Q&A: A Complex World Was Created by Chance
A Complex World Was Created by Chance
Question
First, the opening series of lectures on faith is fascinating, and I want to express my appreciation that thanks to the Rabbi we are privileged to have such high-quality intellectual / faith-related / philosophical content online.
In the part that examines the physico-theological proof, the atheist’s claim is presented as follows: the world is indeed complex, but it was created by chance. The atheist argues that it is possible for something complex to have come together by chance.
I would like to try to think about whether a person can really think such a thought—not just say it with his lips. Can he really truly conceive of it?
It seems to me that, quite apart from theology, everyone accepts that if there is something complex, there is someone who assembled it.
No one accepts as an answer that something complex like a drinking glass, a pen, a watch, a book, a car, or a building came into being by chance.
How did this exception to the rule arise—uniquely in the case of the most complex thing we know, the world itself?
“The world was created by chance”—is that not merely lip service, rather than something the intellect can actually grasp?
Answer
A complex thing does not just come into being by chance. But their claim is that evolution makes it possible for this to arise without a guiding hand. Alternatively, if there were a huge number of random formations of universes, then one of them could turn out to be complex.
Discussion on Answer
And does that seem reasonable to you?
Quote: if there were a huge number of random formations of universes, then one of them could turn out to be complex.
What interests me is whether such a thought—of a complex world created by chance—is even intellectually possible, or whether it is like saying 2+2 = 7.
The universe is sufficiently complex even without the phenomenon of life and evolution (which also operate according to defined laws). It seems to me that in ordinary life no one really accepts that something complex would come into being by chance even after many attempts—not a book, not a computer, and not a Boeing. But for some reason there are people who accept such an answer when it comes to the world as a whole; I can’t understand it.