Why I think scientists and atheists shouldn’t say there can’t be a God or that there definitely isn’t one.

Introduction:

One thing that religious people often say is ‘There just has to be a creator’. Atheists will be quick to point out that this isn’t technically true. But some atheists commit the same mistake when they (sometimes proudly) proclaim that their is no god or that nothing happens after we die besides us going into the ground and our bodies getting eaten by insects.

The real truth is more than likely, nobody, religious or otherwise really knows in an empirical, objective sense whether or not there is or isn’t a creator. This is because God, at least by some definitions falls outside of the domain of science because God is often thought to reside outside of space and time i.e. God is not made up of matter or energy.

One argument from atheists that I used to agree with on the unlikelihood of the God or gods of our religions being real is the Human centric idea that God created the entire universe for us: ‘why would God create a universe 46 billion light years in diameter just for one tiny species on one insignificant planet in one insignificant corner of one insignificant galaxy? The universe is so so vast and has existed for so long before life on earth came along let alone humans, it just doesn’t make sense!’

And this is where I would argue…

It’s all about perspective.

In a discussion between Neil deGrasse Tyson and Richard Dawkins in the video linked here, Dr Tyson explores the idea that humans might not actually be as intelligent as we like to think. Arguing, by what measure do we call ourselves intelligent? If we say that the variables that determine intelligence are found in our genes then look at the genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees our closest relatives.

There is roughly a 1-2% difference in the genomes of humans and chimps. It could therefore be said that humans are effectively 1-2% more intelligent than chimps or that the difference in intelligences between the two species are as small as the differences in our DNA. All of the advancements that humans have made, agriculture, civilisation, the industrial age, the technological age, can be found in that 2% difference.

The most intelligent chimpanzees on the planet are comparable in intelligence to our toddlers!

Well, lets explore this in the other direction, he continues. Suppose we were to meet a life form, alien or otherwise, that was 1-2% more intelligent than us. The brightest minds in human history would be comparable in intelligence to their toddlers. They would for example take Stephen Hawking (if he was still alive) and show him to others saying “This one is slightly smarter than the others, he can do astrophysics calculations in his head. Just like little Timmy over here!” Pointing to one of their toddlers.

Things we consider to be the greatest mysteries of the universe could be trivial everyday knowledge to them.

In a similar fashion, I would argue that saying the size and age of the universe makes it unlikely that it ‘could’ have been created for us is a similar mistake to proclaiming that we are highly intelligent beings, relative to any potential life elswhere in the universe.

The universe is vast and old, according to our perspective. If it was created say for example as a simulation by a game designer far into our future, this entire universe and it’s timeline might only take up a few terabytes¹ of space on a disk, in a server that might have thousands or millions of times more space on them.

To such a designer or perhaps a company to conclude the analogy, our entire universe and everything humanity has ever known would be tiny!

It could be for another example part of a simulation experiment to see how long a universe takes on average to evolve complex life in which case the 11 Billion or so years that passed before simple life evolved on earth would absolutely not be a waste. In fact, it’s likely such an experiment would require multiple simulated universes each existing for varying degrees of time (time of course being sped up in the simulations relative to the scientists) before they evolved any life.

There already are created universes (yes in the plural):

There are already entire universes that have been created by game designers that include multiple galaxies or at least multiple solar systams for people to explore. In these universes there are planets with both plant and animal life on them.

Yes these universes and worlds are not as complex or realistic as ours but consider for a moment, that if the beings in these simulated worlds had the capacity for self awareness, they would see themselves and their universes as being just as real to them as we do with our universe.

Off course, all of these examples are purely hypothetical but the rationality still stands. It’s not, in my opinion, technically correct to say matter of factly that there is not or can be no such thing as a creator. I think it’s important to point out that I’m in no way saying that this increases the probability that there is one (as after all there is an important difference between the meanings of the terms probability and possibility).

That I believe is something no one knows and that quite possibly, something that no one may ever know at least until after death.

The multiverse hypothesis:

For example, another alternative hypothesis is that our universe could simply be one in an infinite number of universes that have been born and died repeatedly since eternity.

Before our universe there may simply have just been another universe, and before that, another, going back again and again without end. This, to me is something that is equally as possible as an origional creator who exists without any begining.

Another hypotheses I’ve heard of is that black holes could be part of the process that spawns new universes, so each black hole, as it tears through the fabric of spacetime, could spit out on it’s other side, the elements required to form a brand new universe. This could be another way that our universe came into existance from a black hole in another universe.

The possibilities are endless and until we have definitive proof as to the existance or non-existance of any creator/s we can’t rule them out as a possibility.

And as it’s unlikely or perhaps even impossible to prove or disprove the existance of any kind of ultimate creator it’s something we may never be able to take off the table.

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