More Links. :o)

Two more links while I work away to meet a couple tight deadlines... Normal service will resume soon enough.

Science and An Incarnational Approach to the Old Testament - A guest blog by Peter Enns over at Science and Christian Belief.

Some Thoughts on Historians and Contemporary Anti-Evolutionism - An interesting article commenting on the misuse and modification of history by advocates of Intelligent Design to suit their goals and agendas.

Links of Recent Note

On Feeling at Home in the Family - From Science and the Sacred

Ron Numbers - Anti-evolution in America, from creation Science to Intelligent Design - from Pharyngula (not on my usual blog reading list, but a good article here).

And the Average Colour of the Universe apparently.

Dead Ringers

Sometimes so bad, but other times so very good...

Planets

Out there.

Down here.

Amazing stuff.

Fine Tuning for Androids

At the Christians in Science meeting here in Edinburgh tonight we were considering and discussing the idea of the fine tuning of the universe that gives rise to the Anthropic Principle. In a nutshell our universe appears to be very precisely set up for carbon based lifeforms such as ourselves to emerge from it.

So precise is this set up that some Christians have gone as far as to claim that it is direct evidence for the existence of a benevolent God at work behind the scenes who keeps humanity in mind and constructs a universe suitable for them to exist in.

I would agree more so with the folks who were at the meeting tonight (and with the viewpoint presented in the DVD we were discussing) that this fine tuning is more so evidence that is consistent with a theistic interpretation (whether or not that fine tuning arises from a twirling of cosmic dials or through an evolutionary development of a subset of parallel universes within a larger multiverse) rather than definite proof of a Supreme Intelligence/God at work.

As interesting as that all was there was a bit of a slight lack of robots and artificial lifeforms for me which got me thinking. What would the state of play be for such forms of life with regards to the Anthropic Principle?

I initially see two options here:

1. The original 'naturally' spawned creators of the subsequent artificial lifeforms co-exist with with each other and the artificial lifeforms can thus recognise the convenience and amicability of fine tuning in the context of their creators and agree with the consistency of that viewpoint in a theistic interpretation of the nature of the universe
2. The creators are no longer in existence (think a billion years or so down the line) for one reason or another. Exact knowledge of the artificial lifeforms own origins have also been lost. It would seem that in this scenario there is no reason to think that there would be an obvious connection between the universes properties and the form of life now inhabiting it.

If 2 is correct then maybe there would be something lost in the sense of one way of appreciating and rejoicing in God's providence for all His creation, but then on the other hand there would be an obvious discontinuity between the artificial life and the more natural process at work in bringing life into being throughout the universe.

This could be interpreted by the artificial lifeforms to mean that they were specially and instantly created by God which would be a misunderstanding of their place in the universe. Equally however this mystery could also be a driver into the lifeforms search for their true origins and thus reveal to them a wider understanding of the scope of God's creative plans for the universe.

Interestingly this sort of activity parallels pretty much what we humans are attempting to do so now through science and a better understanding of our own history.

Another idea that could be included in either scenario 1 or 2 above is that is perhaps that although the artificial lifeforms might not be able to associate themselves especially with some more human-centric fine tuning arguments there would still be plenty of other more generic arguments as to why the universe seems friendly to producing intelligent lifeforms of one form or another.

By looking at a wider perspective they might well conclude on a wider 'Genesis' Principle of which our current Anthropic Principle might be a smaller part of which would however remain hypothetical to the artificial lifeforms who construct the final, more encompassing principle. The presence of its possibility however might give them important clues on the nature of the universe and help them to explore and appreciate more the universal consistency of the purposes of God.

Christians in Science in Edinburgh

There's a lot of varied events happening around the Edinburgh that are science/religion related and for the local group of Christians in Science I have compiled a newsletter that you can download here.

There's a handy summary sheet on the last page for the next few months that is worth checking out if you're interested in finding something to go to.

God Creates New Bird

Much amusement over at the Onion.