Saturday, October 27, 2012

Hawking and Mlodinow: Why God Did Not Create the Universe

There is a sound scientific explanation for the making of our world—no gods required

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By STEPHEN HAWKING And LEONARD MLODINOW,

The Wall Street Journal, September 3, 2010

According to Viking mythology, eclipses occur when two wolves, Skoll and Hati, catch the sun or moon. At the onset of an eclipse people would make lots of noise, hoping to scare the wolves away. After some time, people must have noticed that the eclipses ended regardless of whether they ran around banging on pots.

Ignorance of nature’s ways led people in ancient times to postulate many myths in an effort to make sense of their world. But eventually, people turned to philosophy, that is, to the use of reason—with a good dose of intuition—to decipher their universe. Today we use reason, mathematics and experimental test—in other words, modern science.

Albert Einstein said, “The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.” He meant that, unlike our homes on a bad day, the universe is not just a conglomeration of objects each going its own way. Everything in the universe follows laws, without exception.

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1 comment:

Nasir Khan said...

Most of the religious people in monotheistic religions believe in one God who according to them is the creator of the universe and all forms of life. But some people do not accept the notion of such a God. Among them is one eminent physicist of the present times Stephen Hawking. He does not see any logical or physical necessity of such a being in the origins of the universe. In my view, both believers and and non-believers should be able to discuss such issues dispassionately, without hurling abuse at the opposing side.