Henry's referenced experiment and paper - “An experimental test of non-local realism” by S. Gröblacher et. al., Nature 446, 871, April 2007 - “To be or not to be local” by Alain Aspect, Nature 446, 866, April 2007 (personally I feel the word "illusion" was a bit too strong from Dr. Henry to describe material reality and would myself have opted for his saying something a little more subtle like; "material reality is a "secondary reality" that is dependent on the primary reality of God's mind" to exist. Then again I'm not a professor of physics at a major university as Dr. Henry is.) http://henry.pha.jhu.edu/aspect.html Professor Henry's bluntness on the implications of quantum mechanics continues here: Quantum Enigma:Physics Encounters Consciousness - Richard Conn Henry - Professor of Physics - John Hopkins University Excerpt: It is more than 80 years since the discovery of quantum mechanics gave us the most fundamental insight ever into our nature: the overturning of the Copernican Revolution, and the restoration of us human beings to centrality in the Universe. And yet, have you ever before read a sentence having meaning similar to that of my preceding sentence? Likely you have not, and the reason you have not is, in my opinion, that physicists are in a state of denial… https://uncommondescent.com/intelligent-design/the-quantum-enigma-of-consciousness-and-the-identity-of-the-designer/ As Professor Henry pointed out, it has been known since the discovery of quantum mechanics itself, early last century, that the universe is indeed 'Mental', as is illustrated by these quotes from Max Planck. "As a man who has devoted his whole life to the most clear headed science, to the study of matter, I can tell you as a result of my research about atoms this much: There is no matter as such. All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force which brings the particle of an atom to vibration and holds this most minute solar system of the atom together. We must assume behind this force the existence of a conscious and intelligent mind. This mind is the matrix of all matter." Max Planck - The Father Of Quantum Mechanics - Das Wesen der Materie [The Nature of Matter], speech at Florence, Italy (1944)(Of Note: Max Planck was a devout Christian, which is not surprising when you realize practically every, if not every, founder of each major branch of modern science also 'just so happened' to have a deep Christian connection.) http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Planck I find it extremely interesting, and strange, that quantum mechanics tells us that instantaneous quantum wave collapse to its 'uncertain' 3-D state is centered on each individual observer in the universe, whereas, 4-D space-time cosmology (General Relativity) tells us each 3-D point in the universe is central to the expansion of the universe. These findings of modern science are pretty much exactly what we would expect to see if this universe were indeed created from a higher dimension by a omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal Being who knows everything that is happening everywhere in the universe at the same time. These findings certainly seem to go to the very heart of the age old question asked of many parents by their children, “How can God hear everybody’s prayers at the same time?”,,, i.e. Why should the expansion of the universe, or the quantum wave collapse of the entire universe, even care that you or I, or anyone else, should exist? Only Theism offers a rational explanation as to why you or I, or anyone else, should have such undeserved significance in such a vast universe: Psalm 33:13-15 The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works. The expansion of every 3D point in the universe, and the quantum wave collapse of the entire universe to each point of conscious observation in the universe, is obviously a very interesting congruence in science between the very large (relativity) and the very small (quantum mechanics). A congruence that Physicists, and Mathematicians, seem to be having a extremely difficult time 'unifying' into a 'theory of everything'.(Einstein, Penrose). The Physics Of The Large And Small: What Is the Bridge Between Them? Roger Penrose Excerpt: This, (the unification of General Relativity and Quantum Field theory), would also have practical advantages in the application of quantum ideas to subjects like biology - in which one does not have the clean distinction between a quantum system and its classical measuring apparatus that our present formalism requires. In my opinion, moreover, this revolution is needed if we are ever to make significant headway towards a genuine scientific understanding of the mysterious but very fundamental phenomena of conscious mentality. http://www.pul.it/irafs/CD%20IRAFS%2702/texts/Penrose.pdf Quantum Mechanics Not In Jeopardy: Physicists Confirm Decades-Old Key Principle Experimentally - July 2010 Excerpt: the research group led by Prof. Gregor Weihs from the University of Innsbruck and the University of Waterloo has confirmed the accuracy of Born’s law in a triple-slit experiment (as opposed to the double slit experiment). "The existence of third-order interference terms would have tremendous theoretical repercussions - it would shake quantum mechanics to the core," says Weihs. The impetus for this experiment was the suggestion made by physicists to generalize either quantum mechanics or gravitation - the two pillars of modern physics - to achieve unification, thereby arriving at a one all-encompassing theory. "Our experiment thwarts these efforts once again," explains Gregor Weihs. (of note: Born's Law is an axiom that dictates that quantum interference can only occur between pairs of probabilities, not triplet or higher order probabilities. If they would have detected higher order interference patterns this would have potentially allowed a reformulation of quantum mechanics that is compatible with, or even incorporates, gravitation.) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100722142640.htmbornagain77_{January 13, 2011
January
01
Jan
13
13
2011
04:44 PM
4
04
44
PM
PDT}

