Average customer rating:
- illustrating and entretaining
- Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos
- Great Introduction for the layman
- It's A Possibility
- Science Fiction
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Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos
Michio Kaku
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ASIN: 1400033721
Release Date: 2006-02-14 |
Book Description
In this thrilling journey into the mysteries of our cosmos, bestselling author Michio Kaku takes us on a dizzying ride to explore black holes and time machines, multidimensional space and, most tantalizing of all, the possibility that parallel universes may lay alongside our own.
Kaku skillfully guides us through the latest innovations in string theory and its latest iteration, M-theory, which posits that our universe may be just one in an endless multiverse, a singular bubble floating in a sea of infinite bubble universes. If M-theory is proven correct, we may perhaps finally find answer to the question, “What happened before the big bang?” This is an exciting and unforgettable introduction into the new cutting-edge theories of physics and cosmology from one of the pre-eminent voices in the field.
Customer Reviews:
illustrating and entretaining.......2007-08-23
The book gives a understandable review for the curious layman of the exciting ideas in cosmology and correlated areas , like string theory
it is spiced with personal details about the scientist involved
All over it is a exciting expirience and a highly recomended book
Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos.......2007-08-16
This book is actually to be a Christmas gift, so I haven't opened it. It arrived very quickly and in good condition. Thank you for expediting it.
Great Introduction for the layman.......2007-08-12
I truly enjoyed this book. It covers very profound subjects in a manner that the average layman can understand. With this book, I had to read it in small bites. Each page was packed to thought provoking ideas. After reading a little, I wanted to just sit, think and reflect. It is good book to read with others. The ideas need to be discussed to be absorbed.
I enjoyed the cosmology, the string theory, M-theory, and the standard model. I had heard about them but I never knew much about them. The author lets you know which areas are hotly debated in the science world. Most books about this subject have too much math for me to work through.
The ending was a little too much.
It's A Possibility.......2007-08-02
Michio Kaku has created a scenario of possibilities in the evolution of this world. Kaku explores the potentials of parallel worlds and realities. In quantum physics anything is possible. Kudos for Kaku. Bettye Johnson, award-winning author, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls.
Science Fiction.......2007-07-11
Kaku has an agreeable, engaging writing style that makes some of the more challenging physics and mathematics accessbile to the layman. Where I felt my interest waning, however, was in the section where he discusses at considerable length various exit strategies from the universe trillions of years from now when it will come to an end. A page (at most) would have sufficed to cover this scenario; instead he went on and on about the various possibilities for intelligent beings to escape from our universe into parallel worlds. The death of our universe is too distant an event for us to be expending too much brain power now on devising contingency plans.
Book Description
What do we really know? What are we in relation to the world around us? Here, the acclaimed playwright and novelist takes on the great questions of his career—and of our lives
Humankind, scientists agree, is an insignificant speck in the impersonal vastness of the universe. But what would that universe be like if we were not here to say something about it? Would there be numbers if there were no one to count them? Would the universe even be vast, without the fact of our smallness to give it scale?
With wit, charm, and brilliance, this epic work of philosophy sets out to make sense of our place in the scheme of things. Our contact with the world around us, Michael Frayn shows, is always fleeting and indeterminate, yet we have nevertheless had to fashion a comprehensible universe in which action is possible. But how do we distinguish our subjective experience from what is objectively true and knowable? Surveying the spectrum of philosophical concerns from the existence of space and time to relativity and language, Frayn attempts to resolve what he calls “the oldest mystery”: the world is what we make of it. In which case, though, what are we?
All of Frayn’s novels and plays have grappled with these essential questions; in this book he confronts them head-on.
Customer Reviews:
Everyone Should Know These Truths.......2007-06-20
This is an astoundingly brilliant, yet accessible, exploration of man's true nature. As part of my joy and work, I have read many of the wisest thinkers who have set words to paper. I know of no one since the Axial Age who has presented these truths about how we humans really function as clearly and refreshingly as Mr. Frayn. Nevermind the absense of a competent editor - Frayn probably couldn't find one up to the job, please read it, understand it, and integrate the understanding. Do it for your own integration and fulfillment, your children's and, ultimately, mankind's.
Pure yawn.......2007-05-15
Frayn is an OK playwright and novelist. I enjoyed Copenhagen and Headlong (though I thought Spies was sentimental drivel in a manner akin to this tome). But this is sheer, pure and pathetic nonsense. The Washington Post reviewer (Colin McGinn) got it about right, but the previous reviewers on Amazon have it wrong. The average reader will learn nothing useful of cosmology, particle physics, neuroscience and even philosophy (except that it's a huge waste of time) from this long-winded, completely unedited (it seems) and vacuous volume. If you want to learn something about physics, read Brian Greene or Frank Close. If you want a general summary then read Bill Bryson (a vastly superior writer, as tacitly acknowledged by Frayn himself). I learned more philosophy from 1 page of AC Grayling's 90-page total destruction of Wittgenstein ("The world is everything that is the case" - yo, Ludwig) than 100 pages of this long-drawn-out excrescence. An earlier reviewer compared Frayn favorably with Richard Dawkins. GMAB - Dawkins is a superb, succinct and accurate scribe while Frayn simply cannot express any thought in less than 1000 words. Avoid like the plague.
A touch of humor in the profound.......2007-05-07
I know Michael Frayn through exposure to his playwriting masterpiece (at least that is how I consider it) "Noises Off", a thoroughly entertaining and very, very funny farce of all things theatrical and therefore, of culture as a whole. I was not prepared for the depth and breadth of his skill in weaving the substances of philosophical thought and almost gossamer-like threads of humor and grace and compassion for the struggle we as human beings have with living life. A long book yet filled with enough insights theatrical and, especially humor, and it became an easy read, enjoyable as well as thought-inducing. I highly recommend it.
A Big, Friendly Summary of Philosophy.......2007-04-23
Michael Frayn is well known as a playwright for the hilarious farce _Noises Off_ (film version good but less funny) and for _Copenhagen_, a drama about quantum physicists. He is also a novelist, translator, and journalist. When he was at Cambridge, though, he studied philosophy, and he might say that all his works have been offshoots of that particular endeavor. He returns to the big subject in _The Human Touch: Our Part in the Creation of a Universe_ (Metropolitan Books) with a suitably big book with lots of big and important topics and plenty of profound but lightly-expressed ideas. It has to be said that most of Frayn's ideas have to do with just how deep our wonderment ought to be and how few answers we have, but still, this is a genial guided tour of the issues that have consumed thinkers since before the days of Plato.
