Cosmologia e Religião
Scientific and Philosophical Challenges to Theism
(Submitted on 31 Dec 2007 (v1), last revised 14 Feb 2008 (this version, v3))Modern science developed within a culture of Judeo-Christian theism, and science and theism have generally supported each other. However, there are certainly areas in both science and religion that puzzle me. Here I outline some puzzles that have arisen for me concerning everlasting life, human free will, divine free will, the simplicity and probability of God, the problem of evil, and the converse problem of elegance.
Does God So Love the Multiverse?
(Submitted on 2 Jan 2008 (v1), last revised 17 Jan 2008 (this version, v5))Monotheistic religions such as Judaism and Christianity affirm that God loves all humans and created them in His image. However, we have learned from Darwin that we were not created separately from other life on earth. Some Christians opposed Darwinian evolution because it undercut certain design arguments for the existence of God. Today there is the growing idea that the fine-tuned constants of physics might be explained by a multiverse with very many different sets of constants of physics. Some Christians oppose the multiverse for similarly undercutting other design arguments for the existence of God. However, undercutting one argument does not disprove its conclusion. Here I argue that multiverse ideas, though not automatically a solution to the problems of physics, deserve serious consideration and are not in conflict with Christian theology as I see it.
Although this paper as a whole is {\it addressed} primarily to Christians in cosmology and others interested in the relation between the multiverse and theism, it should be of {\it interest} to a wider audience. Proper subsets of this paper are addressed to other Christians, to other theists, to other cosmologists, to other scientists, and to others interested in the multiverse and theism.
Scientific and Philosophical Challenges to Theism
(Submitted on 31 Dec 2007 (v1), last revised 14 Feb 2008 (this version, v3))
Modern science developed within a culture of Judeo-Christian theism, and science and theism have generally supported each other. However, there are certainly areas in both science and religion that puzzle me. Here I outline some puzzles that have arisen for me concerning everlasting life, human free will, divine free will, the simplicity and probability of God, the problem of evil, and the converse problem of elegance.
Monotheistic religions such as Judaism and Christianity affirm that God loves all humans and created them in His image. However, we have learned from Darwin that we were not created separately from other life on earth. Some Christians opposed Darwinian evolution because it undercut certain design arguments for the existence of God. Today there is the growing idea that the fine-tuned constants of physics might be explained by a multiverse with very many different sets of constants of physics. Some Christians oppose the multiverse for similarly undercutting other design arguments for the existence of God. However, undercutting one argument does not disprove its conclusion. Here I argue that multiverse ideas, though not automatically a solution to the problems of physics, deserve serious consideration and are not in conflict with Christian theology as I see it.
Although this paper as a whole is {\it addressed} primarily to Christians in cosmology and others interested in the relation between the multiverse and theism, it should be of {\it interest} to a wider audience. Proper subsets of this paper are addressed to other Christians, to other theists, to other cosmologists, to other scientists, and to others interested in the multiverse and theism.
Our Place in a Vast Universe
(Submitted on 31 Dec 2007 (v1), last revised 4 Jan 2008 (this version, v2))
Scientists have measured that what we can see of space is about a billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion (10^81) times the volume of an average human. Inflationary theory suggests that the entirety of space is vastly larger. Quantum theory suggests that there are very many different copies of space of the same basic kind as ours (same laws of physics). String theory further suggests that there may be many different kinds of space. This whole collection of googolplexes of galaxies within each of googolplexes of different spaces within each of googols of kinds of space makes up an enormously vast universe or multiverse or holocosm. Human beings seem to be an incredibly small part of this universe in terms of physical size. Yet in other ways, we may still be a very significant part of our vast universe.
Comentários
Mal comparando, é como se cada fóton que a tela de meu computador emite, se preocupasse com "o sentido de sua existência"...
R.