I am starting as a new guest columnist, so I will dedicate this article to introducing myself and my work. I have a B.S. in physics with a minor in engineering from MIT and a Ph.D. in complex systems physics from Duke University. I work in Seattle, Washington at the Center for Science and Culture out of the Discovery Institute. The center explores the intersection of science, philosophy, faith, and society. I serve as the Research Coordinator where I support and conduct research into such disciplines as cosmology, cellular biology, genetics, computer science, and mathematics. The aim is to demonstrate the evidence for design in nature.
A recent project has been consulting philosopher of science Stephen Meyer as he wrote his latest book Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe. The book describes how three scientific discoveries point to a mind behind everything that exists. The first key discovery is that the universe had a beginning. That beginning was not simply an explosion in space, but it represents the very beginning of mass, energy, space, and time. Consequently, whatever started the universe had to exist outside of time and space, and it (he) must have been incomprehensively powerful and purposeful.
The second discovery is that the laws of physics appear to have been carefully engineered to allow for a life-friendly universe. The physical laws can be described by a set of equations that contain various parameters such as the strength of the force of gravity, the strength of the force of attraction between electrons and protons in an atom, and the mass of an election. The values for these and several other parameters had to be carefully set or fine-tuned to allow for the universe to support life. If any were too large to too small, neither planets nor even chemistry would exist. This fine-tuning again points to a mind that created the laws of nature for the purpose of sustaining life.
The third discovery is that the basis of life is information. Every self-sustaining organism contains DNA, which houses the instructions for the organism’s design and operations. These instructions correspond in even the simplest possible cell to significant quantitates of information. And information can only result from a mind. Imagine noticing that the letters in a bowl of alphabet soup spelled out the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. You would immediately recognize that the information could not have resulted from the physics of the heated soup broth or the organic chemistry of the paster. It could only have originated from a mind.
Since antiquity, scholars have debated whether the appearance of purpose and design in the world was the product of a transcendent mind or undirected natural processes. The latter view rose to dominance over the past few centuries in what is termed scientific materialism. But the latest scientific discoveries are pointing back to a designer behind our world. In future columns, I will report on how the cutting edge of science is in similar ways changing our understanding of our world and ourselves.
Dr. Brian Miller is Research Coordinator for the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute. He holds a B.S. in physics with a minor in engineering from MIT and a Ph.D. in physics from Duke University. He speaks internationally on the topics of intelligent design and the impact of worldviews on society, and helps manage the ID 3.0 Research Program, having been a primary organizer of the Conference on Engineering in the Life Sciences (CELS). He also has consulted on organizational development and strategic planning, and he is a technical consultant for TheStartup, a virtual incubator dedicated to bringing innovation to the marketplace. He has contributed to multiple books and journals covering the debate over intelligent design, including The Mystery of Life’s Origin: The Continuing Controversy, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, and Inference Review. He is a regular contributor to Evolution News & Science Today, and the ID the Future Podcast.