Re: [asa] Loop quantum gravity

In answer to your question, No on several counts.

1) Belief in the triune God as creator does not rest on the failure of cosmological models to provide a complete account of the world but on God's historical revelation in Israel which culminates in Christ.

2) As I pointed out in my concluding paragraph below, & reiterated in my response to Moorad, the success of a theory like look quantum gravity does not explain why the basic entities & laws assumed by the theory exist.

3) Hedwig Born (Max's wife) once asked Einstein if it would be possible to give a complete description of a Beethoven symphony in mathematical terms. Einstein replied, "Yes - but it wouldn't mean anything."

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: David Opderbeck
  To: George Murphy
  Cc: asa@calvin.edu
  Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 10:39 AM
  Subject: Re: [asa] Loop quantum gravity

  Thanks George. I asked the question because I just read Smolin's "The Trouble With Physics." So, would it be an overstatement to say that, if a theory like loop quantum gravity is correct, science has written out a God who creates ex nihlo?

  On 11/9/06, George Murphy <gmurphy@raex.com> wrote:
    Loop theory, as well as other approaches to quantum grabity, are discussed in Lee Smolin, Three Roads to Quantum Gravity (Basic, 2001). My review of it is in the March 2003 issue of PSCF.

    One major problem of classical general relativity is that its big bang cosmological models are incomplete. (This is often described by saying that the theory breaks down "at t = 0" but that is inaccurate. The problem is that there is no "t = 0" - space-time is incomplete.) There is a possibility that a correct quantum theory of gravitation will eliminate this problem and make it possible to understand the big bang as having a beginning that can be described by scientific laws. The extent to which this is the case will help to indicate how deeply God is hidden in the process.

    That of course assumes that the God we're talking about is the God revealed in Christ whose actions are characterized by kenosis. If one is just interested in a general theism then it can be pointed out that even a correct theory of quantum gravity will leave unexplained why the entities which the theory assumes (loops or whatever) exist & have the properties they do. Any scientific attenpt to explain why something rather than nothing exists is futile, for science has to assume something. But this does not mean, OTOH, that we have a proof of the existence of some deity.

    Shalom
    George
    http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
      ----- Original Message -----
      From: David Opderbeck
      To: asa@calvin.edu
      Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 9:56 PM
      Subject: [asa] Loop quantum gravity

       
      Is anyone familiar with this theory? What implications does it have for theism?

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Received on Thu Nov 9 11:07:06 2006