A philosophical worldview or belief system grounded on the 20th century discovery that Information, rather than Matter, is the fundamental substance of everything in the universe. It is intended to be the 21st century successor to the ancient worldviews of Materialism and Idealism. An Update from Bronze Age to Information Age. It's also a Theory – of – Everything that covers, not just matter & energy, but also Life & Mind & Love.
Post 139.November 20, 2024
Cosmology and Evolution
Anthropic Theories
Another kind of vital Information is found in the Initial Conditions (program inputs) of the Big Bang that somehow pointed ahead to the highly-processed current conditions of our blue dot in the darkness of the cosmos. In the 20th century, based on astronomical evidence and the Big Bang theory, cosmologists began to stumble upon surprising “coincidences”⁶ in 26 fundamental Cosmic Constants (“tuned” pre-settings) that appeared to be essential to evolution of Life and Mind. Based on those parameters, the so-called Anthropic Principle⁷ made the emergence of living & thinking creatures seem almost inevitable⁸. [image below]
The causal power of the Big Bang, and those law-like settings in initial conditions of the material world, along with the sifting mechanism of competitive selection, could be interpreted to imply that eventually something like genesis-seeking homo sapiens would evolve on a temperate planet without the necessity of remedial divine intervention. Yet Meyer still finds the miracle-working God of the Bible to be more plausible than the nature god (Logos) of Deism & Plato, and more feasible than the Fortuna (goddess of Chance) of Atheism. On the other hand, Anti-Theists seem to find the miracle of Design by Accident⁹ (Creative Random Chance ) to be more believable than the notion of Platonic Logic & Intention programmed into the Initial Conditions. Perhaps more relevant to some on this forum, long prior to the 21st century evidences that Meyer analyzes ─ Big Bang beginning, Abiotic theories, DNA Genetics, and Information Theory ─ David Hume skeptically decon-structed the design arguments of his day¹⁰. Which “hypothesis” do you find the best fit to explain the existence of the living & thinking creatures of the world as we know it today?
7. The anthropic principle “ is a methodological principle that states that the universe's parameters must allow for life to exist. It's also known as the observation selection effect.
The anthropic principle is based on the idea that the universe's conditions are so delicate that life would not be possible if any of the natural constants were slightly different. It's often used in cosmology to test theories about the universe.” ___Google AI overview
Note --- Darwin's model for Natural Selection was intelligent farmers who bred domestic animals with the intention to improve certain features of the stock. But Who pre-selected the critical cosmological parameters, and for what purpose? “Nobody knows” is the Agnostic & Deist position. Yet Meyer implies, without specifying, that it was the Yaweh/Jehovah of Judeo-Christian scripture.
8. Emergence of Life Probability : “According to current scientific understanding, the probability of life emerging on a planet with suitable conditions is considered to be relatively high, although the exact odds are difficult to quantify due to the complex nature of abio-genesis, but the early emergence of life on Earth suggests a fairly significant chance of life arising given the right environment and enough time; however, the probability of intelligent life evolving is considered much lower.” ___Google AI overview
Sidebar Notes continued in middle columns
Vital Information of the Anthropic Kind
End of Blog Post 139
Return of the God Hypothesis
The Synthetic Tendency in the Universe
Stephen Meyer
Historian & Geo-physicist
and Philosopher
“Three key scientific discoveries that supported theistic belief : Origin of Cosmos ; Fine Tuning ; Origin of Life ”
9. "Design by Accident" : is a concept in design theory, primarily popularized by Alexandra Midal, which argues that significant design innovations and advancements often arise from unexpected sources, unintended consequences, or "accidents" rather than solely through deliberate, planned design processes; essentially challenging the traditional notion of design as a purely intentional and controlled activity, highlighting the role of serendipity and unforeseen developments in shaping design history and practice. ___Google AI overview
Note --- Design by Accident is literally an oxymoron. Yet, we can't deny that randomness (accident ; chance) is an essential factor in Evolution. But without the Selection factor it only results in chaos.
10.In his Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, David Hume criticized contemporary attempts to support religious beliefs in a supernatural deity by inference from appearances of design in the makeup of the world, and then by analogy with human design of artifacts. Hume interpreted the notion of a rational step-by-step designing deity as illicitly humanizing the supernatural God of scripture. When such inferences are disallowed though, we are left with no reasonable answers to the philosophical quest for under-standing of ultimate origins. Hence, Hume might advise us Principle Seekers to “shut-up and calculate”. Pragmatic scientists with here & now projects may be dissuaded by such logic, but theoretical scientists and questing philosophers cannot be so easily turned away from their whys of wisdom. https://iep.utm.edu/design-arguments-for-existence-of-god/
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Another kind of vital Information is found in the Initial Conditions (program inputs) of the Big Bang that somehow pointed ahead to the highly-
