Religion of Cosmology

July 18, 2007 by Dr. Mc.

 Saul Perlmutter and Brian Schmidt were named on Tuesday as winners of the 2007 Gruber Prize in cosmology for their independent discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. According to the official release, this discovery “has radically changed our perception of cosmic evolution.” I think what that means is that it has thrown them into the toilet. We have known since Newton that nothing accelerates unless some force is acting on it. Since no known force can account for this observation, these scientists assume a new force and christen it “dark energy.” It must be either pushing from the inside or pulling from outside the universe (which would redefine the word “universe). They also conservatively conclude that the universe is “currently” accelerating, which allows for the possibility that it may not have been accelerating in the past. In either case, it blows holes in the inflation theories that propose that in the first fractions of seconds that the universe existed it was expanding at fantastic rates, and then slowed to what we observe today. We have made amazing advances in cosmology in terms of what is out there, but in terms of origin.. All we really know from observation is that the universe as we know it MUST have had a beginning, and all attempts to explain its origins in terms of physics (either when or how) have thus far failed.

I’d like to through another one out there. Perhaps its my simplistic understanding of physics, but: When something expands (including if it explodes), its parts are by definition all moving apart. Right? Then how does anything form?.. Since forming assumes something is coming together.

Origin cannot be explained within any system, since the origin of any system must be outside itself. Therefore all discussions of origins of our experienced systems is by definition metaphysical. That means religious. I do not by any means suggest that we not pursue cosmology, I simply suggest that we either leave off the religious pursuits or acknowledge the religious nature of the pursuits, and include consideration of all that the evidence suggests.

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