Science, God & Christ The Emergent Harmony of Science and the Bible: Intelligent Design and the Anthropic Principal

Science, God & Christ

The Emergent Harmony of Science and the Bible: Intelligent Design

and the Anthropic Principal

The Cosmological Argument

““The heavens are telling The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the glory of God; and

their expanse is their expanse is declaring the work of His declaring the work of His hands…”hands…” Psalm 19:1ff. Psalm 19:1ff.

The Emerging Harmony of Science and the

Bible“[My fellow astronomers are]

scaling the mountains of ignorance, … conquering the highest peak, … pulling [themselves] over the final

rock … [to be] greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting

there for centuries.”

Robert Jastrow, founder and director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space

Evidence of Design(Walter Bradley)

Mount Rushmore versus Hawaii Rock

Design or not?

http://cialab.ee.washington.edu/Marks/ccc/ScientEvid.htm

Man on Mars?

Accident or Design?

The Anthropic Principal: Week & Strong

“Now I want your definition of weak and

strong anthropic principles on

Wednesday. That'll be all.”

XAVIER to a group of mutant students in

the movie X-Men Patrick Stewart as Dr. Xavier, teacher of the

X-Men.


Intelligent Design, the Anthropic Principal & Evolution: The Product of Zero & Infinity

A Recurring Theme in Cosmology & Biology

• The “miracle” probability of intelligent creation p <<1

• Those who do not believe in a creator must establish a large number of events to explain apparent “design”.

• To make the possible probable… 0 = something

How big must be? What is “something”?

• Examples– Convergence in Probability– Monkeys at typewriters


Alfred Hitchcock & the Anthropic Principal

• Story: Via Mail, a stranger picks seven straight horse race winners for a billionaire. Evidence that the horses were picked before the race was indisputable

• The stranger offers to sell the results of the 8th race for a million bucks.

• How does the stranger do this?


Alfred Hitchcock & the Anthropic PrincipalAlfred Hitchcock & the Anthropic Principal

The combinatorics of “miracles” The Problem: 10 horses in 10 races is ten billion.

There are roughly 1078 atoms in the universe.http://itss.raytheon.com/cafe/qadir/q1797.html

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 5010

0

1050

10100

nn


Alfred Hitchcock & the Anthropic Principal

7 horse races with 7 Horses each

First, send out 77 = 823,543 letters

winner

winner

Horse A, Race 1: 117649 letters

Horse D, Race 1: 117649 letters

Horse B, Race 1: 117649 letters

Horse C, Race 1: 117649 letters

Horse F, Race 1: 117649 letters

Horse E, Race 1: 117649 letters

Horse G, Race 1: 117649 letters

RACE #1








RACE #2








RACE #6

Horse A, Race 7: 1 letter

Horse D, Race 7: 1 letter

Horse B, Race7: 1 letter

Horse C, Race 7: 1 letter

Horse F, Race 7: 1 letter

Horse E, Race 7: 1 letter

Horse G, Race 7: 1 letter

RACE #7

winner

winner

SU

CK

ER

!

…

Total number of letters sent:800,960

6

)17( 8

Blind Search!

The blind man gives a twist and asks his friend “Is this it?”

Monkeys at a Typewriter

Proposition: Given enough moneys at

enough typewriters, will all of the great

works of literature be

produced? In theory, yes – “Convergence in Probability”

The probability something will be classy is small – but even a small number multiplied by a big enough number gives a reasonable number.

0 = ?

Bob Newhart’s skit: The supervisor of the monkeys.

“To be or not to be, that is the qzxjsaiapoiju”


How long for John 3:16? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

141 characters chosen from 29 possibilities (26 letters + space + “.” + “,”. We won’t consider capitalization).

Answer: One chance in 29141=1.578 10206

Compare: About 1078 atoms in the universe. So, chances are the same as choosing a specific atom from 10128 universes.

Specified Complexity in Evolutionary Algorithms

(William Dembski: No Free Lunch)

• Richard Dawkin’s ExampleMETHINKS*IT*IS*LIKE*A*WEASEL

About 1040 combinations.• Dawkin’s search: Search each letter until the letter is

correct and keep it there.– Lots of information in the search! 29 fitness functions.

• Dembski’s random search. Make a change. If it’s better, keep it. If not, go back & try again.– One fitness function.

