Jerry Coyne has a new post up at his blog, Why Evolution Is True (also the name of his current book, recently purchased by yours truly) - "Francis Collins sees God in quantum mechanics".
Certainly you remember Collins? He's the geneticist who helped head up the human genome project and once described the following adventure in his life:
I was hiking in the Cascade Mountains on a beautiful fall afternoon. I turned the corner and saw in front of me this frozen waterfall, a couple of hundred feet high. Actually, a waterfall that had three parts to it — also the symbolic three in one. At that moment, I felt my resistance leave me. And it was a great sense of relief. The next morning, in the dewy grass in the shadow of the Cascades, I fell on my knees and accepted this truth — that God is God, that Christ is his son and that I am giving my life to that belief.
Yeah... that Francis Collins. Well, he continues to bang and away at Jesus (so to speak) and has some astounding claims to make about the nature of quantum mechanics. Perhaps he can come up with a whole new god theory. It could give Intelligent Design a run for the money. I offer the following name for it - The Quantum Waterfall God Theory. I left the following comment on Coyne's blog:
Absolutely you have nailed it with the very last word of your post – “desperation”.
To posit a “god” or “gods” is quite enough of a leap. To go on to say that what we understand about quantum mechanics can somehow, possibly, allow for an active interaction [by god/s] in the known universe of which we could not observe or comment on from a scientific standpoint AND to glean from that how to worship or communicate with that god(s), as well as have a specific knowledge of what the god is and wants – is very, very desperate.
Hey, maybe that god hates us and is just fucking with us. Maybe it hates sycophantic worship and prayer. Maybe it doesn’t even notice us. But, no, they know that god not only has a way to interface with our reality, but they also know all about the god. Great.
11 comments:
I listened to Francis Collins speak on point of inquiry. I thought to myself that if anyone must have a good argument for believing in god it must be this man of science.
I was sorely disappointed - I had heard better arguments from dumber people on the internet.
It's shocking, in some respects. If there is a higher placed actual scientist who still claims to believe in the literal god of the bible, I'm really not sure who s/he is. And like you say, his arguments are as dumb as an Arkansas fundy might put together.
I had a similar aha moment his frozen-cascade one.
I was standing on an Oregon Coast Cliff looking at the waves crash onto the rocks.
All of a sudden, it occurred to me that the water had created the beautiful rock formations throughout the centuries, by just spanking the rocks day-in and day-out. There was no outside hand. Things transform into something else for purely natural, environmental reasons.
Funny how we can reach different conclusions while looking at similar natural wonders.
Lorena, it's actually kind of encouraging to know that you and are, on some level, more enlightened than a top geneticist! :)
Thanks, John. He is, obviously, profoundly brainwashed.
Gideon - OK... I'll level with you.
I'm 55 years old and I have heard and seen the same "evidence" more times than I care to remember. And, yes, I really don't want any more of it, though I know that's asking too much.
None of it is evidence. It's gibberish. It's words in a holy book and the personal mental experiences of others.
I am honestly reflective and suspicious even of my own mental experiences. How much more do you think I am such, when it comes to the "testimony" of Collins or anyone else? Unless the mental experience, even my own, have supportive material evidence then I have to remain suspicious - at the very least.
What you call evidence, would never be permitted as such in a court of law, if we could put the issue of god's existence on trial. The holy bible wouldn't qualify as an evidential document, nor would people who claim to hear the voice of god.
So, do I want to hear and see those same two pieces of evidence any more? No. I don't. But I'm not so naive as to think you won't pester me with it!
Gideon - you never piss me off.
Gideon says: I'm giving you some lively debate!
Could you let the rest of us know where that debate is, because I don't see anything lively in anything you've said.
And the reason I can say that with complete authority is that a waterfall told me.
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