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WHEN SCIENCE BECOMES UNPREDICTABLE

 

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In the article "How the Supernatural Entered Science" by Granville Newell on the Evolution News website, we read that the fundamental rule of science – the repeatability and predictability of experiments to prove a theory – breaks down when applied to the subatomic level of particle physics and to the cosmic level of the origin of the universe. The law of cause and effect in physics breaks down: something is usually caused by something else, but the "Big Bang" that brought the universe into being seems to have come from nowhere.

Newell writes – "Materialist scientists have been trying for over 150 years to show how a few (four, apparently) fundamental, unintelligent forces of physics alone could have rearranged the basic particles of physics on the early Earth into what we see today, such as spaceships, nuclear power plants, computers, and smart phones. The conclusion that unintelligent forces alone could rearrange atoms into smart phones is absurd, so you know there must be errors somewhere in any attempt to show how they did, even before you find them. Evolution News articles frequently point out errors and unproven assertions in the materialists’ explanations for how unintelligent forces alone could have created life on Earth and caused it to develop into animals capable of building computers. For example, here is one I wrote recently: 'The Other Unsolved Problem of Evolution.'"

Next, he easily refutes the materialists' argument that "however implausible their current theories may be on how unintelligent forces alone could have created spaceships and smart phones, the alternative of intelligent design is not science because it invokes 'supernatural' forces." But with the advent of particle physics it becomes impossible to distinguish between natural and supernatural. He continues – "But, in fact, if 'supernatural' is defined as 'forever beyond the ability of science to predict or explain,' quantum mechanics already introduced a supernatural element into science a century ago. British astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington said that quantum mechanics 'leaves us with no clear distinction between the natural and the supernatural.' Now, science cannot ever say with certainty what the effects of the forces of physics on a particular particle will be. It can only provide us with a 'probability distribution,' through the Schroedinger equation. But ''probability' does not necessarily imply 'random' or 'unintelligent' causes. That is a philosophical conclusion. It just means that even though we don't really know what is going on at the microscopic level, we can still predict macroscopic phenomena with high confidence."

So it now appears that the predictability of scientific experimentation works only on the level of what we humans should be able to deal with. Things and forces that are either too tiny or too enormous for us to handle simply don't follow the laws of physics. But the human level of involvement consists of both the "micro" subatomic and the "macro" cosmic levels. Newell quotes from another of his books – "Now it must be accepted by everyone – everyone who is aware of quantum mechanics, at least – that there is a supernatural component to all natural phenomena, the question is again only whether this supernatural component is intelligent or unintelligent. And while it is difficult to see any clear and compelling evidence of intelligent design in many 'natural' phenomena, when we look at the origin and development of life, the evidence is overwhelming."

We cannot understand how, according to quantum mechanics, a particle in one corner of the universe can instantly resonate with another particle that is light-years away in the universe. It just doesn't make sense, it doesn't follow the laws of Newtonian physics. Neither can we understand how the fluttering wings of a butterfly in Kansas can cause a typhoon in Australia. We simply can't trace all of the causes and effects of natural acts and of our actions. Why is it so much more difficult to believe that in the beginning was the Logos – a logical, intelligent Being – started everything with a bang, will end everything with a bang, and in between He watches and manages the whole show beyond our natural, human comprehension.

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EVERYTHING RUNS ON INFORMATION

 

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The article ""A Theoretical Biologist's Mission Impossible: Banish Teleology While Retaining Meaning" states: "The universe and all life run on information, not just on [physics and] chemistry. But information is fundamentally immaterial; it chimes with mathematics and probability rather than chemistry and physics. Information also conveys meaning, a concept comprehensible only in the context of intelligence."

What is information? It is more than a random collection of data points. Imagine an alphabet soup of all the upper-case and lower-case letters, the digits 0-9, and all the special characters on a keyboard. That's simply a pile of data. Now imagine that pile getting stirred up in a big explosion, and when all the dust has settled, there on the ground is Webster's Dictionary and a bound volume of Shakespear's sonnets. No, information is data arranged into meaningful constructs.

These meaningful constructs we call logic. Not only engineering, mathematics, and programming rely on logic but also literature, history, music, and art – indeed, the whole universe relies on logic. History is not just a random collection of facts about what has happened: a historian must select and arrange those facts into a meaningful sequence that explains the causation and significance (logic) of those facts. Physics and chemistry follow certain immaterial laws. Without this logic or structure, the whole universe would collapse. What is information/logic?

What holds the universe together? The Greek word for "logic" is "logos" – "In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through the Logos. Without the Logos was not anything made that has been made" (John 1:1-3) and "For by the Logos were all things created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through the Logos, and for the Logos. He is before all things, and in the Logos all things are held together" (Colossians 1:16-17).

The Logos or Logic holds the universe together. Without this immaterial force, the whole universe would lose its structure and collapse into nothingness. In the article "Can Everything Be Reduced to Data?" we read – "I want to show the problems with our data-driven world and show or assemble a richer humanistic picture. Dataism is at odds with human flourishing. Data is just input into something else. If we are just data, then we are inputs into something else. It’s difficult to find a Renaissance moment in this ruinous reductionism."

We are not mere computers. Even computers must have programs, a series of logical paths and decisions designed by an intelligent being that hopefully will produce the desired results. Those programs are not mere zeros and ones electronically written onto disks or chips. They are the material embodiment of an intelligent being's designs.

We human beings are not mere meat-machines that follow the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology. Our thoughts are not mere electro-chemical processes along bundles of neurons, axions, synapses, and dendrites. The fundamental fact that we can choose between good and bad actions, better and worse behavior, tells us that there must exist an objective reality of "goodness."

When critics raise the "wattabout" question – "What about all the suffering and injustice in the world?" they are assuming there must be some fixed, objective standards of justice and good. The very fact that we can think such thoughts and make such choices implies the existence of a reality beyond the electro-chemical impulses in our nervous system. The Logos must exist in order for us to think rationally and ask such questions of morality.

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