• BIG Differences in performance. – Why? The intelligence in the applied fitness function.

Is there intelligent design in evolutionary computing?

“… when specified complexity seems to be generated for free [in evolutionary algorithms], it has in fact been front-loaded, smuggled in, or hidden from view” William Dembski, No Free Lunch

“No Free Lunch” Theorems

“The upshot of these theorems is that

averaged over all possible fitness

functions, no search procedure

outperforms any other.”

William Dembski, No Free Lunch.

Information j in Evolutionary Search

• No information is blind search.

• Examples of information j(observation)– The value of the fitness– The slope of the decision

surface.– How far away are you

from the target.

• The set of all information to which we have access to is J.

Generic Generic NFLNFL Theorem Theorem(Dembski)(Dembski)

Let a solution Let a solution TT be achieved in be achieved in mm steps of evolutionary steps of evolutionary program program EE using information using information jj..

Let Let PP((EE,,TT,,mm,,jj) be the probability this happens (or some ) be the probability this happens (or some other metric).other metric).

Average Average PP over all information over all information jj in in JJ..Then Then PP((EE,,TT,,mm,,JJ) is independent of ) is independent of EE..

Thus, the average performance of Thus, the average performance of EE is no better than blind is no better than blind search.search.

Generic Generic NFLNFL Theorem Theorem

Notes:Notes:

In order for evolutionary algorithms to In order for evolutionary algorithms to work, there must be intelligence work, there must be intelligence

(specified complexity) in the design of (specified complexity) in the design of the fitness function and the manner the fitness function and the manner the search agent interacts with the the search agent interacts with the

environment.environment.

The tuning of microevolution does not The tuning of microevolution does not require this intelligence.require this intelligence.

Intelligence in Cosmology

Drake’s Formula• N=R* fp ne fe fi fc L • N is the number of extant civilizations possessing interest

and the capability for interstellar communication.

• R* is the mean rate of star formation averaged over the lifetime of the galaxy. The Green Bank (GB) group said this was the total number of stars in the galaxy divided by the lifetime of the galaxy. By their values this was

• fp is the fraction of stars with planetary systems.

• ne is the mean number of planets in each planetary system with an environment favorable for the origin of life. Feeling that our sun was unexceptional in this regard for a star of its class, GB said between 1 and 5; Sagan uses 1.

• fl is the fraction of suitable planets on which life does develop. Agreeing that life on such planets would be inevitable, both use the value of unity, 1.

• fi is the fraction of life-bearing planets on which intelligence accompanied with manipulative ability appears. between 1 and 10-1.

• fc is the fraction of planets on which an advanced technical civilization evolves. ~ 10-1. • L is the lifetime of the technical civilization and the most difficult variable to determine. (The L period of Earth just recently began with the

development of the radio telescope, since only then did we become capable of communicating with other civilizations in space).

• N is getting smaller and smaller. • Problem: L is the lifetime of the technical civilization

• Excerpted from Possibility of Intelligent Life Elsewhere in the Universe, Report prepared for the Committee on Science and Technology U.S. House of Representatives, DOC Y 4.SCI 2:94-1-r, 1975. Pages 6-7 .


“According to the strong Anthropic Principle, there

are millions of different universes, each with

different values of the physical constants. Only

those universes with suitable physical

constants will contain intelligent life.” Stephen

Hawkinghttp://www.hawking.org.uk

Stephen Hawking


“With the weak Anthropic Principle, there is only a single universe. But the effective couplings are supposed to vary with position, and intelligent life occurs only in those regions, in which the couplings have the right values. However, quantum cosmology, and the no boundary proposal remove the distinction between the weak and strong Anthropic Principles.” Stephen Hawking.

http://www.hawking.org.ukStephen Hawking


“Many physicists dislike the Anthropic Principle. They feel it is messy and vague, it can be used to explain almost anything, and it has little predictive power. I sympathize with these feelings, but the Anthropic Principle seems essential in quantum cosmology.”

http://www.hawking.org.uk

Stephen Hawking


• Evidence of Design– Dimensions– Existence & Creation of Time – Creation via the Big Bang– Creation via Cantorian Transfinite Numbers– Evidence in Biochemical Design– The Fine Tuning of the Universe– ALL Things“The problem [with those who seek evidence] … is not the absence of evidence; it is, rather, the suppression of it” Ravi Zacharias (Jesus Among

