Origins Don’t Matter              [email-masked]    8/6/05

“MANKIND AT THE CROSSROADS?”

This was a common phrase in literature of the 1960’s.  In 2005 we are no longer at the crossroads.  We have crossed the road.  We have chosen, by default, the road ahead.  It leads straight to

A GLOBAL BIOTIC CRISIS::

Pandemics,  Wars,  Climate change,  Economic disruption

IN THE NEAR FUTURE ALL LARGE ANIMALS WILL BE EITHER DOMESTICATED FOR FOOD OR EXTINCT.

The rapid rate of die-off of species is especially the case for large mammals on land and sea.  They cannot withstand the human onslaught.

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN HOW TO LIVE IN THE DESERT.

It is likely that they, or their children, will.

IRONIES OF OUR TIME

IRONY 1:

Wars and rumors of wars elsewhere, but peace and stability in our time and place; many species are dying off, but we still have food to eat;
Explanation: THE TIME SCALE OF GLOBAL CHANGE IS STEALTHY.

IRONY 2:

Just when the fundamental nature of life is discovered, viruses appear that cannot be stopped.  We now know the cause, but we are as powerless as the Medievals to do anything about it.
Explanation: WE ALL FLUNKED BIOLOGY.

IRONY 3:

Just when we find the means to solve the energy crisis, the solutions are least accepted by societies.
Explanation: “CHANGE IS BAD”.  People in the developed world have vested interests in the status quo; people in the undeveloped world are unable to adapt to new technologies fast enough.

IRONY 4:

Just when deep time and space are discovered, their existence is least relevant to the crisis happening on earth.
Explanation:  WE NOW KNOW THAT SPACE IS BIG ENOUGH TO PROTECT THE EARTH FROM ASTRONOMICAL THREATS IN THE NEAR TERM.

THIS IS AN EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

ASK YOURSELF: DO MY BELIEFS MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE IN SOLVING THE PRACTICAL PROBLEMS OF THE WORLD?

THEORIES ABOUT ORIGINS DO NOT QUALIFY.

WHY?

The “Origin Determines Destiny” thesis is false.

What is the Origin Determines Destiny thesis?

Weak form:

“If evolution can explain the origin and development of this universe and its inhabitants, then there is no need for any kind of personal God at all.  “For what a man believes about ultimate origins and about God’s revelation concerning creation will inevitably affect his beliefs concerning destinies and purposes.”

-- Henry Morris, The Twilight of Evolution, 1963

Strong form:

“Ultimate origins inevitably affect destinies and purposes.”

The strong form of the Origin Determines Destiny thesis is an expression of physical determinism.  It says that persons cannot rise above their origins; their future is determined, constrained, limited by their past.  Not by the near-term conditions, but by initial conditions in the past.  Whether the past is 10,000 years or 10 billion years makes no difference; the thesis is that all our knowledge, including future options, must be based on what happened in the past.

Reasons why origins don't matter:

The Origin Determines Destiny thesis is a form of the naturalistic fallacy: attempting to draw a conclusion about how things ought to be based solely on information about how things are in fact. The conclusion may be about moral duties or about ideal states of affairs; but the unstated (and false) premise is that we must always accept things as they are.

The Origin is Destiny thesis is not necessarily so.  Particular destiny beliefs do not follow by necessity from particular origin beliefs.  And regarding the strong form, particular actual origins do not necessarily lead to particular destinies. The Origin is Destiny Thesis is a non sequitur.

The underlying philosophy that insists on starting with origins is reductionistic and materialistic, whether it comes from the left (Darwinism) or right (Creationism, Intelligent Design). By focusing so much attention on origins, we are trapped in the past and are distracted from seeing clearly the signs of the times in which we are living now.

Affirmatively, we can rise above our origins.  We do it all the time.  Life is not analogous to Schaeffer's alpine lake that cannot rise above its source.   “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation.  The old has passed away, behold: the new has come!”  (I Cor. 5:17)

Life is not like a watch or any other kind of deterministic machine. Life, like computer networks, operates in a series of “levels”.  What is going on at higher levels is not determined by what is going on at lower levels.  This is the principle of Gratuity: it shows why, biologically, "origins" are irrelevant.

