Q&A: Evolution
Evolution
Question
Hi Rabbi!
I wanted to ask about the physico-theological proof in light of evolution:
1. In your book God Plays Dice you wrote that evolution without a guiding hand is like small islands surrounded by a large sea, and without a guiding hand they have almost no chance of succeeding. But from what I understand, evolution basically says that when there is a mutation that survives, it continues into the next generations, and even if it is only one mutation out of many, many thousands of genes, still, little by little, more such mutations accumulate and change organisms. Seemingly, according to this, no guiding hand is needed at all.
2. You argued that even without biology, there is proof from physics. I remember—if I remember correctly—that you said there are infinitely many numbers, so it is wildly improbable that the world would rest exactly on the values of the physical laws that allow life. But seemingly that is not correct. The Big Bang created matter with a limited number of possible configurations based on what it created, and that is not unlimited. Do you mean that the laws of physics existed without relation to the Big Bang? If so, can one even speak about time “before” the Big Bang?
Thank you!
Answer
- That is why you need to read what I say there further on. The laws responsible for every mutation being carried onward, and that make evolution possible, are the guiding hand, and the question is how they came into being.
- The Big Bang itself was governed by the laws of physics. That does not mean there was time there in the sense in which we speak about it. But the Big Bang did not create laws.
Discussion on Answer
- I no longer remember exactly what you are referring to. The laws have a teleological character, and the probabilities for continuous evolution are also quite small, so the claim that there is a guiding hand also within biology is not unfounded. But my view is that there is no necessity for there to be a guiding hand, though of course that cannot be ruled out.
- There is no reason at all to assume that the laws of physics were created with the Big Bang. They began to be applicable then. But the question where they came from remains, and it is hard to accept the answer that they were created in the Big Bang. Even if they were created in the Big Bang, the question is what created them. After all, the universe was created by the Big Bang, but before the Big Bang—to the extent that one can use that expression at all—there was a singular point from which the universe emerged. But what created the laws at that moment? Did they burst out of that singular point?
Thank you, Rabbi! I’d just be glad to clarify a few things:
1. I remember that in the book you did claim that there is also a guiding hand within biology itself… Am I remembering incorrectly?
2. So basically the laws of physics have existed forever? I’m really not a physicist like you, so I’m trying to understand what it means for them to have existed forever before there was anything at all…