Other Gods)

• Harmony With Scripture

The Bible Claims: “All Things”

• John 1:3 “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

• Psa 139:14 “... I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvelous [are] thy works …”


Intelligent Design and the Anthropic Principal:

Dimensions and String Theory


“… why should we live in a four

dimensional world, and not eleven, or

some other number of dimensions?”

http://www.hawking.org.uk

Hawking’s Answer:

The Anthropic Principal

Stephen Hawking

Dimensions:Dimensions:Generalizations of the Generalizations of the Meaning of When and Meaning of When and

WhereWhere

The Hottentots (Gamow)

• One

• Two

• Three

• Many

Dimensions

• One Dimension = A Line

• Two Dimensions = A Plane

Dimensions

• Three Dimensions = Space

• Four (Spatial) Dimensions = ???????“It is impossible to envision a four dimensional space” Stephen Hawking

• Time as a dimension

Time As A Dimension

Need 4 numbers to specify a point (ball) in time and space…

time

How Long is a Second?

• 186,000 miles/sec 1 sec = 186,000 miles

Building Dimensions

• A POINT (Zero Dimensions) has no width, height or length. Here is a representation:

• A LINE (1-D) is a sequence of points

• A LINE (1-D) has length, but no width or height. It is infinitely thin!

Building Dimensions

• An infinite number of lines is needed to make a plane. The plane has NO thickness,

• A PLANE (2 Dimensions) is a sequence of lines:

Building Dimensions

• An infinite number of planes is needed to make space.

• SPACE (3 Dimensions) is a sequence of planes:

Building Dimensions• FOUR Spatial dimensions is a sequence of spaces:

• PARALLEL UNIVERSES .

• What of five, six, seven or an infinite number of dimensions?

• Reality or Theory?

Building Dimensions:Time as a Dimension

• SPACE – TIME (4 Dimensions) is a sequence of spaces:

time

• TIME is different. It only can be traversed in one direction.

Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott(1884)

• Two Dimensional Creatures & the Theory of “UP”

Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

• Strange Visitation

Properties of High Dimensions

• Lefties in Flatland

• Once a lefty – always a lefty.

Properties of High Dimensions

• Once a lefty – always a lefty?

• Not if you can flip in three dimensions.

Application to Baseball

Flip into the fourth dimension & back…

Breaking Chains

• Chains in Flatland

• Links can be separated in three dimensions.

Breaking ChainsBreaking ChainsChains linked in three dimensions can be separated in fourChains linked in three dimensions can be separated in four..

Acts 12:6 The night before Herod was to Acts 12:6 The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. entrance.

7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and him up. "Quick, get up!" he said, and the chains fell off Peter's wrists.the chains fell off Peter's wrists.

YESYES MaybeMaybe

Walking Through Walls.

• Locked in a box in FlatlandLocked in a box in Flatland

3-D walls are no obstacle in 3-D walls are no obstacle in four spatial dimensionsfour spatial dimensions

• John 20:26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!"

YESYES MaybeMaybe

Consequences

• A higher dimensional entity – Can be infinitely close without physical appearance– Is able to intersect our universe at will– Is able to see inside you

• Explanation of certain miracles (Hugh Ross)

– Walking through walls– Chains dropping– Ascension– “I Am”– Other

Dimensions In Math

• Multidimensional spaces are common mathematical models.

• Some mathematical spaces contain an infinite number of dimensions (e.g. certain Hilbert Spaces.)

• These spaces are not physical spaces.

Big Bang, Strings & Dimensions

• Atoms, Protons, Quarks & Strings• “[Strings work only] if space-time has either ten or

twenty-six dimensions” Stephen Hawking

• Q: Where are the other dimensions? • A: Compactified. They were never birthed in the

big bang. Only three spatial dimensions and time were.

Hawking

“Otherwise, why should we live in a four dimensional world, and not eleven, or some other number of

dimensions. The anthropic answer is that two spatial dimensions, are not enough for complicated

structures, like intelligent beings. On the other hand, four or more spatial dimensions would mean that

gravitational and electric forces would fall off faster than the inverse square law. In this situation, planets

would not have stable orbits around their star, nor electrons have stable orbits around the nucleus of

an atom. Thus intelligent life, at least as we know it, could exist only in four dimensions. I very much doubt we will find a non anthropic explanation”

Hawking’s Flat Dog

• 3-D is fit for human & animal life

• A 2-D dog would drift apart in Flatland

The Bible Claims: The Bible Claims: “All things”“All things”

• John 1:3 “All things were made by him; and without him John 1:3 “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”was not any thing made that was made.”