nullasalus you state, 'absolutely everything that exists somehow ‘does something’, right now at this very moment, for humanity in particular. And if it doesn’t, well, that suggests there’s no God.' Well nullasalus it just so happens that everything that exists somehow ‘does something’, right now at this very moment, for humanity in particular is pretty much exactly how reality is constructed: contrary to what is popularly believed by many people today, of the earth being nothing but a insignificant speck of dust lost in a vast ocean of space, there is actually a strong case to be made for the earth being central in the universe once again. In what I consider an absolutely fascinating discovery, 4-dimensional (4D) space-time was created in the Big Bang and continues to 'expand equally in all places'. Where is the centre of the universe?: Excerpt: There is no centre of the universe! According to the standard theories of cosmology, the universe started with a "Big Bang" about 14 thousand million years ago and has been expanding ever since. Yet there is no centre to the expansion; it is the same everywhere. The Big Bang should not be visualized as an ordinary explosion. The universe is not expanding out from a centre into space; rather, the whole universe is expanding and it is doing so equally at all places, as far as we can tell. http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/Relativity/GR/centre.html Thus from a 3-dimensional (3D) perspective, any particular 3D spot in the universe is to be considered just as 'center of the universe' as any other particular spot in the universe is to be considered 'center of the universe'. This centrality found for any 3D place in the universe is because the universe is a 4D expanding hypersphere, analogous in 3D to the surface of an expanding balloon. All points on the surface are moving away from each other, and every point is central, if that’s where you live. Every 3D Place Is Center In This Universe - video http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3991873/ So in a holistic sense, as facts revealed later in this paper will bear out, it may now be possible for the earth to, once again, be considered 'central to the universe'. This intriguing possibility, for the earth to once again be considered central, is clearly illustrated by the fact the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), remaining from the creation of the universe, forms a sphere around the earth. Earth As The Center Of The Universe - illustrated image http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AYmaSrBPNEmGZGM4ejY3d3pfOXQydzV2OGhz The Known Universe - Dec. 2009 - a very cool video (please note the centrality of the earth in the universe) http://www.metacafe.com/watch/4240304/ This centrality that we observe for ourselves in the universe also happens to give weight to the verses of the Bible that indirectly imply centrality for the earth in the universe: Psalm 102:19 The LORD looked down from His sanctuary on high, from heaven He viewed the earth, On top of this '4D expanding hypersphere geometry', and other considerations of Einstein's special theory of relativity that show that the speed of light stays the same, while all other movement in the universe, no matter how fast or slow, is relative to that 'unchanging' speed of light, the primary reason the CMBR forms a sphere around the earth is because the quantum wave collapse of photons to their "uncertain" 3D wave/particle state, is dependent on 'conscious observation' in quantum mechanics. Moreover, this wave collapse of photons, to their 'uncertain' 3D wave/particle state, is shown by experiment to be instantaneous, and is also shown to be without regard to distance. i.e. It is universal for each observer (A. Aspect). CMBR, coupled with quantum mechanics, ultimately indicates that 'quantum information' about all points in the universe is actually available to each 'central observer', in any part of the 4D expanding universe, simultaneously. The primary reason that 'observers' are now to be considered 'central' in the reality of the universe is because of the failure of materialism to explain reality. Here is a clip of a talk in which Alain Aspect talks about the failure of 'local realism', or the failure of materialism, to explain reality: The Failure Of Local Realism - Materialism - Alain Aspect - video http://www.metacafe.com/w/4744145 The falsification for local realism (materialism) was recently greatly strengthened: Physicists close two loopholes while violating local realism - November 2010 Excerpt: The latest test in quantum mechanics provides even stronger support than before for the view that nature violates local realism and is thus in contradiction with a classical worldview. http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-physicists-loopholes-violating-local-realism.html This following study adds to Alain Aspect's work in Quantum Mechanics and solidly refutes the 'hidden variable' argument that has been used by materialists to try to get around the Theistic implications of the instantaneous 'spooky action at a distance' found in quantum mechanics. Quantum Measurements: Common Sense Is Not Enough, Physicists Show - July 2009 Excerpt: scientists have now proven comprehensively in an experiment for the first time that the experimentally observed phenomena cannot be described by non-contextual models with hidden variables. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090722142824.htm (of note: hidden variables were postulated to remove the need for 'spooky' forces, as Einstein termed them — forces that act instantaneously at great distances, thereby breaking the most cherished rule of relativity theory, that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.) The immediate question is, "What does conscious observation have to do with anything in the experiments of quantum mechanics?" and thus by extrapolation of that question, "What does conscious observation have to do with anything in the universe?" Yet, the assertion that consciousness is to be treated as a separate entity when dealing with quantum mechanics, and thus with the universe, has some very strong clout behind it. Quantum mind–body problem Parallels between quantum mechanics and mind/body dualism were first drawn by the founders of quantum mechanics including Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Wolfgang Pauli, Niels Bohr, and Eugene Wigner http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mind%E2%80%93body_problem "It was not possible to formulate the laws (of quantum theory) in a fully consistent way without reference to consciousness." Eugene Wigner (1902 -1995) laid the foundation for the theory of symmetries in quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1963. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Wignerbornagain77_{January 13, 2011
January
01
Jan
13
13
2011
04:42 PM
4
04
42
PM
PDT}

The Weinberg thing always gets me, since I see it repeated often. This idea that, in the study of physics, we should find that.. apparently, absolutely everything that exists somehow 'does something', right now at this very moment, for humanity in particular. And if it doesn't, well, that suggests there's no God. (On the flipside, I recall David Deutsch suggesting that it was almost inevitable that the universe shall reach an 'Omega Point' where intelligent beings such as ourselves will create and control the cosmos for a temporal eternity. Of course, he seemed to take that as evidence that God was unnecessary. It's almost as if no matter what is discovered, the answer for some will be 'No God'.)nullasalus_{January 13, 2011
January
01
Jan
13
13
2011
04:01 PM
4
04
01
PM
PDT}

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Leave a Reply