{"id":189,"date":"2010-01-07T09:48:20","date_gmt":"2010-01-07T09:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayharvey.org\/?p=189"},"modified":"2010-01-11T00:13:03","modified_gmt":"2010-01-11T00:13:03","slug":"the-elegant-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayharvey.org\/index.php\/2010\/01\/the-elegant-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elegant Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A reader writes:<\/i><\/p>\n

Dear Sir:<\/b> You are reported to have said that there is no order or disorder in the universe apart from what man himself puts there — this in spite of your well-known preoccupation with a fluid and congruent universe. Can you tell us how you reconcile this, with regard in particular to your views on God?<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Sarah H<\/p>\n

Dear Sarah H:<\/b> I don\u2019t recall my exact wording of that statement, but I\u2019m certain it\u2019s not as you recapitulate. Presumably you\u2019re referring to my conviction that order and disorder are epistemological<\/a> words, not metaphysical. By which I mean, they are products of the human brain, and nothing in nature is “disorderly”; it simply is. To speak of order or disorder apart from the human mind is like speaking of color to a person born blind.<\/p>\n

Using a slightly less elaborate metaphor, I might, however, concede that nature is “congruent” in the sense that each thing in the universe, however small or large, has a specific nature and must act in accord with that nature.<\/p>\n

In this way — and this is also known as the law of essence or identity — the universe is indeed congruent and elegant.<\/p>\n

Matter acts and reacts as it must. Matter does not possess will. That is why there’s really no such thing as chance.<\/p>\n

It is in this sense that the Nobel Prize winning doctor Christian de Duve<\/a>, in his fine book Vital Dust<\/a><\/i>, speaks of the universe as a “cosmic imperative.” By that he means nature does not possess volition \u2013 or, if you prefer, nature does not possess choice, as humans do.<\/p>\n

Nature must act as it does because the identity of each thing determines how it must act. This applies as much to a bursting star as it does to a microscopic particle.<\/p>\n

As for God, I can only explain Her popularity by an atheist’s nighttime sweats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader writes: Dear Sir: You are reported to have said that there is no order or disorder in the universe apart from what man himself puts there — this in spite of your well-known preoccupation with a fluid and congruent universe. Can you tell us how you reconcile this, with regard in particular to … <\/p>\n

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