• Psa 139:14 “... I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: Psa 139:14 “... I am fearfully [and] wonderfully made: marvelous [are] thy worksmarvelous [are] thy works …”


Introduction to Intelligent Design and the Anthropic Principal:

The Big Bang & Life

Some (Mind Boggling) General Revelations…

• “Before the beginning of time” is solid physics.

• The universe began and will end.• Evidence of Design: The Anthropic

Principal• More than three (or four) dimensions.• The harmony of Genesis and cosmology.

The evidence of elegance …

• “The equations of physics have in them incredible simplicity, elegance, and beauty. That in itself is sufficient to prove to me that there must be a God who is responsible for these laws and responsible for the universe”.

• Astrophysicist Paul Davies in Superforce (1984).

The Universe Creation• The Possibilities

– Static homogeneous universe• Can’t be finite (collapse!)• Can’t be infinite (too bright!)

– Dynamic expanding universe

Big Bang Evidence of Old Earth– Hubble’s Red Shift (1929)– Radioactive Dating– Antarctic ice drillings (20-25 Million Years)– Background Radiation (Penzias & Wilson @ Bell Labs,

1965).

The Big BangThe Big Bang awoke “Dead Man

Syndrome” arguments…

“The difficulty of [the theory]… is that it seems to require a sudden and particular beginning of things.”

“Philosophically, the notion of a beginning of the present order of Nature is repugnant to me … I should like to find a genuine loophole.”

Arthur Eddington (1882-1944)

Define “Nothing” (Hugh Ross)

• Absence of matter (a vacuum)

• Absence of matter and energy

• Absence of matter and energy and the space-time dimension

Time Was Created.

• 1 Corinthians 2:7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.

• 2 Timothy 1:9b This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,

• Titus 1:2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,

Time for No One…

“…time had a beginning at

the big bang, in the sense that earlier times simply would

not be defined.” Stephen Hawking

God’s Time

• If God existed before time, then God can exist outside the framework of time.– Movie Analogy

– Writing Analogy

• Consequences– God can have personal relationships with all

– From God’s perspective, there is no conflict between free will and predestination. Both are temporal concepts.

Faith: What do we know and when do we know it?

• Cosmologists think they know about the big bang from 10-43 seconds. (Ross) What about before? No one knows!

• “… all physical theories … break down at the beginning of the universe.” Stephen Hawking

• Hebrews 11 3 (KJV) Through faith we understand that the

worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

3 (NIV) By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

EVOLUTION

• As a Faith.• Evolutionary Computation & Artificial Life.• Typical Recipe

– Assume a plurality of solutions.

– Kill the weakest

– Mutate

– Mix chromosomes (marriage) & repopulate

– Repeat for another generation

EVOLUTION

• Examples– Thomas Ray’s TIERRA

– Example #1

– Example #2

– Example #3 (59 dimensions)

• Are compelling simulations proof?

A Lawyer’s Perspective: Can Evolution be Proved in a Courtroom?

Phillip E. JohnsonJefferson E. Peyser

Professor of LawSchool of Law

University of California, Berkeleyhttp://www.arn.org/johnson/johome.htm

Kurt Gödel & Evolution by Chance

• “The formation within geological time of a human body by the laws of physics (or any other laws of similar nature), starting from a random distribution of elementary particles and the field, is as unlikely as the separation by chance of the atmosphere into its components.”

(Mere Creation by Behe et al.)

Life by Chance and Monkeys at a Typewriter

Proposition: Given enough moneys at

enough typewriters, will all of the great

works of literature be

produced? In theory, yes – “Convergence in Probability”

The probability something will be classy is small – but even a small number multiplied by a big enough number gives a reasonable number.

0 = ?


How long for John 3:16? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

141 characters chosen from 29 possibilities (26 letters + space + “.” + “,”. We won’t consider capitalization).

Answer: One chance in 29141=1.578 10206

Compare: About 1080 atoms in the universe. So, chances are the same as choosing a specific atom from 10126 universes.

