You might
think that scientists, especially renowned physicists and cosmologists, would
be solidly objective, dispassionate seekers of truth (or, as they prefer to
call it, facts). I like to think that
most of them are.
We might be
wrong about that.
If we are
(wrong that is), then that portends a serious flaw in a great institution—that
of science. Upon that institution
depends much of our intellectual capital, and therefrom, our future
technological ability—to survive as a world power. If the great scientists are so blinded by
personal opinion that their blindness hampers their scientific judgment, we are
in trouble.
I recently
viewed an online
lecture by a well-known physicist, Dr. Lawrence Krauss. His lecture is
about his book, which is even more aptly named than he realizes: Hidden
Realities: The Greatest Story Ever Told.. So Far.
The hidden reality
of which Krauss intends to speak involves physics, but the one which he reveals
is his obsession with Trump-hatred, and it appears, Jesus-hatred. The lecture was given shortly after the 2016
presidential election, and clearly, Krauss had not gotten over the trauma of
seeing the defeat of one of the most treacherous politicians of our lifetime. He demonstrated his irrationality by
inserting into his lecture his open disdain for the President, and did so to
the cheers of a foreign audience.
Krauss is by
no means alone in his inability to keep his personal opinions out of his
science lectures. The once-venerable
magazine, Scientific American, has
for years drifted toward leftism, and seems no longer able to think clearly
about planetary meteorology.
Much of the
corruption in science, be it financial, academic or political, is in my view
connected to the atheistic philosophy which scientists have adopted as far back
as Charles Darwin. We must be careful
here, not to conflate science, the pursuit of truth wherever the evidence
leads, with physicalism, the philosophy that says that nothing exists except
the physical.
The more
refined version of physicalism is much more rational than atheism. Physicalism simply says that there is no
falsifiable (i.e., independently verifiable) proof that God does, or does not
exist. Many scientists, however, go far
beyond that open-minded version, and reveal not only their insistent atheism,
but even an overt hostility to the very idea of a divine, intercessionist
Creator.
The irony is
that, science itself is finding more and more evidence that the physicalist
philosophy has fatal defects. One by
one, bits of evidence are building up.
In some articles by science-journalists, it is becoming clear that
physicalists are increasingly resorting to more tenuous arguments to prop up
their false philosophy, not only on scientific grounds, but on political ones
as well.
To their
chagrin, more and more Americans are recognizing that there is no legitimate,
scientific basis for dehumanizing unborn children. The arguments for abortion are no longer
biological, they are purely ideological.
Regarding
evolution, it is becoming less tenable to describe human beings as being an
upgraded version of chimpanzees (or more precisely, of a common forebear). DNA studies cannot bridge that gap.
Cosmology
cannot explain why the universe has the extremely unlikely properties that make
it suitable for life, except by proposing an even less likely multi-verse.
Quantum
physics is gradually eroding the physicalist paradigm. The evidence is moving toward the notion that
the universe is not essentially physical, but mental, and by implication,
spiritual.
We are not
there yet, but the trend is discernible.
Along the way, the real danger is that the search for scientific truth
may be derailed by irrational ideology. If
there is no fool like an old fool, there may be no idiot like one with a PhD
after his name.
=
No comments:
Post a Comment