ignarus semino dominatus: April 2016

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Just one thing is clear to me
There's always more than what appears to be
When the light's just right
I swear I see, yeah man it's poetry

But somebody made every thing
From the soul, inside out to Saturn's rings
How my baby smiles and how Ray Charles sings
Of course we were created

Excerpt from ‘Poetry’ – Walt Wilkins

The excerpt above is to give proper credit to the title of this article. Of course Walt is an artist so who knows, if he read my blog, he may ask me to take it down! It’s a beautiful song and an intriguing lyric. To me, all my life I’ve known that there is a God. I struggled in my youth with religion, but never with the belief in God; more than just a ‘momentary’ agnostic investigation into ‘evolution’ and the whole Darwin-worship. Getting my degree in Architecture only strengthened my resolve on the issue. As a designer I recognize design. Who can watch a butterfly emerge from a cacoon and not believe in creation? Life, chemistry, physics, the miracle of liquid water and the fascination of light’s numerous properties are all indications of design to those who care to see them.

I understand a scientist’s desire to base conclusions only on documentable evidence, as it should be; however, there are statistical reasons to believe that The Standard Model for example can only occur through design and not happenstance. A wonderful irony of many scientific disciplines, but particularly Physics, today is that many of the great advances have come from a desire to find a way to explain life without a creator. As can be expected though, each new discovery tends to eventually create considerably more questions than answers. The so-called Big Bang Theory itself only begs the question, “Where did all of the matter existing in the universe that was compressed into that minute spec come from the moment before said ‘bang’?” Do not misunderstand, I love and support the scientific search for proof of life from nothing. Their efforts to date have done more to prove the existence of God than the opposite.

The question on the minds of almost every human on the planet is this: Is Life unique to planet Earth in the entire vastness of the universe (or multi-verse if String Theory is your thang)? First all for the purpose of this discussion we must limit the term ‘Life’ to carbon based life such as we know, and particularly sentient life such as Man.

We will not answer the question here, but let us narrow down the possibilities.

The following is required for life on Earth to exist:

· A star closely similar to our Sun. Not just any star will support life. It must be a late born star in a spiral galaxy. It’s complicated but for the essential elemental chemistry to form this is required. Only a small percentage of stars in the known universe fit this model.

· This star must be in a particular place within the spiral galaxy. Too close to center or edge; no life.

· The star must have been created within the proximity of a white dwarf/’normal’ star binary that produces Flourine. The gravitational forces must be just so, to blast the Flourine into space rather than just burning it up. Too complicated to put down here, but very rare.

· The planet orbiting the star must be within a small distance window from the star. Too close or too far and no life.

· The solar system requires a Jupiter like giant 5 times more distant from the star than the planet. Too close and it’s gravity upsets the balance for the planet; too far and it doesn’t shield the planet from the ‘trash’ around the star (comets, asteroids etc.)

· The perfect moon. The moon must be large enough to maintain it’s orbital stability while fixing the planets rotational axis at 23 ½ degrees. For instance Mars’ rotational axis varies from 0-60 degrees and flips around.

· The moon also is perfect for our predictable tides; also necessary for Life.

· The planet must have a molten iron core producing the protective magnetic protection from the stars radiation.

· Plate tectonics. Also complicated but necessary and finely tuned. Too many earthquakes no life. Too few earthquakes no life. Same with volcanoes; the number and timing of explosions is finely tuned for Life to be possible.

· Earth’s rotation must be just so; too fast too many tornadoes and hurricanes, too slow and it gets too cold at night and hot during the day. 20 hour days; no Life. 28 hour days; no Life. 24 hours for now and perfect for Life. It is slowing down by the way so in a billion years or so we can all kiss it goodbye.

· At a more fundamental level; the molecular weight of Methane is 16, Ammonia’s is 17 and Water is 18; therefore we keep lots of water but no Methane or Ammonia. If it weren’t so; no Life. The properties of liquid water are way too deep to go into here but I urge you to explore. It is fascinating...and vital to Life!

· Mass of the Universe acts as a catalyst for nuclear fusion. Too much mass, too much density, then all matter is converted from Hydrogen into elements heavier than iron; no Life. Too little mass and inefficient fusion would produce only Hydrogen and maybe Helium; no Oxygen or Carbon therefore, no Life.

· The universe must be electrically neutral or electromagnetism will dominate and stars or planets will never form. This equality must be within one part to 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. That’s 10 to the 37^th power.

· The strength of Gravity must be within 10 to the 40^th power weaker than the force of electromagnetism. While necessarily being the weakest force; Gravity must be dominant or planets and stars would not form.

· The neutron must be within 1/10^th of 1% more massive than we know or so many neutrons would be made that the universe would collapse into neutron stars and black holes.

This is not a comprehensive list. The number of things that must be just so for Life to exist is staggering. It explains why this indeed may be the only place in the universe where Life exists. Why such a vast universe then? As explained above the mass of the universe must be just so for all of the laws of physics to produce the elements required for life; then there must be a star and a planet and a solar system within all of this mass that is just so as to produce the test tube for Life to exist.

To wrap it up; the circumstances necessary for the creation of fundamental elements essential to Life are themselves astronomically improbable. AFTER that, the circumstances that allow those elements to combine into sustainable Life are again astronomical. AFTER that, that Life would then become sentient, self-aware, capable of creativity is so far beyond human understanding as to be impossible…and yet here you are, reading this article, considering the value and objectivity of every word, making a rational decision that you alone will hold in your own special understanding. The statistical improbability of Life makes the search for same somewhat futile. As the late Senator Proxmire of Wisconsin so presciently noted, “It’s hard enough to find intelligent life right here in Washington!”

What’s the point you may ask? Perhaps the vastness of the universe and the innate desire of Man to explore said universe and necessarily ask, “Is there other life out there?” will be the actual driving force to Man’s eventual understanding that indeed ‘Of Course We Are Created!’ On that day, Man will begin to live as God intended; loving, respectful and reverent to our wholy unique existence in all of eternal space. Only then may we begin to view our treatment of our fellow Man in the proper perspective.