The paradox that Frayn looks at in many different ways is this: "The world has no form or substance without you and me to provide them, and you and I have no form or substance without the world to provide them in its turn." He also says that we have not even begun resolve the paradox. "The universe plainly exists independently of human consciousness," he writes, "but what can ever be said about it that has not been mediated through that consciousness?" We have come scientifically to understand a great deal of our universe, especially the planet we inhabit, but the amount compared to the mysteries that still remain is tiny. When we look closely at its complexity, it merely becomes more complex. Frayn, as you can imagine, thinks that numbers are invented. After all, we messed around with numbers for centuries without using a symbol for zero until that concept became part of the system. "Number, in short, is not something logically and mysteriously anterior to space and time, or to cause, or to the human presence in the world." Frayn examines the truth content of stories; how can we evaluate, for instance, the statement "Sherlock Holmes lived at 221B Baker Street"? It is all less complicated than counterfactuals, which have been a puzzle for philosophers for centuries. All this is less puzzling than that of the old bogey of consciousness; Frayn writes, "About consciousness much has been said, and not a word of it that told us anything we didn't already know perfectly well from our own lifelong experience, which is nothing. We can't even say what _sort_ of a thing it is." Consciousness is plainly dependent on the mechanisms in the brain, but paradox again, no accounting of such mechanisms comes close to explaining what feeling and being aware are.
What meaning we get from the universe, too, is up to us. Frayn starts and ends his tour of paradox and how little we can really know with a Rashomon-like invitation: on a calm, clear night, just look up at the stars in wonder. It isn't enough for us humans, because we will start wondering about those lights, and their spectra, and their speed of emission, and on and on; it isn't enough, and then it is enough because it has to be. Frayn's deeply personal explanations of philosophical ideas expressed in an avuncular and amiable way is an engaging look at a broad range of important ideas. Despite his repeatedly showing how much of what we know for sure cannot really be known for sure, this is not a book of despair but an invitation to look with delight more deeply at the nature of things.
I kept reaching for a pencil.......2007-03-22
Professional philosophers will have the same problem with this book as professional historians have with Paul Johnson (thus a few 4-stars will appear in an otherwise unassailable 5+-stars). As a non-professional philosopher (but professional scientist), I found this to be a remarkable work: An amalgam of physics, neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy, brought to bear upon the issue of how we create the universe. Its an astonishing synthesis.
Frayn has a genius for accessibly posing the important questions. What is free will? What is consciousness? Does the universe exist (metaphorically) without us? Most important, do we have the language to even ask the right questions? Could we ever understand ourselves? Frayn has serious doubts, and the answers pour through our fingers like water. But our hands are left wet, and we thirst for more.
Book Description
Communicating his ideas in the form of a classical dialogue between a youth and a wise elder, cosmologist Brian Swimme crafts a fascinating exploration into the creativity suffusing the universe. His explication of the fundamental powers of the cosmos is mystical and ecstatic and points directly to the need to activate one’s own creative powers.
Customer Reviews:
The Universe is a Green Dragon.......2007-09-30
I am not a scientist, but a college science student. I am also passionate about my sprirtuality. This is a wonderful book. Remembering that all spritual and religious language is peotic metaphor, this book only affirms my understanding of the divine loving nature of the Trinity and Jesus, the Christ. If you are a fundamentalist "Christian" (I think those terms are mutually exclusive) or an atheist, you will not like this book. If you love God passionately and believe that He is much bigger than you are, then you should enjoy the insights that Dr. Swimme presents.
A Unique Perspective........2007-08-23
Although I am a Christian, I found many points brought up in this book to be well worth consideration. I assume that a person devoted to this particular sect would find more in common, but on any front, it is a read worth a small amount of consideration.
Cosmic Creation From A New Perspective.......2006-11-10
A very well written and thought provoking look at something a lot of people have probably felt in their gutyet weren't quite sure how to quantify and elucidate.
The Universe is a Green Dragon.......2004-01-13
Thanks for getting the book out so quick!
Undiscriminating mix of fact and fancy, patronizing tone.......2003-07-25
I am a scientist, and I do appreciate and feel the vastness and beauty of the universe, and the elegance of biological evolution. But I don't think Swimme's romanticizing of science, cosmology, and particle physics is going to lead us to build a better society or better individual lives. Educated people have already tried making a god of science in this culture, I presume because of the seeming miracles it has performed, and the result has been people with empty spiritual lives and a desperate need to fill the void with stuff - food, things, travel - anything to avoid facing the sense of meaninglessness they get when they feel like tiny insignificant cogs in a vast machine. It doesn't really matter whether the machine is the military/industrial complex or the universe, in terms of its effect on the human spirit. Granted, the current state of much organized religion is not ideal, but I don't think Swimme's approach is going to have any better results. There are many alternative approaches between religious fundmentalism on one pole and an exclusive devotion to matter on the other.
This particular book is also painful to read, due to its patronizing tone and the way science is mixed with the subjective speculations and opinions of the author. There is a lack of respect for logic or fact in this book, which is surprising considering its topic and the author's credentials. Swimme is misusing the hard-won authority of science, which has performed its seeming miracles by a rigorous attention to observable facts. He owes it to his trusting readers (note the many 5-star reviews at this site) to distinguish clearly between the facts and his interpretations. There is a lack of intellectual humility here, which ironically mirrors his complaint of inappropriate human grandiosity in relation to nature.
Amazon.com
The idea behind this magnificent book is to pair stunning images from outer space alongside meaningful spiritual quotes from here on earth. Ultimately, the two work well together, suggesting the presence of a divine hand, or at least a divine order in the universe. Editor Michael Reagan deserves much praise for his keen visual eye, as well as his selection of quotes from the likes of Albert Einstein, Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking, Dr. Seuss, Theodore Roethke, Carl Sagan, Mark Twain, and Annie Dillard.
Many of the photos were taken from the Hubble Space Telescope, offering fascinating glimpses into distant black holes and galaxies. Some images are vivid and romantic like a Renaissance painting. Some (such as the Voyager I photo of Jupiter) seem to suggest that Vincent van Gogh had a hand in painting the universe. Each photo has a concrete caption and clearly explains what is happening and where the image comes from.
With a hint of irony, Reagan placed the following quote beside the explosive, womb web photo of "Star Birth Region NGC 604": "Stars are like animals in the wild. We may see the young but never the actual birth, which is a veiled and secret event." - Heinz Pagels, Perfect Symmetry
It is quotes such as these that make readers feel especially blessed. If not yet true voyagers, we can at least become voyeurs into space and spirituality--the far reaches of our final frontiers. --Gail Hudson
Customer Reviews:
Brings a glimpse of wonder of our amazing universe to the coffee table.......2007-08-11
This work brings home the grandeur of our universe (and the creator behind it) as best as any book, video or special I have ever seen. The quotes from theologians, astronomers and prophets that accompany the images do not all point to a singular philosophy or faith, so do not be too hasty to write this tome off as a religious work or creationist propaganda. The photo prints are of superb quality and the quotations are well matched. My personal favorite quote is found on page 128, next to an image of a cluster of Massive Infant Stars: "I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science. And there is certainly no scientific reason why God cannot retain the same relevance on our modern world that he held before we began probing His creation with telescope, cyclotron and space vehicles." -Wernher Braun
This text is also a fresh reminder that while popular, secular science writers often demonstrate a lack of wonder and exaggerate the claims of their theories, the real scientists, the Einsteins, Newtons and Keplers, regarded themselves as full of wonder and mere children who had stumbled upon a few pretty pebbles upon the ocean's beach (a paraphrase from Abraham Heschel's "A Philosophy of Judaism"). Regardless of your personal faith proclivities, if you understand that no human has all the answers (and perhaps not even very many) you will enjoy this book, guaranteed.
