On moving theology toward natural science
To make a long along story very short:
The Universe either had a beginning or it is eternal. If it had a beginning it did not come from nowhere, so somewhere in the background is an eternal Creator.
If theology is to be a science, then divinity, Θηος, must be observable since science is based on observation
The existence of the world is gravitation. The essence of the world is quantum mechanics. In the structureless omnipotent initial singularity, essence and existence are identical. Gravitation is the creator. The creator brings everything into existence and we feel them all the time unless we are in free fall. Quantum mechanics is the designer, serving up forms to the creator to be made dynamic realities
The full story begins on page 2: Abstract
I guess that about half of us, members of the Abrahamic religions, follow the first words of Genesis: 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. There are many other ideas about where we came from. Abrahamic religions - Wikipedia, Genesis I:1-4
I grew up in a Roman Catholic community and went to Catholic Schools. In my last years of school I concentrated on mathematics, physics and chemistry. Under the influence of my staunchly Catholic mother, I joined the Dominican Order when I was 18 and fell in love with the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1275). His great work was to introduce the best science available in his day, the work of Aristotle, into Catholic Theology, and I felt a strong desire to emulate my hero.
Science is based on careful observation and measurement of the real world. It covers everything from fundamental particles through human nature and national structures and policies, to the history of Earth and the Universe. There can be no doubt that while political and religious forces act as a severe retardant of human development we owe the bulk of the improvements in our health and welfare to science and technologies derived from our growing knowledge of our natural environment. Thomas Kuhn (1996); The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The 2021 UNESCO Science Report estimates that there are about ten million full time scientific researchers in the world, about one tenth of a percent of our total population. The influence of scientists can be enormous. Simple ideas like vaccination, first proposed by Edward Jenna at the end of the eighteenth century, have saved the lives of millions of people, particularly of children who once frequently died of infectious diseases, causing painful grief to their families. Vaccination - Wikipedia, UNESCO Science Report 2021: Statistical Annexe
Inspired by the spirit of aggiornamento introduced into the Church by Pope John XXIII and his initiation of the Second Vatican Council, I realized that the fundamental prerequisite for the introduction of science into theology is the hypothesis that the observable Universe plays all the roles of the traditional God: creator, sustainer and judge. I committed this idea to writing. The reaction of my superiors was negative. For the Church my idea is heretical. Since I could not to change my opinion, I was asked to leave the Order. I have now continued developing this idea for about 60 years. Jeffrey Nicholls (1967): How universal is the universe?
It has been through many permutations but in the 70s Penrose, Hawing and Ellis found that Einstein's general theory of relativity predicted the existence of the singularities which came to be called black holes (since confirmed by observation). They also postulated the existence of a singularity prior to the emergence of space time, the initial singularity. Initial singularity - Wikipedia
The gravitational initial singularity is considered to be the source of the big bang which began Universe. The theory assumes that the initial explosion reached enormous temperatures and as the fireball expanded and cooled the elementary particles we now know condensed out of it. Big Bang - Wikipedia
Physicists assume that the initial singularity is eternal, omnipotent and absolutely simple or structureless. This is just like the model of the Catholic God developed by Aquinas from Aristotle's proof for an unmoved mover driving Plato's formal world. Aristotle worked 1500 years before Aquinas. Unmoved mover - Wikipedia
An entity that begins as an omnipotent structureless singularity can only generate structure through evolution by variation and selection. Aquinas notes that even an omnipotent being cannot do dynamically impossible things. Aquinas, Summa I, 25, 3: Is God omnipotent?
