Ha! You really thought I did it!

Ok you didn’t. But check this:

“I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms we can’t conceive. Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum theory, it could be there as aspects of reality that are beyond the capacity of our brains.”

Invisible Extraterrestrials? World-Leading Physicist Says “They Could Exist in Forms We Can’t Conceive”.

This really irritates me.

Ok, for the majority of the article the logic of the arguments and the basis of the probabilities seems reasonable. But this particular quote irritates me.

I know that this is not a widely held belief in the scientific community, but if it’s even remotely plausible, then why aren’t supernatural beings plausible? Why isn’t God plausible?

I’m not qualified to engage in this debate at all academically, I can admit that and I understand that my knowledge of the universe is very, very limited (understatement of all time? possibly.) However, it seems like a contradiction in terms to say that miraculous or supernatural things described in any religion are out of the question and then posit something like the quote above.

To say, “It’s possible we can’t fully conceive of what is possible in our universe.” and then say “God/gods cannot exist.”* Are two contradictory things.

Now, I’m not saying that we should stop trying to understand things and just say, “God did it.” or “It’s supernatural.” or “We can’t possibly understand so why try?” We should always push and search, but to discount possibilities seems wildly unscientific to me. It’s one thing to lean on evidence and say that something is “more likely” than something else based on what we can observe. I can buy that.

But it’s another thing to utterly discount possibilities. That seems as closed minded as anything a religious person could say.

Those who believe in a “higher power” who, at the very least, set everything in motion, can seek to understand it not only spiritually and philosophically but scientifically as well. And those who don’t, or are unsure, should seek to figure things out whatever way they can and not decide in advance that they won’t find something.

Whatever that something may be.

Is it dark energy/matter or a deity? Could it be both? Or neither?

Let’s sum up.

It seems ungodly to discount science and unscientific to discount god.

There. Deal with it.

- sean

* I realize that the article in question is not saying this, but, generally, the scientific/scholarly community does say that God/gods don’t exist or that miraculous/supernatural things cannot happen.