The Hand of God - The Hubble View.......2007-02-11
This excellent collection of pictures from space presents an awesome and inspiring view of space through many of the Hubble photos accompanied by pertinent and profound quotes from thinking peple.
It is a marvelous and thought-provoking encounter with the heavens regardless of your religious views.
I have given it to my children and friends and received 5-star responses from all who see it.
Could be written by the Hand of God..........2007-02-07
I am not one to give praise easily. In fact, I can't remember when I last reviewed a book. But this book is truly a work of art. It is very well written and will prick the conscience of any agnostic or non-believer. It's as if there is this giant puzzle which nobody has been able to put together, till Michael Reagan came along and assembled the pieces.
Well done, that man. I also believe this book should be in every Primary school library.
from atheist to Christian.......2007-02-04
As a young atheist, I was numb to the Creator. And now, after God's mercy has brought me to Him through His Son Jesus Christ, I know the joy of worshipping Him. This is a book that, for me, leads the heart to humility and worship of the great Creator of all.
Inspire Your Vision, Beautifully........2005-12-17
If you are looking for a book to provide snippets of inspiration for others who are dear to you, or, perhaps one that will spark your own prayer and devotional time, this may be the book you are seeking.
"The Hand of God" is a collection of photographs taken in space, many by the Hubble Telescope, showing the vast and awe-inspiring wonder of the universe. These photos, a new "eye on the heavens" show every manner of nebula, comet and star formation for the wondering earthbound traveler. Presented in deep and vivid colors, the photos are thoughtfully paired with inspirational quotations, both familiar and obscure.
Of the many gorgeous images, surprises abound. A view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and its surroundings looks every bit like a segment of Van Gogh's "Starry Night". A shimmering white cross-like photograph of Galaxy NGC 4640A is coupled with these lines from an ancient Jewish proverb: "God said to Abraham, 'But for me, you would not be here.' 'I know that, Lord,' Abraham answered, 'but were I not here, there would be no one to think about you.'"
Here are page after page of vast and panoramic views--both in word and in photograph, ranging from the tender greens and blues of our own earth, to a halo-like image of a filament eruption on our sun.
One would not classify this as a coffee table book per se, since its 8" x 8 1/2" dimensions are much smaller. It is perhaps best called an end table or nightstand book, suitable for an occasional glance or prolonged study. Either way, the unfamiliar images are profoundly inspiring, and invite the reader to move beyond Arthur Schopenhauer's observation, "Everyone takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world." This book is sure to expand your limits and inspire your vision, beautifully.
Average customer rating:
- Intellectualizing ADD-style
- the cosmos summed up
- This book could be a drug itself
- A tapas bar for the mind
- Expand your mind
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Sex, Drugs, Einstein & Elves: Sushi, Psychedelics, Parallel Universes and the Quest for Transcendence
Clifford A. Pickover
Manufacturer: Smart Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1890572179 |
Book Description
A smorgasbord of subjects designed to bend reality and stretch the reader's mind.
Customer Reviews:
Intellectualizing ADD-style.......2007-08-16
This book is not a drug in itself. Any serious thought it generates will not be due to Pickover's examination of the topic in question, but by its mere mention. For example, he mentions that a general formula exists from which one can generate a modern best-selling novel. He even gives you several permutations of that formula and tips on using language in a way that will engage the reader. Fascinating stuff, right? Not really. Pulp novels are described as "formulaic" on a regular basis, thus implying that the existence of an underlying formula behind them is common knowledge. A true analysis of this concept would involve asking various permutations of the question: "what does this all mean?" Is it a good thing that most of what passes as literature these days can be reduced to a simple formula based on psychological smoke and mirrors? What does this say about the human condition? What does this say about literature in general... particularly the institution of a "modern novel? These are the sorts of questions that a truly great book would ask, given that subject.
Reading this feels like an immersion in Pickover's thought process. He jumps around all over the place (sometimes in mid-paragraph), covering all sorts of intellectual ground. The title really is no lie; there isn't much that ISN'T mentioned in this book. That said, it's completely useless to jump around like this if it does not result in any in-depth analysis. It's almost as if the auther is a kid in a mental candystore, jumping around and screaming "Oh, that looks yummy!" "Oh wow, that will be really delicious to eat!" However, he never truly eats and digests anything, instead going around and exicitedly nibbling on a lot of things. This book may well be useful to someone looking for interesting questions related to modern life, but it certainly doesn't say anything profound in itself. Although Pickover is certainly of above-average intelligence, this alone does not make him a "deep thinker" in any way, shape, or form. I recommend skipping this book and looking at something that might be a bit more narrow in its scope, but deeper. "Sex, Drugs, Einstein, and Elves" reeks of dillitantism.
the cosmos summed up.......2007-07-14
In Pickover's recent novel, he takes us for a journey to the farthest reaches of the cosmos all within our own consciousness. In a manner of prose that is insightful and humanistic, he flows seamlessly through subjects such as Language dynamics, Psychic exploration of altered states, quantum physics and the continued resonance felt by infamous physicists and literary giants. What is most compelling about Pickover's work is his sincere desire to fully unveil the many shrouds of reality using an incredible sense of curiosity and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. He approaches each subject with the academic intensity of a scholar, yet he relates to the reader as an amateur (albeit, genius) autodidact.
One would do well to read Pickover's books if you are ready for a complete remake of your psychological and intellectual framework.
This book could be a drug itself.......2007-07-09
Just simply a fascinating read. I had my copy on the coffee table during a party, and one guest picked it up casually, and never put it down throughout the whole event.
This book is just a wildly ecclectic assortment of essays, but taken as a whole it is much more than that. I think it changed my view of the world.
A tapas bar for the mind.......2007-06-21
DO NOT MISS! There are more things pointed out in SDE&E than are dreamt of in ANYBODY's philosophy. SDE&E is the intellectual and imaginative equivalent of an evening at the world's most wonderful tapas bar, where everything on the menu is free (once you've cleared the cover charge by buying the book). If you like Rudy "Karl Tucker" Rucker, Vernor "Powers" Vinge, Gregory "Cosm" Benford, James "Connections" Burke, Douglas "Strange Loop" Hofstadter and/or Terry "SHRDLU" Winograd (not to mentions Proust and Joyce), then Clifford Pickover's the sentient entity for you! He'll be your spirit guide and trip-sitter through 3+1d (or is it 10+1d?) spacetime, the mind, infinity and beyond! This is your brain. This is your brain on Pickover. Any questions?
