{"id":158486,"date":"2012-07-13T17:51:27","date_gmt":"2012-07-13T17:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chrisroubis.com\/2012\/07\/higgs-boson-and-god\/"},"modified":"2012-07-13T17:51:27","modified_gmt":"2012-07-13T17:51:27","slug":"higgs-boson-and-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/higgs-boson-and-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Higgs Boson and God"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p> \t\t\t\t<a rel=\"attachment wp-att-56270\" href=\"http:\/\/www.algemeiner.com\/2012\/07\/04\/the-israeli-roles-in-breakthrough-finding-of-god-particle\/god-particle_350_070412124403\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-56270\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/RSSPoster_PRO\/cache\/2467a_god-particle_350_070412124403-300x192.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"192\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Graphical image of &#8220;Gods Particle&#8221;. Photo: India Today.<\/p>\n<p>In 1964 the physicist Peter Higgs suggested that there had to be a  crucial particle (a boson) that helped explain how matter could emerge  from the \u201cBig Bang\u201d explosion of gases that is the most popular  scientific theory as to how our world came about. Higgs said the  so-called \u201cGod particle\u201d, which is the building block of the universe,  only has a lifespan of a millionth of a millionth of a millionth of a  millionth of a second and I guess that\u2019s why it takes billion dollar  accelerators to go looking for it. Now I admit I am a complete dud as  far as physics or math are concerned. I can understand atoms and  neutrons and protons, but when it gets to bosons and fermions I am lost.<\/p>\n<p>I enjoy reading scientists like Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) the  paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and science historian. I am  fascinated by science because it makes our world go round. Thanks to it,  we have cellphones, the internet, space travel, and all the  technological advances we take for granted. And I believe we have an  obligation to try to understand our universe. The Talmud itself insists  that if anyone can calculate the way the universe functions and does  not, it is as though he cares nothing for the God who made it all. The  more we understand, the more we can do. Science is an essential part of  our lives. But it is not the only essential element.<\/p>\n<p>For all the amazing advances, we humans are still the same selfish,  confused, super-animals, and we desperately seek nonscientific  resolutions of our inadequacies. That\u2019s why religion (and, sadly,  superstition and magic) still plays such an important a part in our  societies. That was why Gould, for example, championed the theory of  non-overlapping magisteria. Except they so often are overlapping and  interconnected. That\u2019s why so that many of us to try to find a modus  vivendi.<\/p>\n<p>There is an ongoing debate in religious circles as to how to explain  Talmudic statements that contradict current scientific knowledge. Some  authorities have simply accepted that the rabbis worked within the  framework of contemporary knowledge and would certainly have changed  their opinion had they known what we know. Others suggest that times  have changed and the natural world today is not what it was then. And of  course, wouldn\u2019t you know, there are those who argue that the rabbis  must be right and science must be wrong (as indeed it often has been on  lots of its theories). It\u2019s not unlike the current debate over climate  change. No scientist of stature believes it is not happening. They argue  about the causes. But still there are some backwoodsmen who deny it  altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Science has its practical applications and theoretical ones. It  works through experiment and through guesswork that needs to be verified  or rejected. One develops new theories that either build on earlier  ones or supersede them entirely. Ptolemy gives way to Copernicus, Newton  gives way to Einstein, and then comes Higgs, whose boson theory was no  more than that for fifty years. But at least now we have some objective  evidence (a distinct weakness in the God theory if, and only if, it is  evidence you need). So it is with so many areas of science\u2013creation,  evolution, and indeed psychiatry and economic theory. While these  theories are still being tested, it is possible to be skeptics and find  ways of making fun of them or picking them apart.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s how established magisteria (like religions) have always  tended to react to new ideas. We must accept the past until we are  forced screaming into the present. Some people simply reject new  theories. Some simply accept them regardless of the gaps, and others try  to reconcile the two positions. Gould\u2019s answer is to give up even  trying to. Just accept that there are different kinds of knowledge and  certainties. I admit that after years of trying, and up to a point  succeeding, in reconciling the Torah and the Midrash\u2019s view of the  universe and sciences, I no longer care to or try to. My God world is my  spiritual vision. My science is my material view. I occasionally spend  time meditating on or thinking about how the world came about, but most  of the time I just get on with my day-to-day living in which Torah is a  constant presence.<\/p>\n<p>When scientists half seriously called it \u201cthe God particle\u201d, they  meant that it solved or almost solved the question of how the world  became what it has out of the initial bang of gasses, and how gases  could eventually turn into matter without involving God at all. But of  course the religious position was always that God initiated the bang and  supervised its evolution. Which is very reassuring for those who  believe in God. But, of course, it is not science. But maybe we humans  simply need more than science.<\/p>\n<p>So, delighted as I am that Higgs has got his boson, it doesn\u2019t  change anything for me. Neither would it if evolution filled in all the  missing links, if human life were discovered in other galaxies, or if  spaceships came to earth. I can enjoy a sunset, and I can enjoy a sunset  AND think of a Divine presence as well. My job is to make a success of  my life with the circumstances and knowledge I have access to and in  doing that I think I have the best of both worlds.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p>Views: 0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Graphical image of &#8220;Gods Particle&#8221;. Photo: India Today. In 1964 the physicist Peter Higgs suggested that there had to be a crucial particle (a boson) that helped explain how matter could emerge from the \u201cBig Bang\u201d explosion of gases that is the most popular scientific theory as to how our world came about. Higgs said [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2728],"tags":[14483],"class_list":["post-158486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jewish-news","tag-jewish-lies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158486\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewworldorder.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}