Tag Archives: origins

Brian Greene Still Thinks String Theory Has Promise

30 years of work on string theory without experimental verification has not deterred Columbia theoretical physicist Brian Greene. He’s still betting on string theory. Money quote from his January 2015 article in Smithsonian magazine: I’m gratified at how far we’ve … Continue reading

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A Creation Story

__________ It seems to have started as an argument. Nothing became something, rapidly expanding to a whole laundry list of things. Separation and settlement followed. Over time things cooled. Mother got her planets, Father took to the stars. As in any divorce, vast … Continue reading

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Stephen Hawking’s “Did God Create the Universe?”

A thought-provoking reflection on the universe’s origin. __________ My fuller take on Hawking’s documentary is here.

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A Universe from Nothing? David Albert Owns Lawrence Krauss

In a recent review for the New York Times, philosopher David Albert explains the basic thesis of physicist Lawrence Krauss’s new book, A Universe From Nothing, in terms that are clear as a bell, then he skewers it just as effectively. … Continue reading

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Theism vs. Atheism Watch: A Visual Analogy for God’s Creation of the Universe? Or Just Some Curious Coincidences Born of Matter in Motion?

The following brief YouTube video strikes me as an analogy for what the universe is actually doing (passing from a lower entropy state to a higher entropy state with lots of curious patterns appearing along the way).  See if you agree.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    … Continue reading

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Christine O’Donnell Says That Young Earth Biblical Creationism Has as Much Evidence Supporting It as Evolution Has

The GOP’s Delaware Senate nominee, Christine O’Donnell, has a history of saying rather ridiculous things about matters of science. Here, for example, is something that she said on CNN about the merits of reading Genesis chapter 1 literally, and how … Continue reading

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Paul Davies Says Stephen Hawking’s New Book Doesn’t Quite Get Rid of God Completely

Physicist Paul Davies, reviewing, for the Guardian, Stephen Hawking’s new book, The Grand Design  (Bantam 2010), says this: The laws of physics can explain, he says, how a universe of space, time and matter could emerge spontaneously, without the need … Continue reading

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Thinking about Symmetry via Stuart Kauffman, William Blake, AR Ammons, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Robert Frost—and My Wife

Biologist Stuart Kauffman blogs for the National Public Radio (NPR) website, and recently wrote a post reflecting on the universe’s symmetry breaking: To begin at the beginning, . . . The universe started extremely hot, dense, and essentially uniform, or isotropic.  Perhaps all four … Continue reading

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Is the Universe a Broken Symmetry? I Need a Physicist’s Help!

Could a physicist (or someone at least somewhat in the know) answer a simple question for me? Does the video below roughly approximate what went on at the Big Bang (a symmetry is broken, its granular debris entropically shattering and cascading … Continue reading

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The Holographic Universe: the Unbreakable Lightness of Being?

After reading yesterday’s mind-bending New York Times article on gravity (and the possibility that we live in a holographic universe), I think I’ve put it all together. But I need a very smart physicists or science oriented person to set … Continue reading

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Mind Ontologically Dependent on the Mindless: Very Strange to Think about If True

If metaphysical naturalism is true, this tidbit from Wikipedia: What all metaphysical naturalists agree on, however, is that the fundamental constituents of reality, from which everything derives and upon which everything depends, are fundamentally mindless. So if any variety of … Continue reading

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What Would It Take to Turn Me Atheist?

As an agnostic, here’s my answer: An ability to transcend the cosmos and see all of it whole. Obviously, I am embedded in the system that I am trying to describe (as are we all) and so I am reluctant … Continue reading

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“Where Did I Come From?” (A Poem by Santi Tafarella)

                I’m slicing fish now, but then it was different.   For on this very kitchen counter,   listening to the breezy talk of seagulls   and the sounds of Big Sur on CD, … Continue reading

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