Expand your mind.......2007-03-22
As the title suggests, Sex, Drugs, Einstein, & Elves presents the reader with a seemingly endless variety of topics that stimulate and expand the mind. Although it may seem overwhelming at first, the transitions between topics such as DMT, Proust, religion, reality, perception, and countless others are smooth and surprisingly relevant. It's brain candy.
Average customer rating:
- Don't wonder any longer
- A Book For Serious Esoteric Students!
- This has to be one of his best works...
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A Study of Numbers: A Guide to the Constant Creation of the Universe
R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz
Manufacturer: Inner Traditions
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ASIN: 0892811129
Release Date: 1986-10-01 |
Book Description
Without direct awareness of Space and Time, human beings lack two “senses†necessary for the knowledge of all causes. Starting from the
irreducible one, Schwaller deals with the unfolding of creation through the cycles of polarization, ideation, and formation. This is a masterly account of the living, universal, qualitative, and causal reality of numbers.
Customer Reviews:
Don't wonder any longer.......2007-09-14
If you are even wondering if you should buy this to read...stop. Don't think at all - until after you buy it and begin to absorb its amazing depth and breadth.
You will begin to understand the world as you watch it before you from an entirely fresh perspective.
Then, read the rest of his works and you will have a very high level of teachings bestowed from much secret instituional knowledge.
Will you leave it at knowledge or turn it into wisdom?
Light to the student of life...
A Book For Serious Esoteric Students!.......2007-06-15
Frater Lubicz was a student of the "Hard School" of esoteric thought. In "A Study of Numbers", he continues his very unique style of linking everything to early Egyptian Metaphysics which he mastered in conveying to students during his lifetime. This time the subject matter is numbers and the entire book is based on the singular, novel, and facinating idea that manifestation in reality begins not with the "ONE", but with the "TRIUNE". Such a revelation should immediately appeal to Masonic and Rosicrucian students WHO KNOW THE LAW OF THE TRIANGLE from their respective studies and reveals the esoteric nature of Christendom. This book should be required reading for all serious esoteric students!
This has to be one of his best works..........2001-07-31
Although this essay from a much younger Rene Schwaller, it none-the-less provides hours of contemplation on the metaphysical meaning of numbers. His ideas on numbers as they relate to cycles of (on-going)creation are rooted in a scientific background. He even goes so far as to demonstrate his ideas in a practical example of salt-crystal formation. If it weren't for the content involved, the book could be read in one evening as it is a slim volume. However, it IS philosophical and not casual reading by any stretch of the imagination. A book for anyone interested in the metaphysical side of numbers, sacred architecture, numerology and even the aspects of the Tarot may be better understood from this essay.
As noted by the translators, one of whom is Robert Lawlor, Schwaller left emphatic instructions about how this work was to republished in accordance with his later studies on the Egyptian mysteries. Without going into great detail this book should probably be read after at least reading The Temple of Man by Schwaller.
The Theology of Arithmetic by Iamblichus, Robin Waterfield (trans.) provides an excellent foundation to the Study of Numbers by Schwaller. Actually this text or one like it might've been Schwaller's inspiration in this study.
Customer Reviews:
Self-contradictory and full of pop-metaphysics.......2005-06-24
As has always been the case, atheists still have not answered the assertion that the universe was created, and therefore has a cause. Dr. Atkins struggles with this point when he tries to explain how the universe could come into existence, uncaused out of nothing. He writes "Now we go back in time beyond the moment of creation to when there was no time, and to where there was no space." At this time before time, he imagines a swirling dust of mathematical points which recombine again and again and finally come by trial and error (against the well-established Second Law of Thermodynamics, or Law of Entropy) to form our space time universe.
This is pop-metaphysics because it is a made-up explanation wtih no scientific evidence supporting it. And it's self-contradictory because it assumes time and space before there was time and space.
Fact is, every scientific discovery has supported the Big Bang theory....the universe had a beginning and it's running on a finite amount of energy that will one day be exhausted. For further research, consider the following scientific discoveries lending credence to the universe having a beginning:
1. The Second Law of Thermodynamics - The most established Law of Science as we know it....everything we've learned about our world depends on this constant. The universe is running out of usable energy...and nature tends to bring things to disorder. Leave anything alone and, with time, it will fall apart. This is a huge problem to materialists who say the universe is eternal and has always been. The universe must have begun sometime in the finite past. It would have run out of energy by now if it had been running from all eternity.
2. The universe is expanding - In the late 1920's Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding from a single point. If we could look at a recording of history in reverse, we would see all matter collapse back to a point of nothing. This in particular is a huge stumbling block for Dr. Atkins...as his "nothing" was actually comprised of mathematical points. It would be interesting to hear his explanation of how those points came into existence.
3. Radiation from the Big Bang was predicted and recently affirmed. Arno Penzias and Robert Homdel won a Nobel Prize for finding this radiation on their Bell Labs antenna. Google it to learn more.
4. Galaxy ripples found and infrared photographed by COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) support the Big Bang's prediction of ripples caused by the explosion. The ripples show that the explosion and expansion of the universe was precisely tweaked to cause just enough matter to congregate to allow galaxy formations, but not enough to cause the universe to collapse on itself.
5. Eintstein's Theory of General Relativity - The theory has been verfiied to five decimal places, and demands an absolute beginning for time, space, and matter. They are interdependent...you can't have one without the other.
In short, materialists' claims that natural forces are responsible for the creation of the universe are self-defeating because natural forces...indeed all of nature....were created in the Big Bang.
That's the end of this book. Can't these atheists come up with something to contradict the Book of Genesis? Might be a BIG reason they can't.
A much better read on creation....I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, from which many of these poinits have been extracted.
Christian's Are Ignorant! Blind Faith is getting us nowhere........2004-03-23
This is not what the author intended to convey in this book this is my personal response to all the negative reviews, When are Christians going to realize that all this arguing about the existence of God is just pissing in the pope's hat. Who F@#?ing cares!. If we were better than an animal I haven't yet experienced it: Humans s#!t like them, p!$$ like them, we smell like hell when we don't bathe, we feel pain, feel happy and playful like them, sleep, eat, and mate like them, we get diseases like them, we fart like them, we make noises to communicate, and we kill and die like them. So if you think you can come up with a better argument that makes us so superior to the animal, then by all means...I do like abstract humor. Better yet! why don't you do us all a favor and go out and live among the animals...weaponless! and see if God will protect you, I wonder how long you will last. Self Righteous Pigs! not one Christian has come up with any proof that God exists, well...maybe except for a crusty old book of tall tales written by Jews (100's of yrs. after the fact I might add and rewritten a half dozen times) and if any of it made any sense The Bible would have been translated so any moron could understand it!. Why else do we have so many dangerous religious offshoots/cults from one fictitious book. SEE! even the Intellectual Pygmies can't agree what any of it stands for. If you consider yourself a smart person (Christians aside) please read this great book by a brilliant scientist/writer and don't let one of the ignorant fools that condemn evolution or advanced thinking sway you otherwise. You know the Christians didn't even read this book before they attacked it, which is so typical of these nihilistic clowns!, they still think Dinosaurs never existed...can you believe it?!...isn't that funny!...Terribly Sad...but funny.
