OOU.BRF

  ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE: EVIDENCE FOR DESIGN?
  Edited by John M. Robson, F.R.S.C. McGill-Queen's University Press,
  Kingston and Montreal, 1987. 297 pages, indexes. Available in paperback
  as ISBN 0-7735-0618-7.

  The sixteen papers in this book originated in a Symposium at McGill
  University, May 30 - June 1, 1985, which was sponsored by the Royal
  Society of Canada. An Introduction is provided by the originator of the
  symposium, Alan H. Batten.

  It must have been a marvelous two days, the papers published here are a
  treasure of both scientific and philosophical thoughts on the many-fold
  questions of origins.  The volume is recommended as a highly useful
  addition to the library of anyone interested in pursuing these questions
  in depth. The "fiat creationist" will find much to challenge his
  thinking; persons of the opposite thinking likewise.

  A "review" of sixteen papers, even on a common theme, is difficult to do
  without bringing to the review one's own predispositions and biases.  I
  shall do so here, by simply listing each title, and extracting one or
  more quotations from most, allowing each author, to some degree, to
  speak for himself. To the extent my own partiality enters into the
  quotation selections, I apologize; I have tried to be objective.

  Alan H. Batten. INTRODUCTION.

  "... we have seen the growth of the theory of evolution and of physical
  cosmology ... the 'why?' of each of these two subjects is so
  inextricably bound with the respective 'how?' that it must be almost
  impossible to study either and to remain neutral about the existence of
  a final cause. ... we must face this question."

  Robert H. Haynes. THE 'PURPOSE' OF CHANCE IN LIGHT OF THE PHYSICAL BASIS
  OF EVOLUTION.

  "The universe and its parts ... have been compared often with machines.
  ... To me at least, a more apt metaphor is provided by a game of chance,
  played out on a vast ... wheel of fortune. ... We sentient beings are
  the only players known to us who also are observers. ... with
  self-consciousness there has come also a deep psychic need to impute ...
  purpose ... Unfortunately, it is irrational to ask why the universe
  exists, because it is impossible logically to obtain an answer: ... "

  Barry W. Glickman. THE GENE SEEMED AS INACCESSIBLE AS THE MATERIALS OF
  THE GALAXIES.

  "We are at the edge of a fundamental revolution.  The species barriers
  have been crossed.  ... We are assembling the tools with which we can
  alter the flow of evolution."

  W. Ford Doolittle. FROM SELFISH DNA TO GAIA: ONE MOLECULAR BIOLOGIST'S
  VIEW OF THE EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS.

  Easily (to this reviewer) the high point of the set.  The following
  quotations cannot do this work justice; they but point to a work that
  ought to be widely read and discussed.

  "I am an amateur: the best I can do is present those metaphysical
  attitudes ... and to outline a way of thinking which might get us out of
  the ... pit."
  "Faith ... derives from experience, not from the exercise of reason.
  Thus, I guess that I do not believe that science will reveal any gaps
  through which God will appear to convince the non-believer. Like many
  scientists, however, I often have too much faith in the explanatory
  power of the scientific method."

  P. J. E. Peebles. THE LARGE-SCALE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE.

  "... the ratio of successes to puzzles is uncomfortably small in
  cosmology, a sign of the immaturity of the subject."
  "The existence of curious regularities per se is nothing new. ... The
  specific regularities of cosmology are beneficial to our form of life,
  but I do not see how we can attach deep meaning to this inference until
  we have some idea of how many forms of life nature can come up with."

  Michael W. Ovenden. OF STARS, PLANETS, AND LIFE.

  "... we find that ... any order that we find is at least in part a
  reflection of our own state of mind."
  "To understand something, the knower himself must have made it. In
  seeking evidence for design in the universe, are we simply holding a
  mirror up to nature in a pointless exercise in narcissism? I think not
  ... ."

  W. G. Unruh. IS THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE NATURAL?

  "... it is extremely dangerous to use the special structures that we see
  around us in the universe as an argument for the existence of God."
  "We should never forget (however) that a rational analysis of the world
  is a human endeavor.  ... it is not necessarily the only possible way of
  looking at the world."

  Ian Hacking. COINCIDENCES: MUNDANE AND COSMOLOGICAL.

  Excellent discussion of probability; the two ways to think of it, in
  connection with the symposium theme.

  Jean-Paul Audet. DIRECTIONALITE, INTENTIONNALITE, ET ANALOGIE DANS
  L'APPROCHE DE L'UNIVERS

  Entirely in French; no English translation.

  James E. Lovelock. THE ECOPOIESIS OF DAISY WORLD.

  Argues the Gaia hypothesis; life regulates the terrestrial system for
  its own advantage.

  Jan Viezer. THE EARTH AND ITS LIFE: GEOLOGIC RECORD OF INTERACTIONS AND
  CONTROLS.

  A contrasting view to Gaia. "Life is constrained by limits ... life
  exerts substantial modulating influence and acts as a catalyst."

  Digby J. McLaren. AN ANTHROPOCENTRIC VIEW OF THE UNIVERSE: EVIDENCE FROM
  GEOLOGY.

  Discusses, among other topics, the similarity of Gosse's hypothesis
  (fiat creation of all that is, in a state of showing a historical
  development that never happened) with the postulates of infinite
  universes, all governed by chance.

  Richard Swinburne. THE ORIGIN OF CONSCIOUSNESS.

  Argues that properties and events are either physical or mental. Argues
  that science cannot fully explain the evolution of a mental life. Paper
  is based on Swinburne's book, THE EVOLUTION OF THE SOUL. Oxford:
  Clarendon Press, 1968.

  Doreen Kimura. THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION.

  "... there is no strong reason to believe that our present abilities are
  totally different in kind, either from our hominid ancestors, or our
  great-ape cousins. ... Wonderful as such abilities are, they present no
  insuperable difficulties for a non-design explanation."

  Hugo Meynell. MORE GAPS FOR GOD?.

  Second-most useful paper in this book. In the tradition of C.S. Lewis.
  "... there is a 'fit' between the overall nature and structure of the
  world and our mental processes; and the best explanation ... is that the
  world comes about through something analogous to our minds, which wills
  the world-order... ."

  Ravi Ravindra. IN THE BEGINNING IS THE DANCE OF LOVE.

  "... there is more to the universe and to knowledge ... than is
  encountered in physical cosmology; .. there are dimensions ... of being
  other than in time ... ."

  Terrence Penelhum. SCIENCE, DESIGN. AND AMBIGUITY: CONCLUDING
  REFLECTIONS.

  "Either you decide you live in a world governed by God, or you do decide
  you do not. One true thing in theological existentialism is Pascal's
  assertion that not deciding is equivalent to deciding negatively. If you
  decide positively, the intellectual costs are substantial: you have all
  the painful mysteries that do not fit easily ... . If you decide
  negatively, the costs are substantial too: you have the relative
  austerity and lack of explanatory richness and depth in a world where
  science confronts you with sheer chance."

  Review end. John W. Burgeson, Compuserve 73531,1501