Tuesday 7 April 2015

Accidental Order

My mind is still reeling from the implications of the Poul Anderson article that I summarized here. It did not really contain much that I had not heard before but sometimes the message strikes home with greater force.

Cosmic order is a local, temporary and accidental by-product of the spatial dissipation of originally concentrated energy. The dissipating energy fills space whereas order is concentrated in the galaxies with vast spaces between and inside them. We may add to this that all of consciousness is an accidental by-product of the unconscious process of natural selection.

Thus, we were never meant to be here but have hitched a ride on one part of energy's journey from singularity to heat death, which is the main cosmic process. Anything that we discover or achieve is a bonus because nothing was expected or demanded from us in the first place. There was no one to demand it. Meanwhile, rejoice that we are here and make the most of it.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Except that I, as a Catholic, ultimately don't believe blind random chance is the only reason that the universe and hence us exists. I simply don't see how the Big Bang could have "exploded" unless God had "touched" it off. Btw, I don't consider evolution, per se, to be contrary to belief and faith in God.

Sean