Poor argument against a straw man.......2003-02-18
1. These attempts at synthesising, now out of date, scientific positions though interesting in themselves, say nothing about the existence or nonexistense of God. You can see Dr Atkins publicly humiliated in a debate on this point in a video tape entitled The evidence for/against the existence of God. It is moderated by William F Buckley. At best this is an argument for non believing agnosticism, not atheism. It is often amazing to see the extent to which a recognised expert in one field can be such a novice in another. This shouldn't even be a debate. This position has a formal name and is a very old, and well debated one. The cause of his humiliation in the video debate mentioned is ultimately, I think, his inability to recognise his limitations. He actually admits on the tape he knows very little about theology, yet fires head long into the most well trod ground of theological thought.
2. The problem with his ultimate thesis is that no major religion claims that God can be proven scientifically. So it is not clear what point he thinks he is making, except to disprove his own, rather primitive, conception of how God works in the world. In fact, catholicism, for example, claims exacly the opposite. If the existence of God could be scientificaly proved much of the doctrines regarding faith and revelation would make no sense. No major faith rests on a the argument that there is some natural phenomena which proves scientificaly the existence of God, and all are very happy with the idea of Science being able to completely explain the natural world from it's begining to it's end. You should read the late Harvard professor, and agnostic, Stephen Jay Gould, among a host of others, on this point.
3. As a side note, he is also mistaken in thinking he is making a scientific argument in this book. It is pure philosophical speculation. There is nothing wrong with this, many wonderful books are based entirely on philisophical speculation, except when you start to not be able to tell the difference between speculation and science.
If you want to know what's REALLY going on, buy it. Now........2002-10-13
WOW!
This review is biased, because for about ten years, I've considered this the best book I've ever read. In fact, I bought two copies for my friends and gave mine away. I'm here to find a used copy of this elegant masterpiece.
And that's not because it told me any *facts* about biological or cosmic evolution that I didn't already know, it's because Creation Revisited brings all the disparate elements together to gives the reader "the big AHA!".
Adkins starts off with "I'm going to take your mind on a journey". Well, he got THAT right.
He presents a tree of reasoning, beginning with the leaves and proceding to the shocking root.
The "leaves" are elephants. Adkins: "Our belief in elephants needs no explaination. We can see them lumbering across the plains".
But where did the elephants we observe come from? Adkins is (putatively) willing to believe that God made them. BUT... God didn't need to make ALL the living elephants. He only had to make the parents of the ones we see.
He goes on to suppose that God is a "lazy" God, who only bothers to create things which can't arise naturally (like the elephants we see
having come from their parents). He takes this back to the first mammals, to life per se, and to the big bang.
It turns out that God really didn't have to do ANYTHING AT ALL, and even HE can be eliminated. The "root" of the tree is exactly: nothing. Zero.
The final chapter, after that revelation, is about the mathematics of clouds of theoretical points. It alone is worth getting the book for.
=======
Since my writing pales in comparison to Dr. Adkins', I'm afraid that this simplistic summary of his book will induce you NOT to buy it.
Buy it.
Buy it and buy copies for any of your friends who want to understand what's REALLY going on.
Creation?.......2000-11-26
'Creation' refers to creation of the Universe in this reference. Atkin writes, "...elephants, and things resembling elephants, will in due course be found roaming through the countryside...the details of the processes involved in evolution are fascinating, but they are unimportant: competing, replicating molecules with time on their hands will inevitably evolve." While this may be an overly simplistic view of the conditions necessary to evolve creatures as complex as elephants, the purpose of Atkin's book is to try to simplify everything as much as possible so that the creation of space, of dimensions, of time and of matter from nothing can be understood. Atkin indeed feels he has accomplished these goals, as is written on the last page, "...fundamental science may be almost at an end, and might be completed within a generation...that is not to say that science as a whole need ever sleep. There are extremely difficult and important questions, such as those concerning the details of biological function...when we have dealt with the values of the fundamental constants by seeing that they are unavoidably so, and have dismissed them as irrelevant, we shall have arrived at complete understanding. Fundamental science then can rest. We are almost there. Complete knowledge is just within our grasp. Comprehension is moving across the face of the Earth, like the sunrise." This reference is easy to read, and introduces the reader to complex subjects in cosmology and physics. While the reader may view Atkin's theory of creation with some speculation, the language of this reference is poetic and convincing.
Book Description
Darwinian theories of the universe, although mostly rejected by evangelical Christians, have still found their way into creation theology. A concept such as evolutionist creation has watered down much of the Bible's teaching in order to reconcile with popular tenants of science. The whole controversy swirls around the age of the universe.
Dr. Kurt Wise, an associate professor of science and director of the Center for Origins Research and Education at Bryan College, shows from solid biblical teachings and scientific confirmation why young universe creation is correct. Beginning with God and His Word as the standard, Wise demonstrates how the biblical witness teaches that the age of the universe is not as old as Darwinian theory would contend. He also demonstrates how all issues raised by evolutionists can be answered not only by the Bible, but also by scientific data and research, nailing shut macroevolution's coffin.
Customer Reviews:
An Introduction to the Beliefs and Science of YECism.......2007-01-21
Despite its negative aspect, I give this book 5 stars since it is one of the few quality YEC works out there and explains and defends the position quite well. The negative aspect is not enough for me to take a star off the rating.
Positive:
a.) It's easily readable but not dumbed-down.
b.) I love the fact that he starts with God and the Scriptures. Too often, people uncritically accept human autonomy in order to determine their world and life view. Once the colorful wrapping is removed, "Free-Thinker"-ism is no less dogmatic than organized religious belief. That is, it is certainly not devoid of the major presuppositions that everyone brings to their experiences. Although it is the "spirit of the age", history has shown that it is folly to base one's epistemology on science.
c.) It includes a nice discussion of presuppositions in scientific theories. Many people pretend or believe that what scientists say is simply a "brute fact". In reality, the empirical process goes from data to a theory that tries to explain the data.
d.) It goes through a defense of YECism, and not only does he show how YECism can validly reinterpret the evidence to fit Scripture, but also shows that YECism fits the evidence better than other theories. This is especially true when it comes to baraminology. Baraminology explains the strong evidence that a few species are related to each other (and likely had a common ancestor) while explaining the strong evidence that most of life is unrelated (except through its Creator). Rather than being one large tree, life is more like an orchard.
e.) He explains that Creationists still have a lot of research to do with respect to the evidence that doesn't quite fit YECism.