There are many working models of top-down design that don’t involve an “intelligent designer”: the brain; group velocity; the B-Z reaction; Holland's "Hidden Order"; Kaufmann's and Gell-Mann’s complex adaptive systems; Brian Arthur's idea of diminishing returns, emergent economic systems, genetic algorithms, neural networks etc. (Complexity theory).

Kierkegaard was the first philosopher to recognize the fallacy in prior philosophy, in which it was presumed that theoretical thought was able to apprehend God.  Likewise today, Creationism and ID presume that the “designer” is God.  Scientism presumes that by explaining things scientifically, God’s existence is disproved.  Both views are fallacious.

Anthropology is the most frustrating science: Anthropos always tends to erase his tracks (by killing off older cultures and melting down their artifacts).  James Houston's comment: dead bones tell us little about living persons -- their beliefs, their goals, their aspirations.  We don’t know enough of the relevant facts to describe human origins sufficiently to use this as a basis for guiding our future choices.

Genesis is extremely terse in describing life before the Fall.   This text, even if it is believed to be revealed, has been  interpreted in many different ways by various Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars over the centuries.

There is a huge incommensurability between human time, measured in hours and days and years,  and scientific times, measured in nanoseconds and billions of years.   Humans cannot detect events at these time scales.   Physics describes time simply as a dimension, a length.  This has little to do with the actual way in which we experience time, as past, present, and future.  Free will and consciousness are also part of the human, but not scientific description of life.

As knowledge grows, ignorance grows too (Leadbeater, The Weightless Society).  We need an anti-information system.  We have no idea what discoveries await us, especially in biology.

IRONIES OF THEORETICAL THOUGHT:

IRONY 1:

The “Origin Determines Destiny” thesis has been embraced by both young-earth creationists (Morris) and leading evolutionists (e.g. Wilson, Dawkins).   Not to mention Marxists, etc.

IRONY 2:

The relativist notion that both creation and evolution are based on religious presuppositions is taught by both young-earth creationists (e.g. Morris) and postmodernists (e.g. Kuhn).

IRONY 3:

Although they may sincerely claim to defend and demonstrate the existence of God, none of the theories can lead anyone to a personal faith in the God of Jesus Christ, only to an idol of human pride (Kierkegaard).

WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

First ask: What should we stop doing?

No. 1 on this list: “LET GO” OF THE PAST.

STOP PROMOTING AND DEBATING VIEWS OF CREATION, EVOLUTION, AND INTELLIGENT DESIGN.

WHY? Because theories of origins of are no use to us now, in light of the global biotic crisis.

INSTEAD OF THIS ENDLESS DEBATE, declare a truce, suspend judgment and emphasize our common agreement that

MICROEVOLUTION IS SUFFICIENT to explain what is going on in the near term.  This is a point on which YECs, IDers, and evolutionists can agree now!

mi·cro·evo·lu·tion
Function: noun
: comparatively minor evolutionary change involving the accumulation of variations in populations usually below the species level.

Source: Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.

The Avian Flu Virus H5N1 is microevolving right now.  It is mutating and spreading, as are other viruses.  This is a part of the Global Biotic Crisis in the near term.  It is important that the global public understands how this happens, and how to prevent it.

PROMOTE MICROEVOLUTION IN SCHOOLS.  PUT IT IN THE TEXTBOOKS.  CREATE LAB DEMONSTRATIONS.

EMBRACE THE FUTURE

ASK: WHAT IS OUR STRATEGY TO SOLVE THE MOST URGENT PROBLEMS OF THE WORLD?

FIRST CONSIDER: WHAT IS URGENT?  WHAT TIME HORIZON SHOULD WE BE PLANNING FOR?

The near term (1 to 100 years) is the only term in which we can make a difference in the world!

Educators, scientists and scholars must focus on the near-term, nearby Global Biotic Crisis.

A Litmus Test of Beliefs

Try this:

Make a list of all the problems in the world.

Now ask, for which of these problems is your belief a direct solution?

GOD IS IN THE FUTURE AS MUCH AS IN THE PAST.  SO THEOLOGY AND SCIENCE SHOULD LOOK FORWARD AS MUCH AS THEY LOOK INTO THE PAST.

“The kingdom above or the darkness below . . . it is for us to choose."  -- Monod