Lawrence Krauss’s book A Universe from Nothing:
Why there is something rather than nothing (January 2012) has an Afterword
by Richard Dawkins. Predictably it seeks to show that the universe need not
have been created.
To be fair the book does not actually resort to supernatural
magic. It merely seeks to deceive the reader by defining ‘nothing’ not as
complete existential nothingness but as the quantum vacuum, i.e. space seething
with energy and virtual particles. These fleetingly come out of the quantum
vacuum and disappear back into it. Where this ‘nothing’, which is actually ‘something’,
comes from is passed over. Atheists seeking solace in it will be disappointed.
Dawkins’s seal of approval will not help – the central argument of his own book
the God Delusion has been dismissed by all serious philosophers and
thinkers as non sequitur.
A common misconception is that the Big Bang was an explosion
from a point in space-time. This is not standard theory. Space-time and energy were
created and, assuming the quantum vacuum does exist, this is simply a form of
the energy that was created. The mystery is what created it and many scientists
see this as a dangerous question, because they think it will cause scientists
to abandon reason by invoking God as an explanation for everything. On the
contrary, modern science evolved from a belief in a God who is all powerful
and, like certain ancient Greek philosophers but unlike Krauss and Dawkins, rational.
It is unfortunate that the prevailing world view of the Greeks was rather chaotic, full of arbtitrary gods, so that rational coherent theories of science and the universe could not flourish.
I see no point in reading this book except for any valid
cosmology which may be mixed in with the atheistically-motivated dogmatism and
for the intellectual curiosity of seeing how they come to their conclusion. A
lot of effort would have to be invested in understanding a nonsensical
argument.
Cosmology and quantum physics are fascinating subjects and there must be much better books around for getting a grip on the frontiers of scientific knowledge.
Cosmology and quantum physics are fascinating subjects and there must be much better books around for getting a grip on the frontiers of scientific knowledge.
Perhaps the second hand information I have on this book is
wrong. If so, please correct me.
What has this to do with Peace on Earth? A lot. Call me
dogmatic but I believe that a peaceful world can only be built on a foundation
of truth and love, and these do not come from any human being.
John
PS Multiverse and oscillating universe models which attempt to eliminate the need for a creation event by invoking infinity and eternity have been dealt a severe, if not final, philosophical blow by the BGV theorem of 2003. see the posting Infinity, eternity and cosmology).