Negative:
Wise states: "If God provided man with everything he needed in order to come to God by logic and/or physical evidence, man would be able to come to Him without faith" (p.13). There are several problems with this statement: 1.) In Romans 1 and elsewhere, it is stated that the existence of God is obvious to everyone, but that men suppress this obvious truth due to their sinful nature. It is God's *promises* that are to be accepted on faith (i.e. belief in something that is hoped for but not seen and this belief can be confirmed by evidence or deductive logic), not His existence. 2.) Many people have seen God and His wondrous works. Do they need to accept God's existence on faith? Take, for example, Adam and Eve. Both had seen God and His wonders, and Adam had seen God make Eve out of his rib. However, the reason that they sinned was that they doubted and disbelieved in God's promises, not His existence.
Please Read The Book .......2005-08-22
Whatever your beliefs, atheistic or theistic 'evolution', it really is worth reading this book and reflecting. Unfortunately some reviewers appear to have failed to either read or reflect. The fact that animals of a certain type change over time into different forms reflects observation. That animals change from 'simpler forms' to 'more complex ones' from one progenitor of everything through to the homo sapiens form of man is a theory. Kurt Wise is quite clear on what he believes to have happened. To those who believe that the Bible is quite happy with carnivorous animals always existing, you have to ask how a world where a human could be attacked and devoured by a fierce carnivore could be 'very good'. Also the restitution at the end envisages the lion lying down with the lamb and children able to play safely with snakes. None of this makes any sense if all these things were the same as now before the fall with 'nature red in tooth and claw'. Kurt Wise also refers to climate and weather systems as well as earthquakes and volcanos. Can an evangelical Christian believe that the violent destructive 'natural disasters' (which kill many many thousands of people) were part of a 'very good' original creation? The views on ice covering, polar magnetic change and distribution of peoples and languages are fascinating and deserve great thought not tacit dismissal. To the reviewer who claimed that it has taken 2000 years to change from Latin to modern Latin based languages, I suggest more study of the history of languages and more study of Kurt Wise's book. There really are no sound theories for the development of the completely different groups of languages other than the direct intervention of God as in the scriptural Tower of Babel.
Articulate anti-science for Biblical literalists........2005-08-17
Those who insist upon using Biblical literalism to martial support their own preferred view of the "end times" will probably enjoy this book, as it appears to have been written with them in mind.
However, those who understand that empirical validation is a necessary condition for truth (in its most useful sense of "reliable knowledge") will probably gag on much of what Dr. Wise has to say.
Something to "Ponder".......2005-07-26
I've read Wise before, and wisely at that. It's one thing to throw around the doctoral degrees you might have achieved, Dr. Ponder, and the wonderful missionary work is admirable if heartfelt. But for a master of linguistics who argues that it takes thousands of years for languages to evolve, so to speak, I am faced with the idea that despite your missionary work, you lack faith. While languages evolve, there was an event, according to the Bible, which transpired at the Tower of Babel. Are you familiar with it, or have your degrees muddied your own waters? I believe that Jesus Himself said in John 5:47- "For if you can't believe what Moses wrote of, how will you ever believe what I say?" Jesus, in that one statement, authenticated the writings of Moses. Frankly, I'm not as concerned with the age of the earth as I used to be. However God did it, God did it. Still, based on the evidence stacked against an old earth, I believe it is a young earth. Furthermore, we cannot hope, with infantile minds, to try and understand the power and creative handywork of the King of the Universe by things we think we've grasped on a collegiate level. Wise is wise, and I believe it's better to be wise than ponder.
Excellent Treatment of a Bewildering View.......2005-04-27
I respect Dr. Wise's credentials, having done my own doctoral work at Stanford, Yale and Georgetown. I also understand his orientation in that I have been a Christian missionary, as has my wife. All that notwithstanding, it is simply bewildering that a person capable of a Harvard doctorate can believe something so monumentally improbable as that dinosaurs and humans lived quite close together in time. I think this owes to a heavily indoctrinated limbic system (mid-brain) that exerts strong emotional control over what Wise's cerebral cortex is able to process. No one would prefer a 6,000-year-old earth more than I, since my church prefers that scenario. But it makes no sense to cram such extensive geological, anthropological, etc., processes into a 6,000-year timeframe. Even the thousands of languages currently spoken could not have developed in only 6,000 years, 2,000 years having been required to produce only a very few languages out of spoken Latin.
Also, the 6,000-year concept comes from the Bible, and only a relatively rudimentary knowledge of history is necessary to know that the Bible stories of creation were back-dated stories concocted by much later "committee work." (See books such as Who Wrote the Bible, and Who Wrote the New Testament to understand how the Bible was put together.) The point is that the belief in a 6,000-year-old earth is an arbitrary concoction, as is adequately explained by the Documentary Hypothesis.
Despite the above comments, however, I think that Wise's book deserves five stars because it is an outstanding presentation of the point of view he takes -- as dramatically improbable as that point of view seems to me.
Book Description
Consider the ghostly neutrino. This elementary, subatomic particle carries with it not only an uncanny reminder of a time eons ago when symmetries were perfect, but also a clue as to how they came to be broken. For every neutrino that now spins to the left, there was once one that spun to
the right: these parallel twins were destroyed in the "Big Bang," that cosmic apocalypse that, most scientists now agree, created the universe. And this decay of symmetry is reflected in the building blocks of organic life as well. The helical structures of our own genetic material spiral to the
left; no right-turning counterparts exist. The left hand of creation has a long reach indeed, extending from the beginning of time to the miracles of life we witness everyday.
In this provocative and widely praised volume, two internationally acclaimed astronomers show nonspecialist readers how the latest scientific research is helping to solve one of humankind's oldest riddles: the origins of the universe. In clear, nontechnical terms, John D. Barrow and Joseph
Silk explain how the physics of elementary particles and the scenarios of cosmology converge in theories that illuminate the beginnings, the evolution, and the possible future of our world and its seemingly infinite neighbors. In the process, they lead us along an amazing path of discovery. We
examine the black body radiation still detectable in space today (once the predominant constituent of the universe, now a cosmic fossil of the primeval fireball), explore the Milky Way (with more stars swirling around its center than people who ever lived on Earth), and find that all we see around
us is inextricably linked to the exceedingly remote past.
As it traces the origins and development of the universe, The Left Hand of Creation asks some compelling questions. What was the beginning of time like? Was it a time of chaos or of smooth transition? Was it unfathomably hot or inconceivably cold? In attempting to answer these and other
questions, Barrow and Silk effortlessly cover the entire spectrum of modern theory, making even the most arcane and difficult accessible to the layperson. They offer succinct, readable accounts of such cutting-edge fields of inquiry as quantum physics, quark theory, particle physics, and astronomy,
to name but a few. And they also introduce us to the scientists whose collective genius made modern cosmological study possible in the first place. There is Edwin Hubble, whose Red Shift Theory proved that the universe is expanding; the eighteenth-century English clergyman John Michell, whose
revolutionary ideas about gravity predicted the discovery of black holes by American physicist John Wheeler some two centuries later; and, of course, the titanic figure of Einstein, whose Theory of Relativity looms behind virtually every breakthrough in modern physics.
