Excerpt from email to Siti :
I have just posted an article on the topic of "Coincidence versus Creation", which is a continuation of our long-running dialog on whether reality is self-contained, or required an external cause. I'm not totally convinced that a transcendent mathematical-minded deity is out there, but my theory of Enformationism requires a creative Mind of some kind to imagine our information-based world. So, I keep looking for evidence or arguments to support that axiom. Unfortunately, axioms are inherently acts of faith, and logic cannot prove existence.
It's just a single page, and I'd appreciate your help to find the holes in my leaky boat. You might find the "What Are The Odds" debate (linked in the margin) of marginal interest . . . . it goes round & round. One abstruse argument concerns the fact that Strange Attractors can create Order within Chaos. But a whirlpool is a far cry from a world (whirled?). Maybe G*D is a strange attractor on a cosmic scale?
Coincidence vs Creation
Re: Coincidence vs Creation
Before the 20th century, scientists confidently assumed that the physical world was eternal, in the sense of self-existent. But after a rapid series of discoveries, Relativity, Quantum, and Big Bang theories, they were forced to face a contingent world -- a world relative to something else, something beyond the here & now.
Therefore, the world we know with our physical senses, and the universe we know with our extended senses, are no longer all there is. The expansion of our astronomically huge cosmos from an unimaginably small mathematical object implies that there was a time when there was no space-time. Which also suggests that there's more than meets the eye; that something exists beyond reach even of our space-faring probes. Consequently, to fill that gap in our knowledge, we have to postulate entities that are beyond the scope of physical evidence : a forever-cycling Multiverse, or an eternally-existent God.
Now we have to see reality with both our physical eyes, and our metaphysical mind's eye, i.e. imagination. Yet, the subjective realm of the mind is not accessible to the empirical methods of objective Science. But they can be explored with the rational methods of Philosophy, via thought experiments. Unfortunately, materialists are not comfortable with the spooky realm of meta-physics, because the truth of its theories cannot be firmly pinned down with hard evidence. Which means that we will have to live with the inherent limitations of both our "scopes".
Unfortunately, the most common way to deal with the frustrating duality of the world is to retreat into one corner or the other, and to disparage the other. Materialists tend to deny the "reality" of the ideal world of metaphysics, while Spiritualists sometimes go so far as to deny the reality of the material world (Maya). So, like left-wingers and right-wingers, who get their news only from like-minded sources, these matter-wingers and spirit-wingers are blind and ignorant of half the world out there.
Therefore, the world we know with our physical senses, and the universe we know with our extended senses, are no longer all there is. The expansion of our astronomically huge cosmos from an unimaginably small mathematical object implies that there was a time when there was no space-time. Which also suggests that there's more than meets the eye; that something exists beyond reach even of our space-faring probes. Consequently, to fill that gap in our knowledge, we have to postulate entities that are beyond the scope of physical evidence : a forever-cycling Multiverse, or an eternally-existent God.
Now we have to see reality with both our physical eyes, and our metaphysical mind's eye, i.e. imagination. Yet, the subjective realm of the mind is not accessible to the empirical methods of objective Science. But they can be explored with the rational methods of Philosophy, via thought experiments. Unfortunately, materialists are not comfortable with the spooky realm of meta-physics, because the truth of its theories cannot be firmly pinned down with hard evidence. Which means that we will have to live with the inherent limitations of both our "scopes".
Unfortunately, the most common way to deal with the frustrating duality of the world is to retreat into one corner or the other, and to disparage the other. Materialists tend to deny the "reality" of the ideal world of metaphysics, while Spiritualists sometimes go so far as to deny the reality of the material world (Maya). So, like left-wingers and right-wingers, who get their news only from like-minded sources, these matter-wingers and spirit-wingers are blind and ignorant of half the world out there.
Re: Coincidence vs Creation
Here's a note on one theory of how the world came to be without being intentionally created :
The Quantum Fluctuation theory -- real world instantaneously appears from virtual field -- is indistinguishable from Magic, except for the presumption that there is no Magician. It assumes, as an axiom, that the self-existent Multiverse just winks on & off like a twinkling star, forever & ever, world without end. And then, suddenly and without aforethought, one wink inflates into a new baby universe. Apparently, it's a case of immaculate conception.
The only thing the postulation of a Magician would add is intention & purpose to the otherwise pointless arrow of time moving the "baby" inexorably from birth to death, from Bang to Sigh. Oh, and one other thing, naming the Father might give some sense-of-belonging to our little orphan world, and a reason for being.
The Quantum Fluctuation theory -- real world instantaneously appears from virtual field -- is indistinguishable from Magic, except for the presumption that there is no Magician. It assumes, as an axiom, that the self-existent Multiverse just winks on & off like a twinkling star, forever & ever, world without end. And then, suddenly and without aforethought, one wink inflates into a new baby universe. Apparently, it's a case of immaculate conception.
The only thing the postulation of a Magician would add is intention & purpose to the otherwise pointless arrow of time moving the "baby" inexorably from birth to death, from Bang to Sigh. Oh, and one other thing, naming the Father might give some sense-of-belonging to our little orphan world, and a reason for being.
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