Chances of Life Happening by Chance

Assumption: An infinite universe over an infinite amount of time will produce life by chance – just like the monkeys at the typewriter.

Conclusion: Cosmologists believe the universe is finite (about 4 trillion cubic light years) and the the age of the universe is finite (10 to 30 billion years), scientists using monkeys-at-a-typewriter math conclude life being created by chance is not possible.

Are you following this random presentation?

“Dead Man Syndrome” Spin

(Feynman) There exist parallel universes – possibly probabilistic universes – that increase the large space and time needed to create life by chance.

(Hawking) Maybe the universe cycles from big bang to big crunch and back again. If this oscillation has continued from the infinite past, there is enough time to create life by chance.

The Anthropic Principle• anthropic adj : relating to mankind or the period

of mankind's existence • FACT: The universe is finely tuned. Change any

one of a number of tunings results in a universe unable to support life.

• Atheist interpretation (e.g. Hawking): – “We see the universe the way it is because we exist”

What is the chance that yesterday’s lottery numbers would be drawn?

• Design interpretation (e.g. Ross): God designed the universe to be “just right” for human life.

Acceptance of Creation’s Reality: The Mounting Evidence

“Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God”

http://www.leaderu.com/real/ri9403/evidence.html

“During the past 30 years, we gradually became aware of flies in

the ointment of naturalism, and they have grown to the point that doubt now exists as to whether

they can ever be removed.”

Dr. Walter Bradley, Christian

An Example

“[If the attraction of gravity] went down faster with distance, the orbits of the planets would … spiral into the sun, If it went down slower, the gravitation

forces from distant stars would dominate over that from earth.”

Stephen Hawking

Astronomers R.T. Rood & J.S. Trefil (U.Va.), Are We Alone?

"If I were a religious man," Trefil, an agnostic, wrote in the concluding chapter, "I would say that everything we have learned about life in the past twenty years shows that we are unique, and therefore, special in God's sight.”

Hood & Trefil estimate the probability of life existing anywhere in the universe to be one in a billion, and thus conclude the existence of life on planet earth, far from being inevitable, is the result of a remarkable set of coincidences. (http://www.leaderu.com/real/ri9403/evidence.html)

J.L. Mackie, Atheist (Miracle of Theism, p.141)

“There is only one actual universe, with a unique set of basic materials and physical constants, and it is therefore surprising that the elements of this unique set-up are just right for life when they might easily have been wrong. This is not made less surprising by the fact that if it had not been so, no one would have been here to be surprised. We can properly envision and consider alternative possibilities which do not include our being there to experience them.”

Sir Fred Hoyle, AgnosticSir Fred Hoyle, Agnostic (The Intelligent Universe)

"Such properties seem to run through the fabric of the

natural world like a thread of happy coincidences. But

there are so many odd coincidences essential to life that some explanation seems required to account

for them." Fred Holye (1915-2001) coined the term “big bang”- mocking the

theory. He promoted, instead, the steady state theory.

John WheelerPrinceton University professor of physics

"Slight variations in physical laws such as gravity or electromagnetism would make life impossible . . . the necessity to produce life lies at the center of the universe's whole machinery and design,"

(Reader's Digest, Sept., 1986).

Anthropic Principle Examples (Ross)

• Universal Constants– Gravitational coupling constant– Electron charge– Etc.

• Relational Constants– The Earth’s tilt– Rotation speed– Etc. Dr. Hugh Ross, Christian

“The Fingerprint of God”

p.121

Evidence of Design: Irreducible Complexity & Creation

• Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe

• Premise: Irreducibly complex machinery cannot evolve.

Evidence of Design: Rube Goldberg Machines.

• Open window (A) and fly kite (B). String (C) lifts small door (D) allowing moths (E) to escape and eat red flannel shirt (F). As weight of shirt becomes less, shoe (G) steps on switch (H) which heats electric iron (I) and burns hole in pants (J). Smoke (K) enters hole in tree (L), smoking out opossum (M) which jumps into basket (N), pulling rope (O) and lifting cage (P), allowing woodpecker (Q) to chew wood from pencil (R), exposing lead. Emergency knife (S) is always handy in case opossum or the woodpecker gets sick and can't work.

• Examples in biology are NUMEROUS. (e.g. Blood clotting on p. 82.)

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Science, God & Christ The Emergent Harmony of Science and the Bible: Intelligent Design and the Anthropic Principal