A book for anyone who has ever contemplated how the world came to be, or has simply awestruck by a starry sky at night, The Left Hand of Creation offers a treasure trove of insights and explanations.
Customer Reviews:
The Breakthroughs in Modern Cosmology .......2006-02-12
"For the briefest instant at the origin of time when all laws of physics on an equal footing, all nature's elementary constituents, heavy and light alike, interacted freely and democratically. The most exotic particles known, or even dreamt of, by man were liberated to participate in this unrestrained interchange." Prologue
Left-Handed Creation:
"Amino acids, the molecular building blocks of life (except for a few) are all left-handed.... Why life on the molecular level is like this is a mystery... The astronomers believe that this left-hand bias began long before our Sun was even born. ... Many scientists believe that life could only have developed on Earth because of the bias towards left-handed molecules." (Dr David Whitehouse, BBC Online, July 1998)
The Mysterious Universe:
In the updated new revision to their insightful guide, written for attentive inquirers seeking a telltale that helps solving the old riddle of the cosmological origins, a plausible account for the evolution of the universe, that provides a fascinating view of the different perspectives on this topic was integrally explored. The acclaimed astronomy educators provided the reader with a fresh introduction to survey the main developments on the new phase that cosmology erupted into, the decade following the book's first edition.
Cosmology 101:
One useful method to enjoy the enormous range of scientific topics covered was to read the introduction and prologue, review the Conclusions and Conundrums, before following attentively the authors account of the provocative dynamic unfolding of the Left hand of creation on the Cosmic debate; Cosmos, Origins, creation, evolution, and finally Chaos to cosmos.
In a masterful brief introductory to the thought evoking guide using a minimal technical terminology, to which a thorough Glossary (10 pages) was appended, the astronomical universe's most puzzling features are explored in the light of the technological revolution from the Hubble telescope to the micro computers. In a reader friedly escort, onto the NASA Cosmic Explorer COBE, you will be fascinated by the scientific account from the primordial furnace during the initial Big Bang to develop into moving streams of galaxies, and from nucleosynthesis to superstrings, dark matter, explaining the idea of inflation.
Cosmos from Chaos:
The serious inquiry starts with the controversial debate on adam's belly button, and proceeds on the age of the cosmos utilizing clear and informative graphics from Hubble law to Le Chatalier principle applied to the universe phase transition. I am at a great loss to review the book landmarks which covered the genius human vision to percieve the predictions and link them with the proofs from Friedman to Eddington on the expanding universe, and the curious origin of Bondi's Steady-state concept of 'creation ex nihilo' initiated by the great master John Philoponus of the sixth century Alexandrine Academy.
Acclaimed authors:
Dr. John Barrow, FRS, is an English theoretical physicist and Research Professor of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Cambridge. He is also a popular-science writer, he obtained his doctorate from the University of Oxford, and has worked at the University of California at Berkeley. His first book, The Left Hand of Creation, published in 1983, and has authored further 15 books.
Dr. Joseph Silk, is Professor of Astronomy and chairman of Oxford University Astrophysics, following a 30-year career at the U. of California, Berkeley. Professor Silk, a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Harvard, (two hundred invited lectures on primarily galaxy formation and cosmology), is author of many popular articles and books 'The Big Bang, and 'A Short History of Universe.'
Amazon.com
For many years, traditional cosmologists and proponents of faith-based "intelligent design" have fought over the origin of the universe. One side maintains that pure chance can explain everything; the other that there must be a God. In Biocosm, James Gardner examines the evidence and finds a third hypothesis, one that has the approval of a number of noted skeptics and scientists. He calls it the "Selfish Biocosm," in a nod to Richard Dawkins, and outlines it in this homage to Charles Darwin. Gardner states his hypothesis:
The basic idea is that the anthropic, or life-friendly, qualities that our universe exhibits are logical and predictable consequences of a cosmic reproduction cycle in which a cosmologically extended biosphere, developed and evolved over billions of years to unimaginable levels of sophistication, serves as the device by which our cosmos duplicates itself and propagates one or more "baby universes."
Like many of the sentences in Biocosm, this one requires multiple readings before its meaning and ramifications sink in. This is not an easygoing, blow-your-mind look at the universe. Gardner is meticulous in outlining his ideas, explaining their falsifiability and scientific rigor, and offering deep chaos theory to support them. Did our universe create intelligent life in order to ensure its own reproduction? Gardner thinks so, though he knows his position will irk many cosmologists exhausted from battling pseudoscientists and creationists. His impressive list of scientific supporters includes Sir Martin Rees (Britain's Astronomer Royal), Michael Shermer (publisher of Skeptic magazine), and John Casti (Santa Fe Institute honcho). Biocosm synthesizes many disciplines and theories in its conclusions, offering much food for cosmological thought. --Therese Littleton
Book Description
Biocosm challenges both sides of the controversy over evolution and creationism. This carefully reasoned book proposes that life and intelligence have not emerged as a series of random accidents, as Darwinists like Stephen Jay Gould have maintained, but are hardwired into the cycle of cosmic creation, evolution, death, and rebirth. Gardner's theory of an exponential coevolution of biological and electronic intelligence, designed and directed, offers an extraordinary vision of a universe of point and purpose. Stunning color photos are included.
Customer Reviews:
An alternative to ID and Landscape Random Cosmos.......2006-03-21
Since the greeks, two contrasting ideas are the main players in the discussion of the Cosmos origin. Today, Inteligent Design postulates an inteligent creator for our Universe (with the hidden agenda that "He" is possibly the Christian or Islamic onipotent God). Another view postulates an infinite Landscape of possible Universes, from those, by pure chance, a tiny fraction enables complexity and life to emerge (and we, of course, inhabit one of these lucky universes). The authors discuss a Third Way, a vision that fuses both ideas: the universes evolve by Darwinian or even Genetic Engineering mechanisms where galactic biospheres play a catalizing role in the creation of baby universes. In contrast to some naive reviews done here, apparently writen by ID supporters, it is indeed an intriging and non-trivial alternative. The idea does not involves an infinite regress because at each generation the universe parameters (akin to genes) are selected as to produce more easily the next inteligent biospheres. This means that the biophylic character of the universes pool is increasing along time, it is not an stationary process. So, what it is need is a proto-evolutionary model for the first biophilic universe. Perhaps the Smolin model of baby universes catalized by black holes is such protoevolutionary mechanism. This means that the Inteligent Designer is not omnipotent or omniscient, but evolves along time by a Darwinian mechanism: a true synthesis between the ID and standard science. This means that any argument or "evidence" for ID is also favourable to the Biocosmo Hypotesis(BH), and BH should be discussed in schools where ID is taught. So, the final question is: the Designer is onipotent? If so, why the Cosmos is full of "problems" and "evil", from the point of view of Life. The Selfish Biocosmo accounts this, Christian or Islamic ID, not.
