# Opiniesꜛ

David Deutschꜛ

  > „If anyone claims not to be surprised by the special features the universe has, he is hiding his head in the sand. These special features are surprising and unlikely.”

Stephen Hawkingꜛ (Brits astrofysicus):

  > „The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron. [‥] The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.”

  en

  > „Then we shall ‥ be able to take part in the discussion of the question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason — for then we would know the mind of God.” (A Brief History of Timeꜛ, 1988, p．175.)

Roger Penroseꜛ (wiskundige en auteur)

  > The likelihood of the universe having usable energy (low entropy) at the creation is even more astounding, namely, an accuracy of one part out of ten to the power of ten to the power of 123. This is an extraordinary figure. One could not possibly even write the number down in full, in our ordinary denary (power of ten) notation: it would be one followed by ten to the power of 123 successive zeros! (That is a million billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion zeros.)

  > Even if we were to write a zero on each separate proton and on each separate neutron in the entire universe — and we could throw in all the other particles as well for good measure — we should fall far short of writing down the figure needed. The precision needed to set the universe on its course is to be in no way inferior to all that extraordinary precision that we have already become accustomed to in the superb dynamical equations (Newton's, Maxwell's, Einstein's) which govern the behavior of things from moment to moment.

  Een ander citaat:

  > „I would say the universe has a purpose. It's not there just somehow by chance.” (1992, A Brief History of Time (movie)ꜛ. Burbank, CA, Paramount Pictures, Inc.)

Sir Martin Reesꜛ:

  > „Wherever physicists look, they see examples of fine-tuning.”

((Te doen.))

