Musings

God and Science - II

Part 2

Am happy for the responses I got for the last post. This post is just a continuation of the last post. I broke it down for making the individual blogs short and also to gauge what a regular user feels about such sensitive topics. I would also like to add here that my intention in writing this is not to start a debate about the existence of God but merely take the readers to a point wherein science has no answers and let them take a stance they want to believe in. Fence-sitter is also a stance.

The theory of evolution: This theory since the day it was proposed by Charles Darwin back in 1856 has been under immense attack from various sides. The theory says that all complex organisms (whales, rats, plants and humans) were created from a common ancestor through ‘evolution’. Evolution is not the right term to use here for the process involves a few complex steps (not explained in detail here). Though majority of the science world accepts this theory, there are a few glitches in it as well. Let’s put the theory into our perspective here and see how a few questions are unanswered by Science yet.

First and foremost, the theory suggests that the first organisms in this planet were a miraculous accident. These organisms were formed some 4 billion years ago (age of earth – 4.6 billion years) in an environment that is very unlike from today’s earth. While those conditions are well known – the accident that caused the creation of the first organism is still unknown. The first creation was a simple microbe, something that earth didn’t have before. The theory of evolution suggests that this simple microorganism later occupied all the big oceans of the earth, transformed itself into algae, later plants, small aquatic creatures and later these ocean dwellers came to land to start populating the earth in a various ways. And finally they also evolved to all what we see today in this world. So if this first creation was indeed a miracle that spewed life all over the planet then was it an accident? Or was someone involved in this? (There is another fascinating theory about this first organism – aliens would have somehow implanted it, but it seems it has lost out for various reasons).

The theory of evolution has also some other blunt points as to how the evolution sustained when global destructions have happened in the past. The ice ages, an occasional meteor hit (like the destruction of dinosaurs), or some volcano activity have been successful in the past to destroy all major living organisms (that were not fit to survive such an annihilation). Then how come the chain was able to sustain, is a question for which a few vague answers exist but none of them concrete enough to mention.

These glitches are exploited by many and they claim the theory of evolution is false. While the theory itself is not false, a few of Charles Darwin assumptions and postulates are false. That doesn’t diminish his status as a genius according to me. One more fact: Although popular rumors exist, there is no proof that Charles Darwin denounced his theory of evolution at death bed and accepted Christianity.

rizi

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God and Science

Everything in this universe had a start just as universe itself. So did the belief in God. Today’s science may have found a lot of answers about the origins of the universe and how a few basic rules are followed everywhere in the universe (and so aptly named as Universal laws), but a few basic questions linger unanswered that believers of God claim as a proof that a supreme power exists. The purpose of this blog is to give an insight into a few questions that still suggests; according to believers that God does exist. I have not explained the entire context in detail for I believe that not all readers would have the patience to read through them (I wonder if someone has patience to read it fully).

Big-Bang: The very start of the universe is in a cloud of mysteries. All over the years scientists have peeled layer after layer of mysteries only to be compounded by more. For example, lets take the most popular theory among a few those that explain the beginning of the universe (this theory although widely accepted has a lot of anomalies; my intent is not to discuss these). The theory suggests that a single mass with infinite density exploded some 20 billion years ago at an infinite temperature and the whole universe was created by the explosion. Large chunks of the debris with rich hydrogen-helium content became stars and the other cooler dusts and debris condensed to form planets. There are other particles formed randomly due to the same effect. Science suggests this much but all questions about the initial mass are still answered. For example, the nature of the mass should have been so dense and it should have been in such a high temperature that scientists are unable to fathom the physical condition of the mass. Secondly and most importantly how was the mass created? What are its origins? It’s very easy to be thinking at this point about a highly heated spherical ball in space that explodes. Contrary to this popular belief, there was no space before the big-bang (the explosion itself is called the big-bang). Space was actually a bye product of the big-bang. Space which we see today is filled with numerous matter that makes the universe. Apart from stars, planets, space debris, lot of gases all of which has mass, there are abundance of CDM or Cold Dark Matter which occupy even the farthest of the universe. So this means that there was nothing before the big-bang. Then how was it created? Or else who created it?. Further more is this theory is hold to be true then what is there after we cross the borders of the universe?(the universe actually has an end after which according to science nothing should exist; not even an empty space). Does this prove that God exists? May be or may not be.