This assumption is supported by high energy particle physics. When we arrange for particles to collide at thousands of time their rest mass we find the usual set fundamental particles emerging from the fireball. This suggests that the fundamental particles forms a natural group. Each time an element of this group annihilates one or more other elements are formed and spin, energy and various other group properties are preserved. Particle physics - Wikipedia
Because of its simplicity the singularity it has no means of representing information. It is ignorant, differing radically from traditional gods to whom we often attribute omniscience. Rolf Landauer (1999)
Since the Universe is one and begins from a single point, physics and theology study the same entity. I call this site cognitive cosmogenesis because I imagine the procession of the Universe from the singularity as a psychological and logical process, by analogy with Augustine's account of the procession of the persons of the Trinity. Trinity - Wikipedia
By analogy with myself I see the Universe as two coupled systems. In an evolutionary model mind provides ideas, variation, possibilities. Embodiment draws energy from the Sun, and is also selective. We may think impossible things but we cannot do them. Evolution - Wikipedia
The standard approach to a theory of the Universe assumes that Minkowski space, the space of special relativity, is the local domain of physics. We see quantum mechanics as a field of operators coupled to every point in this space. Since I have learnt that quantum theory is a theory of communication and computation I have begun to see that we have got the cart before the horse. I think the real foundation of the Universe is quantum mechanics, a kinematic computational process driven by the dynamic initial singularity and its children, just as my mind works inside my dynamic brain. Quantum mechanics is the invisible works of the world. Quantum field theory - Wikipedia
Whether this works you will have to see for yourself in the pages that follow. I proposes that the initial singulairty is naked gravitation, actus purus, pure potential, omnipotent and formally identical to the structureless Christian God modelled by Aquinas. A Hilbert space as a basis for quantum mechanics develops in this singularity. The universal computational power of quantum mechanics, analogous to the power of the Turing machine, enables us to imagine that all processes in the Universe, including the construction of Minkowski space from which Einstein derived the general theory of relativity, are executed in this Hilbert space. It exploits the full power of the quantum mechanics described by John von Neumann. John von Neumann (2014): Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Nielsen & Chuang (2016): Quantum Computation and Quantum Information
With this simple pattern, our ignorant but omnipotent creator has materialized our Universe and ourselves. It is a union of physics and theology. Physics, through quantum mechanics, plays the universal mind. The body of physical theology, through prudent selection, may bring us grace and peace.
The everyday manifestation of divinity is gravitation, which is always with us. Einstein, as we have always suspected, was a theologian. The only place where he went wrong was in his Laplacian statement of determinism, God does not play dice. Determinism is not creative. Divinity is the dice player extraordinaire, exploring every possibility to produce our gorgeous Universe, their mind. Laplace's demon - WikipediaOld religions like Catholicism are deterministic and take hope from the belief that their God is in total control of the world and every microscopic event within it. This is mathematically impossible. What can be is that we can study our own bodies (or any body) to see how trillions of independent living atoms can be arranged into a peaceful and productive community. Aquinas, Summa, I, 22, 3: Does God have immediate providence over everything?, Gödel's incompleteness theorems - Wikipedia, Undecidable problem - Wikipedia
(created Tuesday 11 June 2024, revised Wednesday 12 June 2024).
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Notes and references
Further reading
Books
Kuhn (1996), Thomas S, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, U of Chicago Press 1962, 1970, 1996 Introduction: 'a new theory, however special its range of application, is seldom just an increment to what is already known. Its assimilation requires the reconstruction of prior theory and the re-evaluation of prior fact, an intrinsically revolutionary process that is seldom completed by a single man, and never overnight.' [p 7]
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Nielsen (2016), Michael A., and Isaac L Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press 2016 Review: A rigorous, comprehensive text on quantum information is timely. The study of quantum information and computation represents a particularly direct route to understanding quantum mechanics. Unlike the traditional route to quantum mechanics via Schroedinger's equation and the hydrogen atom, the study of quantum information requires no calculus, merely a knowledge of complex numbers and matrix multiplication. In addition, quantum information processing gives direct access to the traditionally advanced topics of measurement of quantum systems and decoherence.' Seth Lloyd, Department of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Nature 6876: vol 416 page 19, 7 March 2002.
