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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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