There are many other similar mysteries which give rise to this ultimate question. I don’t want to bore the reader with all those. Feel free to give your comments.

rizi

28 Comments

Finance Management

Not more than 9 months have passed since I joined my first job and already I am made to be a finance graduate if I were to save some money for the future. I earn quite a handful and tried my hand in saving it in a bank, but I later learned(this is lesson no.1 for me as a learner of financial management) that money in cash is as good as it was never there.

The good thing is that I didnt lose it in a lottery. I bought a car for my dad(Who was advised not to drive a two-wheeler after an accident that put him in bed for a month). That not only took all my savings but also made me a debtor. Am not rueing my decision to buy a car, but other 'what-if' clauses often haunt me.

Taxes are as good as debt and am surely viable for taxes the next year(This year I paid almost nothing for I had been earning for just over 8 months). My plans for taxes are not yet concrete but I have some plans. Let me see.

Overall this is something which is challenging(a lot less than playing SimCity though) and am looking forward to it.

4 Comments

Got a life - with sports

I never inculcated good sporting habits during my school days. Lack of good facilities near our home, my parents negligent towards sports and not being physically strong led me into almost a sportless life. Though I had played cricket and football in school I was never serious about both.

College life had something else to offer. My college, along with an excellent academic history, was very famous for sport activities. A lot of classmates were good in sports and some were good enough to represent our college. Though I knew I had lacked all the serious stuff, I decided to get myself into some sports atleast as a hobby. I went into ping pong one summer and almost forgot how to hold the bat before next semester.

College was over last year and I came out as a sports-person no better than who went in. I thought I was not going to change very much until I found two ping pong tables in my office. Almost all offices have some sport facilities here and I was glad to find one in mine too.

Anyone who sits in bench in a software company will surely get more proficient in either reading newspapers or writing blogs or become a good table tennis player. I left out the first but did justice to the next two. I play a lot better now. I have started playing badminton too. Let me see how far I go :)

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Random glitches in life

Imagine a road - straight, pol ished, wihtout any glitches. It is a delight to travel but not for long - something called boredom strikes you; Life is like that - you need some sharp turns, some bumpy road blocks, detours, breakdowns, what-not. If at all life is without all this then you get nowhere, the very essence of life would mean nothing to you.

Why do we celebrate achievements? for the simple reason that we have toiled over some difficulty to achieve it! If not for those glitches along the path to our success we would not be happier for it. Glitches are there everywhere in life - most of them minor having little/no consequences in your life, few are major.

I am always fantasised by the boiling water theory. Everyone would have seen a water boiling in a open-vessel. If you had carefully noticed, the bubbles that come when it reaches boiling temperature are formed at the bottom of the vessel - at precisely some points. These points are microscopic glitches in the otherwise plain metal(they dont form the bubbles - bubbles are result of water converted to steam, but they help in forming the bubbles).

What if the glitches dont exist? no bubbles are formed and subsequently the water doesnt convert to steam even when temperature reaches and rises above the boiling temperature. Finally a time comes when the pressure gets too high and the whole of water is spurted out.

Life needs glitches - they are random, induce suffering but you got to learn that life is boring without them.

11 Comments

booked-life

I was not a voracious reader during my school days. I tended to do my slogging only during exams and since those were the only books I read, it never became serious for me. But these days, I find a lot of solace in reading. By reading, I dont just mean hard-covers. I read a lot using internet. On an average day, I spend about 2-3 hours a day reading something in internet. These days work has deprived me of that pleasure but I continue, dauntedly. Given below are the hard-cover books, I am reading now:

*'Contact' - A novel by Carl Sagan(If you know astronomy you should know him)..I am at the verge of completing this book.

*'The Great Train Robbery' - One of those Crichton novels...nothing more

I am usually a casual grazer for information on the net and always find something to read - usually with the help of know-all google. Let me try to recollect a few of recent topics : Black holes and worm holes(inspired by 'Contact', april fool origins and pranks, raelians, simcity(what for??), SETI....Ok thats enough

4 Comments