I.D. & Isaac Newton

ED: Isaac Newton wrote that he believed God
occasionaly intervened miraculously to set the planets
right in their orbits, i.e., to correct cases of minor
perturbations.

Apparently Newton was aware that sometimes two or more
planets might be circling the sun and pass relatively
near each other, influencing each other
gravitationally, pulling each other's 3-D orbits out
of whack slightly, and that could add up over time. So
Newton pictured God as intervening from time to time
to keep his perfect celestial clock running smoothly,
correcting such minor perturbations.

Today, astronomers no longer invoke "God" to restore
orbital perturbations. Neither do they invoke "God" to
explain how all the elements continue to rise out of
fusing simple hydrogen atoms (a reaction that occurs
inside stars via fusion, with the heaviest elements
being created during novas).

In fact, today's astronomers speak in terms of a messy
astronomical past filled with orbital perturbations,
and also speak in terms of a treacherous future filled
with bleak possibilities for our planet and/or solar
system:

Articles from New Scientist

"Birth of the planets: The Earth and its fellow
planets may be survivors from a time when planets
ricocheted around the Sun like ball bearings on a
pinball table" 24 August 1991 issue 1783

"Jupiter drifted towards sun in its youth" The giant
planet drifted tens of millions of kilometres towards
the sun in its youth, a new study suggests, perhaps
even helping to form the Earth. 26 September 2004

"Wandering Jupiter took trek towards the sun" 25
September 2004

"Planet formation is violent, slow and messy" A new
view of planet formation is revealed by observations
of nearby stars - it suggests Earth-like planets might
be common. 19 October 2004

"Did a planetary wobble kill the dinosaurs?"... A
wobble in Mercury's orbit could have wiped out the
dinosaurs...to see when the next potentially
catastrophic planetary wobble will be...
www.newscientist.com/channel/life/dinosaurs/dn931

"New moons suggest brutal beginnings" Five new moons
circling Neptune, and two tiny moons newly discovered
around Saturn hint at violent pasts 18 August 2004

Or a nearby star could go nova, or simply pass near
our sun. Also, there's the fact that hundreds of
asteroids cross the earth's orbital path each year.

So we live with far more uncertainty than Newton did.
Even our genes apparently have undergone loads of
perturbations due to mutation-facilitating ALU
sequences, according to this week's news. ("Scientists
track 'stealth' DNA elements in primate evolution"
02 May 2005)

Not to mention living with the knowledge of other
kinds of perturbations, like several major (and many
minor) periods of extinction in the past.

Not to mention the fact that a third to a half of all
fertilized human eggs simply don't survive. Even of
those humans who get to emerge living from the womb,
half of them used to die by age seven (according to
Buffon, writing 200+ years ago).

In nature some species lay several thousand eggs, that
vast majority of which don't survive. Plant seeds face
a similar rate of death. Some bacteria divide so fast
that they could fill the oceans and land in a few
days, but their death rate is likewise enormous.

My observation is simply that given all we know,
above, natural selection is an obvious hypothesis.
Each organism is tested by nature beginning with pre-
fertilization "sperm wars," then during the zygote and
early embryogenesis stages when a third to a half of
them all don't survive, and there's the missing twin
syndrome later on in pregnancy, a quite common
failing, such that perhaps 30% of all single births
were once twins in the womb, and then after birth
during childhood more testing from mother nature takes
place with a large childhood mortality rate (which if
you survive that test, your odds of surviving to old
age are greatly enhanced), all the way up to
adolsecence when human beings begin another breeding
cycle, and then social and sexual selection plays a
further testing role. Such a rigorous testing plan
occurs throughout nature for every individual of every
species. THAT'S HOW NATURE'S PERTURBATIONS" ARE DEALT
WITH--NOT BY "GOD" STEPPING IN MIRACULOUSLY TO
"CORRECT" THINGS. If that is not "selection" of some
sort then what is it?

And if this process selects out the deleterious
mutations, then doesn't that also mean that it also
"selects-in" the beneficial mutations that make a
healthy life and sexual reproduction more likely next
time? (Just think of it this way--When a Christian
sportperson crosses themselves and prays silently that
their side "scores a touchdown," or "makes a basket,"
or "gets a hit" and "wins," then aren't they also
praying that the other side loses? Such things work
both ways.)

Just a thought.

Ed

-------------

--- Iain Strachan <igd.strachan@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 4/27/05, Carol or John Burgeson
> <burgytwo@juno.com> wrote:
> > Ed wrote: "The view of fine-tuners is that any God
> who can design
> > a cosmos that makes people out of billion year old
> > carbon is more of a marvel than a God who has to
> keep
> > pulling rabbits out of his hat and adjusting
> things."
> >
> > The metaphor is, of course, not the only one
> possible. If it were, I
> > might agree with you.
> >
> > But consider the metaphor that has God "playing"
> with His creation, Like
> > a violinist playing his instrument. "Dinos were a
> fun experiment; now
> > I'll try humanity."
> >
> > My God is a God of joy and playfulness.
>
> So, if I'm correct in your model/metaphor, there has
> to be
> supernatural intervention all the time. If the
> violin is unplayed
> then nothing happens. Ed's view of fine tuning is
> perhaps of a
> self-playing violin .. ?
>
> Iain.
>
>
>
> >
> > Burgy
> >
>
>
> --
> -----------
> There are 3 types of people in the world.
> Those who can count and those who can't.
> -----------
>

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Received on Wed May 4 21:09:10 2005