Jim Holtꜛ. 1997. Science Resurrects Godꜛ. The Wall Street Journal (December 24, 1997), Dow Jones & Co., Inc.
Fred Hoyleꜛ (British astrophysicist)
  „A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintellect has monkeyed with physics, as well as with chemistry and biology, and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. The numbers one calculates from the facts seem to me so overwhelming as to put this conclusion almost beyond question.”
  Hoyle, 1982. The Universe: Past and Present Reflectionsꜛ. Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics: 20:16.
George F．R．Ellisꜛ (British astrophysicist)
  „Amazing fine tuning occurs in the laws that make this [complexity] possible. Realization of the complexity of what is accomplished makes it very difficult not to use the word ‘miraculous’ without taking a stand as to the ontological status of the word.”
  Ellis, 1993. The Anthropic Principle: Laws and Environmentsꜛ. The Anthropic Principle, F．Bertola and U．Curi, ed．New York, Cambridge University Press, p．30.
Paul Daviesꜛ (British astrophysicist)
  „There is for me powerful evidence that there is something going on behind it all‥ It seems as though somebody has fine-tuned nature's numbers to make the Universe‥ The impression of design is overwhelming”.
  Davies, 1988. The Cosmic Blueprint: New Discoveries in Nature's Creative Ability To Order the Universeꜛ. New York: Simon and Schuster, p.203.
  „The laws [of physics] ‥ seem to be the product of exceedingly ingenious design‥ The universe must have a purpose”.
  Davies 1984. Superforce: The Search for a Grand Unified Theory of Natureꜛ. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984), p．243.
Alan Sandageꜛ (winner of the Crawford prize in astronomy)
  „I find it quite improbable that such order came out of chaos. There has to be some organizing principle. God to me is a mystery but is the explanation for the miracle of existence, why there is something instead of nothing.”
  Willford, J．N．March 12, 1991. Sizing up the Cosmos: An Astronomers Questꜛ. New York Times, p．B9.
John O'Keefeꜛ (astronomer at NASA)
  „We are, by astronomical standards, a pampered, cosseted, cherished group of creatures‥ If the Universe had not been made with the most exacting precision we could never have come into existence. It is my view that these circumstances indicate the universe was created for man to live in.”
  Heeren, F．1995. Show Me Godꜛ. Wheeling, IL, Searchlight Publications, p．200.
George Greensteinꜛ (astronomer)
  „As we survey all the evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural agency — or, rather, Agency — must be involved. Is it possible that suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific proof of the existence of a Supreme Being? Was it God who stepped in and so providentially crafted the cosmos for our benefit?”
  Greenstein, G．1988. The Symbiotic Universeꜛ. New York: William Morrow, p.27.
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddingtonꜛ (astrophysicist)
  „The idea of a universal mind or Logos would be, I think, a fairly plausible inference from the present state of scientific theory.”
  Heeren, F．1995. Show Me God. Wheeling, IL, Searchlight Publications, p．233.
Arno Penziasꜛ (Nobel prize in physics)
  „Astronomy leads us to a unique event, a universe which was created out of nothing, one with the very delicate balance needed to provide exactly the conditions required to permit life, and one which has an underlying (one might say ‘supernatural’) plan.”
  Margenau, H and R．A．Varghese, ed．1992. Cosmos, Bios, and Theos. La Salle, IL, Open Court, p．83.
Tony Rothmanꜛ (physicist)
  „When confronted with the order and beauty of the universe and the strange coincidences of nature, it's very tempting to take the leap of faith from science into religion. I am sure many physicists want to. I only wish they would admit it.”
  Casti, J．L．1989. Paradigms Lostꜛ. New York, Avon Books, p．482-483.
Vera Kistiakowskyꜛ (MIT physicist)
  „The exquisite order displayed by our scientific understanding of the physical world calls for the divine.”
  Margenau, H and R．A．Varghese, ed．1992. Cosmos, Bios, and Theos. La Salle, IL, Open Court, p．52.
Robert Jastrowꜛ (self-proclaimed agnostic)
  „For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.”
  Jastrow, R．1978. God and the Astronomersꜛ. New York, W．W．Norton, p．116.
Frank Tiplerꜛ (Professor of Mathematical Physics)
  „When I began my career as a cosmologist some twenty years ago, I was a convinced atheist. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I would be writing a book purporting to show that the central claims of Judeo-Christian theology are in fact true, that these claims are straightforward deductions of the laws of physics as we now understand them. I have been forced into these conclusions by the inexorable logic of my own special branch of physics.”
  Tipler, F．J．1994. The Physics Of Immortalityꜛ. New York, Doubleday, Preface.
  Note: Tipler heeft zich inmiddels inderdaad bekeerd tot het Christendom, vandaar de titel van zijn laatste boek: The Physics Of Christianity.
  „From the perspective of the latest physical theories, Christianity is not a mere religion, but an experimentally testable science.”
  Tipler, F．J．2007. The Physics Of Christianityꜛ. New York, Doubleday.
Alexander Polyakovꜛ (Soviet mathematician)
  „We know that nature is described by the best of all possible mathematics because God created it.”
  Gannes, S．October 13, 1986. Fortune．p．57
Ed Harrisonꜛ (cosmologist)
  „Here is the cosmological proof of the existence of God — the design argument of Paley — updated and refurbished. The fine tuning of the universe provides prima facie evidence of deistic design. Take your choice: blind chance that requires multitudes of universes or design that requires only one‥ Many scientists, when they admit their views, incline toward the teleological or design argument.”
  Harrison, E．1985. Masks of the Universeꜛ. New York, Collier Books, Macmillan, pp．252, 263.
Edward Milneꜛ (British cosmologist)
  „As to the cause of the Universe, in context of expansion, that is left for the reader to insert, but our picture is incomplete without Him [God].”
  Heeren, F．1995. Show Me God. Wheeling, IL, Searchlight Publications, p．166-167.
Barry Parkerꜛ (cosmologist)
  „Who created these laws? There is no question but that a God will always be needed.”
  Heeren, F．1995. Show Me God. Wheeling, IL, Searchlight Publications, p．223.
Drs．I．Zehaviꜛ, and A．Dekelꜛ (cosmologists)
  „This type of universe, however, seems to require a degree of fine tuning of the initial conditions that is in apparent conflict with ‘common wisdom’.”
  Zehavi, I．and A．Dekel. 1999. Evidence for a positive cosmological constant from flows of galaxies and distant supernovaeꜛ Nature 401: p．252-254.
Arthur L．Schawlowꜛ (Professor of Physics at Stanford University, 1981 Nobel Prize in physics)
  „It seems to me that when confronted with the marvels of life and the universe, one must ask why and not just how. The only possible answers are religious‥ I find a need for God in the universe and in my own life.”
  Margenau, H．and R．A．Varghese, eds．Cosmos, Bios, Theos: Scientists Reflect on Science, God, and the Origins of the Universe, Life, and Homo Sapiensꜛ (Open Court Pub．Co., La Salle, IL, 1992).
Henry „Fritz” Schaeferꜛ (Graham Perdue Professor of Chemistry and director of the Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry at the University of Georgia)
  „The significance and joy in my science comes in those occasional moments of discovering something new and saying to myself, ‘So that's how God did it.’ My goal is to understand a little corner of God's plan.”
  Sheler, J．L．and J．M．Schrof, „The Creation”ꜛ, U.S．News & World Report (December 23, 1991):56-64.
Werner von Braunꜛ (Pioneer rocket engineer)
  „I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.”
  McIver, T．1986. Ancient Tales and Space-Age Myths of Creationist Evangelismꜛ. The Skeptical Inquirer 10:258-276.
Carl Woeseꜛ (microbiologist from the University of Illinois)
  „Life in Universe — rare or unique? I walk both sides of that street. One day I can say that given the 100 billion stars in our galaxy and the 100 billion or more galaxies, there have to be some planets that formed and evolved in ways very, very like the Earth has, and so would contain microbial life at least. There are other days when I say that the anthropic principle, which makes this universe a special one out of an uncountably large number of universes, may not apply only to that aspect of nature we define in the realm of physics, but may extend to chemistry and biology. In that case life on Earth could be entirely unique.”
  Mullen, L．2001. The Three Domains of Lifeꜛ from SpaceDaily.com
Atheist Becomes Theist: Exclusive Interview with Former Atheist Antony Flew at Biola Universityꜛ (PDF version).