Q&A: Regarding the Proof from Complexity
Regarding the Proof from Complexity
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Regarding the argument from design:
There’s something I don’t understand. In order to prove that God exists from the complexity of the universe, we need to know two things. First, what the probability is that the universe would come into being this way. And second, we would need to show that this probability is low enough to count as something that had to be caused by an intentional guiding hand.
But how can one calculate at all the probability that the universe would come into being this way? We have no ability to observe the entire universe and measure the probability of every object ending up in the state it is in.
All the more so, how can one talk about the probability being so low that God must have created it?
What am I missing?
Answer
What you’re missing is the point that no calculation is needed. This is not a quantitative probabilistic consideration, but an argument from common sense. A universe this complex is not reasonably likely to have come about by chance. In my book God Plays Dice, and in its summary here on the site, I explained that the issue is not the complexity of objects and their locations, but the complexity of the laws of nature that cause all this. I discussed this at great length in the third notebook and the third talk in The First Existing.