Something from Nothing

"Nothing?" asks an incredulous King Lear.  "Nothing will come from nothing.  Speak again."

As it turns out, like Cordelia's response to her father, the creation of the universe does not need...a creator.  In other words, if there is a god (or gods), those deities are very likely to be (or have been) agnostic.

Now before believers of various sorts start to cry "foul," this does not mean that you have to give up whatever gives your life meaning for you.  But it does mean that you will have to stop insisting that there is a direct chain of command between belief and science.  In other words, to quote Pierre-Simon Laplace, 'Je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là'--"I had no need of that hypothesis."

There is no scientific need to put a deity in charge of lighting the fuse to create the universe.  It can, and simply does, happen.  The physical laws of the universe, the swirling chaos of the cosmos, even our perception of beauty and the awe we feel--these are in the eye of the beholder.

Part of the beauty--the beauty that I perceive--is that this system does not require anything but pure deductive and inductive reasoning at every level, from the smallest sub-particle to the largest galaxy.  The laws that control individual human behaviors, while certainly complex, are not so complex as to be eternally elusive.  Such as it is with every science, even the social sciences.

And yet...is there any reason to get defensive about such knowledge?  Why should it cause anyone to doubt their beliefs?  It would put into question certain assumptions, perhaps, but faith?  Hey, you might need that faith later.  It may help you survive on days when you feel your life is meaningless or if a close friend or relative dies.  Those feelings may be important.

Just, well, there are a few places your faith no longer belongs:

• The creation of the universe. NEW!
• Causality and determinism.
• Evolution (CHANGE) of species.  Get that hunching over to upright-walking diagram OUT of your head.  Thank you.
• Matter and energy.
• Probability.
• "Free will" (very sorry about this one, really, I don't like it either, but there you have it).
• "Intelligent design" or any comprehensive "plan."
• The shape and structure of the universe.
• Quantum mechanics.
• Biological structures and physiology.
• Animal behavior.
• Natural healing and disease.
• The causes of floods, hurricanes, droughts, famines, or other natural disasters.

I apologize for any redundancy in the above list, as well as anything I may have left out.  I was tempted to put "my bedroom" up there, but realized that it isn't particularly scientific and not everyone is equally thrilled about imagining it.

Now back to your regularly scheduled program.  And my poor fool is hanged...


Edit: Just as a follow-up, the comments on slashdot are rather entertaining.