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Links
Abrahamic religions - Wikipedia, Abrahamic religions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The term Abrahamic religion groups three of the major religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) together due to their historical coexistence and competition; it refers to Abraham, a figure mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Quran, and is used to show similarities between these religions and put them in contrast to Indian religions, Iranian religions, and the East Asian religions (though other religions and belief systems may refer to Abraham as well). . . . The Catholic scholar of Islam Louis Massignon stated that the phrase "Abrahamic religion" means that all these religions come from one spiritual source. The modern term comes from the plural form of a Quranic reference to dīn Ibrāhīm, 'religion of Ibrahim', Arabic form of Abraham's name. ' back |
Aquinas, Summa I, 25, 3, Is God omnipotent?, '. . . God is called omnipotent because He can do all things that are possible absolutely; which is the second way of saying a thing is possible. For a thing is said to be possible or impossible absolutely, according to the relation in which the very terms stand to one another, possible if the predicate is not incompatible with the subject, as that Socrates sits; and absolutely impossible when the predicate is altogether incompatible with the subject, as, for instance, that a man is a donkey.' back |
Aquinas, Summa, I, 22, 3, Does God have immediate providence over everything?, ' I answer that, Two things belong to providence—namely, the type of the order of things foreordained towards an end; and the execution of this order, which is called government. As regards the first of these, God has immediate providence over everything, because He has in His intellect the types of everything, even the smallest; and whatsoever causes He assigns to certain effects, He gives them the power to produce those effects. Whence it must be that He has beforehand the type of those effects in His mind. As to the second, there are certain intermediaries of God's providence; for He governs things inferior by superior, not on account of any defect in His power, but by reason of the abundance of His goodness; so that the dignity of causality is imparted even to creatures.' back |
Big Bang - Wikipedia, Big Bang - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model explaining the existence of the observable universe from the earliest known periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution. The model describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature, and offers a comprehensive explanation for a broad range of observed phenomena, including the abundance of light elements, the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, and large-scale structure. ' back |
Evolution - Wikipedia, Evolution - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, '. . . Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace were the first to formulate a scientific argument for the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. Evolution by natural selection is a process that is inferred from three facts about populations: 1) more offspring are produced than can possibly survive, 2) traits vary among individuals, leading to different rates of survival and reproduction, and 3) trait differences are heritable. . . . ' back |
Genesis I:1-4, Genesis, from the Holy Bible, King James Version, ' 1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4: And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. ' back |
Gödel's incompleteness theorems - Wikipedia, Gödel's incompleteness theorems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Gödel's incompleteness theorems are two theorems of mathematical logic that establish inherent limitations of all but the most trivial axiomatic systems capable of doing arithmetic. The theorems, proven by Kurt Gödel in 1931, are important both in mathematical logic and in the philosophy of mathematics. The two results are widely, but not universally, interpreted as showing that Hilbert's program to find a complete and consistent set of axioms for all mathematics is impossible, giving a negative answer to Hilbert's second problem. The first incompleteness theorem states that no consistent system of axioms whose theorems can be listed by an "effective procedure" (i.e., any sort of algorithm) is capable of proving all truths about the relations of the natural numbers (arithmetic). For any such system, there will always be statements about the natural numbers that are true, but that are unprovable within the system. The second incompleteness theorem, an extension of the first, shows that such a system cannot demonstrate its own consistency.' back |
Initial singularity - Wikipedia, Initial singularity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The initial singularity is a singularity predicted by some models of the Big Bang theory to have existed before the Big Bang. The instant immediately following the initial singularity is part of the Planck epoch, the earliest period of time in the history of our universe. The use of only general relativity to predict what happened in the beginnings of the Universe has been heavily criticized, as quantum mechanics becomes a significant factor in the high-energy environment of the earliest Universe, and general relativity on its own fails to make accurate predictions. Although there is no direct evidence for a singularity of infinite density, the cosmic microwave background is evidence that the universe expanded from a very hot, dense state. ' back |
Jeffrey Nicholls (1967), How universal is the universe?, ' 61 The future is beyond our comprehension, but we can get an idea of it and speed its coming by studying what we already have. Contemplating the size and wonder of the universe as it stands in the light of its openness to the future must surely be a powerful incentive to men to love God. We have come a long way since the little world of St Thomas. Ours is open to all things, even participating in god. This is what I mean by universal. ' back |
John von Neumann (2014), Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, ' Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics by John von Neumann translated from the German by Robert T. Beyer (New Edition) edited by Nicholas A. Wheeler. Princeton UP Princeton & Oxford. Preface: ' This book is the realization of my long-held intention to someday use the resources of TEX to produce a more easily read version of Robert T. Beyer’s authorized English translation (Princeton University Press, 1955) of John von Neumann’s classic Mathematische Grundlagen der Quantenmechanik (Springer, 1932).'This content downloaded from 129.127.145.240 on Sat, 30 May 2020 22:38:31 UTC back |
