I was listening to an interview with Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion), who casually mentioned that there is an infinite number of parallel universes, one in which he has a green beard, etc. Of course, this is the same Dawkins who condemns belief in God as unnecessary, and equates teaching your children about God with child abuse, all in the name of (worship of?) science.
What bugs me is this: why is it OK to believe in infinitely many infinitely complex and by definition undetectable things (parallel universes), but it's unreasonable to believe in a single entity that made it all? This entity is infinitely complex perhaps, and unknowable in many of the same ways, but to me a more reasonable proposition than the one in which every time an atom does ANYTHING, the universe splits in two. That's a load of universes there.
I personally find it more reasonable to believe in an infinite personality than in a meaningless infinity of universes. At the very least, I'd like my belief to be considered with the same respect given the multiple universe theory.
The question is not, "Will you believe in something unreasonable or something reasonable?", but rather, "Which unreasonable infinite thing will you believe in, one with personality or one without?". (I believe there are reasons to believe in the former, too, but at the very least they seem equivalent options from the perspective of necessary complexity.) And ... if there is an infinity of universes, isn't there one that includes a powerful creature very much like YHWH? How would we know if we were living in that universe or not?
Parallel universes are treated as a panacea by materialists but they don't seem very well thought out. I have a feeling that it's just too hard to take them seriously, it's such a preposterous idea. Where's William of Ockham when you need him??
Suggested listening for today's rant is "Parallel Universe" by Jan Krist: http://www.pastestore.com/product/252 (click on MP3 or RA)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
11 comments:
what kind of beard would you have in a parallel universe? I think that it would be more pinkish, or burgundy than green.
I totally agree. In the parallel universe that I am in, your beard color is a combination of your tallest son's hair color, and white. Therefore, BenMc's beard would be pink
do you think that there are parallel universities as well as parallel universes?
absolutely. SPU would end up being PSU. Pacific Seattle Univeristy. Instead of listening to Phil Dawg, we could dawg phil. Pretty awesome if you ask me.
I mean, look at how he handled the thing with our soccer coach. At PSU, where everything is perfect, the coach went on to set a collegiate record for most wins. Not in this university, though.
I'm so glad someone else is commenting on this blog. I've always wanted to leave a note but I just haven't had the courage to write something down. It's sort of like not raising your hand to speak during the awkward silences in capstone.
you know, BenMc might not be as far away from a lightening beard as we would like to think. Soon he will be GREY BEARD the oft dreaded torturer of beleaguered chemistry students.
Post a Comment