Friday, July 27, 2012

Science, Religion, and Understanding the Universe


At one point yesterday I had decided I wanted to share a personal scientific thought, inspired by both my current research and past literature I have been reviewing on related studies, through this blog. Contemplation though has guided me towards a much grander endeavor (the nature of a study abroad semester is typically very conducive to reflection and self-understanding); I took a step back from this small mission and was astonished to see that it was really only a few pixels of a much more valuable picture. In an effort to continue my learning and curiosity, and also to encourage others to do the same, I want to open as many of these thoughts as I can manage up to criticism.

I think, in doing this, one can allow a very important step in the development of a theory or idea, which works quite well in the world of physics—seen as the interplay between theoretical and experimental physicists. I would like to similarly open my ideas up to “testing,” so that I can return to the drawing board and continue fine-tuning my view of the Universe. To me one of the greatest tragedies in today’s human society is the loss of curiosity. It seems that this can often happen because as people leave their childhood years, they start becoming more sensitive to how the world views them. In a psychological sense, we see children as particularly self-centered (egocentric), and I think for adults this merely develops into more a face-centralized thought; they become more concerned with themselves in the context of society. I will not propose a mechanism for this change, but I think losing the urge to question our perception of the Universe is absolutely detrimental to one’s intellectual progress.

Oddly enough I have come to the conclusion that God would be a perfect starting point in this journey (as do creationists, but in an entirely different sense). From the theoretical Big Bang until now, a timeframe said to be roughly 13.75 billion years, the Universe has gone from nothing to something—gradual transitions from concepts of physics to chemistry to, more recently, biology. Both of these terms, nothing and something, are extremely vague, largely because much of what they may mean is theoretical, but I’ll take a stab at outlining them for discussion purposes. The importance in understanding the Universe is held in our perception of it, so we can base our use of the words rudimentarily in terms of matter, considering this is what we perceive. Nothing, a lack of matter, or better described by modern theoretical physics as the equilibrium state of matter and anti-matter, at some point became subject to an imbalance leading to left over matter of which we are now composed.

What then would I consider my religious view, you ask? And this first post I have dedicated to telling you why I don’t label myself at all (which, to completely contradict that statement, may best categorize me as agnostic). As humans, we have evolved to think in terms of what we can perceive and measure. As I said before, our understanding of the Universe is governed by our ability to perceive it, so to improve our understanding we must question ideas based on physical evidence. This is science. Because God is not based upon physical evidence, and as of yet, no scientific experiments can be done to make his existence any more plausible, to me God is completely irrelevant to our understanding of the Universe and to science.

Science cannot disprove God and I don’t claim his inexistence. What science does say though is that based on the lack of any evidence whatsoever, his existence is quite an improbable, and actually very convoluted alternative theory of the Universe. For a long period of history, the existence of a creator would have been useful to fill in many of the knowledge gaps describing how a complex system such as biological life came to be. At first glance, these complex interactions seem only possible if designed, but a closer look at the system tells otherwise. This beautiful system has come to be after an amount of time almost completely incomprehensible due to our relatively short lifespan. Our growing evidence for alternative theories of the Universe though is beginning to force religion out of the knowledge gaps. Due to scientific advancements, God’s role in the Universe is becoming far more restricted. Where might there then be room for him? Perhaps he had a role in the theoretical Big Bang, who knows?  But that’s the point; such a theory cannot be scientifically evaluated, because the idea is not based on our perceptual view of the Universe. While religion may have been a sensible explanation for the complex systems around us at one time, it has since then become increasingly based on faith alone. This more modern idea of complete faith in religion, preceded long ago by religious belief that was supported by true questioning of the Universe, is now simply an evasion of the need for evidence while all the surrounding sciences continually build upon their library of evidence.

Again, I don’t deny the importance religion may hold, but it has no place in our understanding of the Universe, unless it can be evaluated in a manner similar to other theories. Scientific curiosity fuels the progression of such understanding, and so when I have children, I’m not going to take away their opportunities in questioning the Universe. I think every parent should make an effort to help their child develop a scientific approach to the world, because without that, many are stuck stagnant. I’m not against religion in itself, but I am against the concept of blind faith; it forces an explanation upon someone without room for questioning and begins a trend of fear to defy the common belief. It seems to me that this fear would be utterly damaging to one’s confidence and curiosity. With a little bit of childlike curiosity, we can all be as capable a scientist as our 4-year-old counterparts.

More to come soon! Please, feel free to criticize what I’ve said, argue back, or just let me know what you think.

Source:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUe0_4rdj0U&list=FLyG1iGX7YrwMqSji_cI0ThQ&index=1&feature=plpp_video

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