Laplace's demon - Wikipedia, Laplace's demon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' We may regard the present state of the universe as the effect of its past and the cause of its future. An intellect which at a certain moment would know all forces that set nature in motion, and all positions of all items of which nature is composed, if this intellect were also vast enough to submit these data to analysis, it would embrace in a single formula the movements of the greatest bodies of the universe and those of the tiniest atom; for such an intellect nothing would be uncertain and the future just like the past would be present before its eyes.' A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities, Essai philosophique dur les probabilites introduction to the second edition of Theorie analytique des probabilites based on a lecture given in 1794. back |
Particle physics - Wikipedia, Particle physics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The fundamental particles in the universe are classified in the Standard Model as fermions (matter particles) and bosons (force-carrying particles). There are three generations of fermions, although ordinary matter is made only from the first fermion generation. The first generation consists of up and down quarks which form protons and neutrons, and electrons and electron neutrinos. The three fundamental interactions known to be mediated by bosons are electromagnetism, the weak interaction, and the strong interaction.' back |
Quantum computing - Wikipedia, Quantum computing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Quantum computing began in the early 1980s, when physicist Paul Benioff proposed a quantum mechanical model of the Turing machine. Richard Feynman and Yuri Manin later suggested that a quantum computer had the potential to simulate things that a classical computer could not. In 1994, Peter Shor developed a quantum algorithm for factoring integers that had the potential to decrypt RSA-encrypted communications. Despite ongoing experimental progress since the late 1990s, most researchers believe that "fault-tolerant quantum computing [is] still a rather distant dream." ' back |
Quantum field theory - Wikipedia, Quantum field theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Quantum field theory treats particles as excited states (also called quantum levels) of their underlying quantum fields, which are more fundamental than the particles. The equation of motion of the particle is determined by minimization of the action computed for the Lagrangian, a function of fields associated with the particle. Interactions between particles are described by interaction terms in the Lagrangian involving their corresponding quantum fields. Each interaction can be visually represented by a Feynman diagram according to perturbation theory in quantum mechanics.' back |
Rolf Landauer (1999), Information is a Physical Entity, 'Abstract: This paper, associated with a broader conference talk on the fundamental physical limits of information handling, emphasizes the aspects still least appreciated. Information is not an abstract entity but exists only through a physical representation, thus tying it to all the restrictions and possibilities of our real physical universe. The mathematician's vision of an unlimited sequence of totally reliable operations is unlikely to be implementable in this real universe. Speculative remarks about the possible impact of that on the ultimate nature of the laws of physics are included.' back |
Trinity - Wikipedia, Trinity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa, and Basil the Great account for the Trinity saw that the distinctions between the three divine persons were solely in their inner divine relations. There are not three gods, God is one divine Being in three persons. Where the Cappadocian Fathers used social analogies to describe the triune nature of God, Augustine of Hippo used psychological analogy. He believed that if man is created in the image of God, he is created in the image of the Trinity. Augustine's analogy for the Trinity is the memory, intelligence, and will in the mind of a man. In short, Christians do not have to think of three persons when they think of God; they may think of one person.' back |
Undecidable problem - Wikipedia, Undecidable problem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In computability theory and computational complexity theory, an undecidable problem is a decision problem for which it is proved to be impossible to construct an algorithm that always leads to a correct yes-or-no answer. The halting problem is an example: it can be proven that there is no algorithm that correctly determines whether an arbitrary program eventually halts when run. . . . |
UNESCO Science Report 2021, Statistical Annexe, ' Some of the key findings of the UNESCO Science Report address:
Human resources in research |
Unmoved mover - Wikipedia, Unmoved mover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The unmoved mover (Ancient Greek: ὃ οὐ κινούμενον κινεῖ, lit. 'that which moves without being moved' or prime mover (Latin: primum movens) is a concept advanced by Aristotle as a primary cause (or first uncaused cause) or "mover" of all the motion in the universe. As is implicit in the name, the unmoved mover moves other things, but is not itself moved by any prior action. In Book 12 (Greek: Λ) of his Metaphysics, Aristotle describes the unmoved mover as being perfectly beautiful, indivisible, and contemplating only the perfect contemplation: self-contemplation. He equates this concept also with the active intellect. This Aristotelian concept had its roots in cosmological speculations of the earliest Greek pre-Socratic philosophers and became highly influential and widely drawn upon in medieval philosophy and theology. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, elaborated on the unmoved mover in the Quinque viae. ' back |
Vaccination - Wikipedia, Vaccination - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating the body's adaptive immunity, they help prevent sickness from an infectious disease. When a sufficiently large percentage of a population has been vaccinated, herd immunity results. back |