Infinite Regress of Intelligent Designers.......2004-11-24
The fatal flaw of the 'Biocosm' hypothesis is that of infinite regress: Each designed universe had a designer, which in turn had to have a super-designer, and so on. Ultimately, to avoid such a regress of designers, we must begin with a universe capable of producing designers that was not itself designed. But the possibility of an undesigned universe capable of producing intelligent designers undermines the whole purpose of proposing the Biocosm hypothesis in the first place. So ultimately 'Biocosm' doesn't solve the fundamental problem it sets out to solve, it merely postpones it. Note that the theistic argument from design fails for a similar reason: If organized complexity (e.g., life) requires a designer, then so does an intelligent living God (who must be organized and complex if he is to be intelligent and alive). This God, in turn, would require a super-intelligent designer, ad infinitum. It's time we all bravely faced reality, and let go of our anthropocentric hubris.
Bio-Blah.......2004-10-06
Initially intrigued with this book, I quickly lost interest. It starts out well but then degenerates into a bunch of random points which the author tries to use to argue his hypothesis that the universe was designed to give rise to intelligent life as a final outcome. The blurbs along the margin were major distractions & made it hard to stay focused on the actual material in the book. The book just kind of wanders around the various fields of science trying to find evidence to support the author's premise and then ends with the pronouncement that we're the peak of creation (very Genesis-like). I'd have to pronounce this book mildly interesting if you can wade through the claptrap and the biased agenda.
Cosmic Biocomics.......2004-03-07
This collage of theoretical explorations is as fascinating as it is (apparently) incoherent and gives a progress report on the current state of evolutionary speculation, driven by the unadmitted breakdown of the Darwinian viewpoint, a reality that can't be acknowledged in public. And that's the problem here. You can't have it both ways. It seems the ID people have Darwinists spooked and on the run, and while the elements of a new approach to evolution are certainly appearing over the horizon noone can summon up the presence of mind to ditch natural selection. Contradictory hybrids come into existence in a sort of frolic of wild notions. Now we have cosmic selection theories and Dawkins' selfish gene projected onto cosmology. Far be it from me to throw cold water on all these shenigans, especially since I find it all luridly fascinating and the book entertaining. One thing the author has done is to place the pieces of the puzzle, au courant, onto the table. Perhaps one can somehow fit them together, Darwin, selectionism, ID, anthropics, baby universes, exobilogical exhuberance, and finally a bit of Kant. I was alarmed to see the author confused by Robert Wright's directionality thesis from Non Zero with its total confusion and cooptation of Kant's essay on history. For, whatever we make of the cosmological foundations of biological theory the question of history remains inscrutable as far as current Darwinism is concerned, and Kant's essay points the way to the right question, and provides elements of the right methodology.(Cf. the reviewer's material on this issue of Kant) Current science simply cannot handle any of that,it seems. You can't hybridize Kant and Darwin. As long as the delusion persists that the descent of man was the result of natural selection the basic incoherence will persist. In fact, human history is completely beyond the reach of current science. It's not even in the right ball park and has degenerated from the insights of the Enlightenment. The result is a lot of confused physicists who are too smart to realize they are acting stupidly.
All this said, I enjoyed the somewhat disordered collation of theoretical ideas. The bits and pieces keep flying out of nowhere and I couldn't quite keep track of it all, and the standard appearance of the nonsense about sociobiological ethics mars the result. The overall picture however is highly intriguing, as an idea for the revision of current views around a theme/theory of cosmic life processes. But it is difficult to proceed without a theory of the evolution of consciousness, and there current science hasn't a clue.
Guess what! Modern science doesn't have a coherent theory of evolution. The author unwittingly lets the cat out of the bag. No wonder they have peer review.
Ockham's Razor cuts this book off my list........2003-10-06
Recognizing that an intelligent designer of our universe is needed to plausibly account for the fine-tuning required for it's existence, this books author tries to avoid using anything like the omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God of Christianity as that designer. Instead he relies on a very powerful being that's more like a super-mom or super-scientist of a prior universe to do the birthing. Our infant universe--as it's mother before--has a built-in purpose to develop more "complexity" and eventually evolve to the point when it can give birth to another similar infant universe just like it's mother did to it before. This is repeated over and over again, hopefully without going astray, producing "kid universes" that provide enough "complexity" so the chain is never permanently broken. Here no prior universe exists in eternal quiescence.
But how did all this start? Whatever _begins_ to exist has a cause, how did that beginning arise? One way to avoid the regress, which then brings back what _some_ atheists want to avoid, is an eternal, uncaused intelligent designer that is timeless before creation and omnitemporal at once with creation. The author doesn't want any of that. A closed causal chain that's not self-defeating makes the "future" cause the "past" in one big loop so there never is any real beginning to time and this big cycle just always is.
One still wonders whether this infinitely birthing cycle of universes cause even more problems than a universe with a beginning. Most don't think that an infinite number of things is real because this leads to all sorts of self-contradictions and seems to provide no basis for rational thought. Consider that subtracting all odd numbers from all natural numbers gives an infinite number. So infinity minus infinity is infinity. However, subtracting all numbers greater than 2 leaves 3. So infinity minus infinity is 3! If actual infinites cannot exist in reality, an actual infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite and therefore an actual infinite temporal regress of events cannot exist. Another way of looking at it is through successions of events. Since an actual infinite cannot be reached by successive addition, and a temporal series of events is a collection formed by successive addition, then the series of temporal events cannot be infinite. It seems that time and the universe must have had a beginning a finite time ago.
Besides this book being pure speculation and propaganda, it has many specious arguments and one may want to look at other works on these topics. This may also help in deciding if the authors theory is really "falsifiable." Actually, the whole notion of "falsifiability" deserves study.
Anyway, one suggestion is to have a look at the book "GOD? A Debate Between A Christian And An Atheist" by William Lane Craig and Walter Sinnot Armstrong for better arguments.
I side with the "atheist" that believes in an intelligent designer that was atemporal and maybe "supernatural" but not one that has all the characteristics of the Christian God. This is mainly because the defense given by theists to the "problem of evil" just doesn't cut it for me, but these defenses may for others.
Books:
- Parrots of the World: An Identification Guide
- Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe
- Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park
- Representation Theory: A First Course (Graduate Texts in Mathematics)
- Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (2nd Edition)
- Sensory Transduction
- Seven Habits Of Highly Effective Teenagers
- Simpleology: The Simple Science of Getting What You Want
- Small Worlds: The Dynamics of Networks between Order and Randomness (Princeton Studies in Complexity)
- Social and Political Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge Contemporary Introductions to Philosophy)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- My First Book Of Uppercase Letters
- History: Fiction or Science
- In Revere, In Those Days: A Novel
- History: Fiction or Science
- I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
- Introduction to Quantum Mechanics
- Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home
- The White Sharks of Wall Street: Thomas Mellon Evans and the Original Corporate Raiders
- Informe Sobre El Desarrollo Mundial 1993
- The Shavetail and The Army Nurse
