Claim CI302:
The conditions that enable life to exist also give the best overall
setting for scientific discovery; habitability correlates with
measurability. For example, the moon exists with the right size and
distance so that a perfect total solar eclipse is observable, and the
total solar eclipse of 1919 was crucial in testing general relativity.
Source:
Gonzalez, Guillermo and Jay W. Richards, 2004. The Privileged Planet.
Washington DC: Regnery.
Response:
- People tend to start with the easy stuff, and scientists are no
different. The discoveries they have made would naturally tend to fall
in the areas where discovery is easiest.
When airline traffic was halted for three days after the 9/11 attack,
scientists took the opportunity to measure the effect of contrails
(Travis et al. 2002). That does not mean the 9/11 attack was designed
for scientific discovery. Likewise, the fact that scientists in
general have taken what measurements they have does not mean the
universe was designed to allow them to do so.
- The argument boils down to the tautology "If things had been
different, things would be different." There is no evidence that a
different universe would be better or worse. Different conditions
might make it harder to observe what is easy to observe now, but they
would make other observations easier, probably leading to the discovery
of things we do not yet know. The philosophy behind this claim was
satirized by Voltaire (1759):
"It is demonstrable," said he, "that things cannot be otherwise than
as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they
must necessarily be created for the best end. Observe, for instance,
the nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles. The
legs are visibly designed for stockings, accordingly we wear
stockings. Stones were made to be hewn and to construct castles,
therefore My Lord has a magnificent castle; for the greatest baron in
the province ought to be the best lodged. Swine were intended to be
eaten, therefore we eat pork all the year round: and they, who assert
that everything is right, do not express themselves correctly; they
should say that everything is best."
- In many ways, the configuration of the universe hinders scientific
discovery. For example:
- Things in space are hard to get to. They are very far away; the
intervening vacuum is hostile to life; our gravity well makes it
costly to leave earth.
- The speed of light would hinder communication when and if we ever do
explore the galaxy.
- Our life spans are too short to individually note many important
changes in nature.
- Nobody knows of any easy way to find the structure of proteins.
- There appears to be no life on other planets with which to compare
terran life.
- Underwater exploration is quite inconvenient for us.
- Our brains may be structured so that some things are difficult to
understand. Many people, for example, cannot seem to comprehend
that the question "What is outside the universe?" is meaningless.
Quantum mechanics and relativity are also difficult to
conceptualize. And the tendency to categorize things into distinct
"kinds" may be biological. (It is helpful for language, but it
hinders understanding of evolution.)
- A universe whose laws are easy to discover implies a simple universe,
but design theorists keep telling us how complex things are.
- The importance of the 1919 eclipse in establishing the truth of
relativity may be exaggerated (Collins 1998; see also Stanley 2003).
General relativity, like most theories, was established by a variety of
consistent observations.
References:
- Collins, Harry, 1998. Hit or myth? New Scientist 159(2151) (12
Sep.): 36-39.
- Stanley, Matthew, 2003. "An expedition to heal the wounds of war":
The 1919 eclipse and Eddington as Quaker adventurer. Isis 94: 57-89.
- Travis, D. J., A. M. Carleton and R. G. Lauritsen, 2002. Contrails
reduce daily temperature range. Nature 418: 601.
- Voltaire, 1759. (see below)
Further Reading:
Voltaire, 1759. Candide.
http://www.literature.org/authors/voltaire/candide
or
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/voltaire/candide.html
created 2003-7-9, modified 2004-6-30