Oracles of Science: Celebrity Scientists Versus God and Religion

Oracles of Science examines the popular writings of the six scientists who have been the most influential in shaping our perception of science, how it works, and how it relates to other fields of human endeavor, especially religion. Biologists Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, and Edward O. Wilson, and physicists Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, and Steven Weinberg, have become public intellectuals, articulating a much larger vision for science and what role it should play in the modern worldview. The scientific prestige and literary eloquence of each of these great thinkers combine to transform them into what can only be called oracles of science. Their controversial, often personal, sometimes idiosyncratic opinions become widely known and perceived by many to be authoritative. Curiously, the leading 'oracles of science' are predominantly secular in ways that don't reflect the distribution of religious beliefs within the scientific community. Many of them are even hostile to religion, creating a false impression that science as a whole is incompatible with religion. Karl Giberson and Mariano Artigas offer an informed analysis of the views of these six scientists, carefully distinguishing science from philosophy and religion in the writings of the oracles. This book will be welcomed by many who are disturbed by the tone of the public discourse on the relationship between science and religion and will challenge others to reexamine their own preconceptions about this crucial topic.

Origin and creation in the Big-Bang universe

All ancient civilizations wondered about the nature of celestial objects and developed mythological accounts for the origin of an ordered cosmos from a primordial substance (water, chaos, etc.). The Judo-Christian tradition introduced an entirely new concept of creation, by which the universe (all that is, every creature, each instant of time) emerges from nothingness by the free act of a loving and rational God. Modern science has developed a remarkably faithful description of the physical processes responsible for the formation of the basic structures in the universe, from planetary to cosmic scales. While several issues are still open and pose serious challenges, we can describe in coherent physical terms the main stages of cosmic evolution. Initially the universe was characterised by a state of extreme simplicity, with high temperature and density, with slight density perturbations which acted as gravitational seeds for structure formation. The combination of cosmic expansion and of a variety of physical processes acting at local scales produced a series of transitions to increasingly complex systems. Cosmological observations now underway are producing a snapshot of the early universe with unprecedented detail, shedding new light on the physics at work some 14 billion years ago, just a tiny fraction of a second after the big bang. Thus scientific cosmology has superseded the mythological accounts of ancient cultures, by providing a rational description of the origin of structures through the wonderful fabric of natural laws. On the other hand, modern science leaves untouched the big question of creation: What is the ultimate source of all-that-is? Why reality (including space-time), instead of no-reality? Furthermore, modern cosmology arouses new fundamental questions: Why is the universe suitable for life and consciousness? What is the nature of physical laws driving cosmic evolution? What makes our understanding of the universe possible? (Video)

Marco Bersanelli

God and the Astronomer: Exoplanets, Life and Human Significance

In recent years, astronomers have detected over 600 planets outside of our own solar system, and many more are being identified as possible planets. Thus very rapidly the study of these "exoplanets" has moved from being in the realm of science fiction to being a top priority of the world's astronomical programs. Actual images of extra solar planets are now being revealed for the first time. The NASA-ESA Hubble Space Telescope is already characterizing the atmospheres of Jupiter-like planets in other systems. And the recent launch of the NASA Kepler space telescope is enabling the first statistical assessment of how common solar systems like our own really are.

Will we find planets like "Earth"? How will we know if there's life beyond Earth? And what will finding (or not finding) other life-friendly planets mean for our understanding of human significance and our relationship to God? As we begin to characterize these "other worlds" and assess their habitability, the question of the significance and uniqueness of life on Earth will impact our society as never before. I will provide a comprehensive overview of the techniques and status of exoplanet detection, followed by reflections as to the societal impact of finding out that Earths are common, or rare. Will finding other potentially habitable planets create another "Copernican Revolution"? Will perceptions of the significance of life on Earth change when we find other Earth-like planets? I will discuss the intriguing implications for humans of searching for life elsewhere.

Jennifer Wiseman

Artificial intelligence: ¿will we ever create human machines?

It is difficult to answer properly this question due to the extraordinary number of unknowns and the ambitious time range it includes, but some clues will be given to try to answer the question in a reasonable way.

Starting from several existing definitions of Artificial Intelligence (AI), its actual status will be discussed, as well as the different dilemmas set up through the history: strong AI, soft AI, hard AI, distributed AI.

After that, the original question will be divided into the following ones:

-can a machine have a mind?
-can a machine have emotions?
-can a machine be creative?
-can a machine be benevolent or hostile?

-can a machine be self aware?
-can a machine have a soul?
-can a machine know God?

Specific problems set up by the possible answers to these questions will be discussed.

Fernando de Arriaga

Evolution, Creation and Intelligent Design

In The Origin of Species, Darwin advanced a scientific explanation of the design of organisms. The adaptations of organisms are outcomes not of chance, but of a process that, over time, causes the gradual accumulation of features beneficial to organisms, whenever these features increase the organisms’ chances of surviving and reproducing. There is “design” in the living world: eyes are designed for seeing, wings for flying, and kidneys for regulating the composition of the blood. The design of organisms comes about not by intelligent design, but by a natural process, which is creative through the interaction of chance and necessity.

Organisms are pervaded by imperfections, dysfunctions, cruelties, and even sadism. The theory of evolution accounts for these mishaps by natural selection, as the outcomes of natural processes, so that they need not be attributed to God’s explicit design.

Francisco Ayala