Posted: Jan 07, 2012 5:31 pm
I also read the prologue and first chapter to Tyson's book. It's very typical of him. He's never been one for tackling religion front on but the clues are there.
The prologue is called, The Geratest Story Ever Told and no, it's not the Bible. It is of course the story of the unfolding of the universe from Big Bang to now talking in evolution along the way to bring us to where we are now, in a position to uncover this.
The first chapter is called, In The Beginning. And it starts, "In the beginning there was physics." He ends by noting we don't know much about what happened before the Big Bang, stating, "Astrophysicists have no idea. Rather, our most creative ideas have little grounding in experimental science. Yet the religious faithful tend to assert, often with a tinge of smugness, that something must of started it all..." God, of course. He goes on to ask what if the universe was always there, or the quantum soup was and points out that, "... therein lies a fascinating dichotomy. 'The universe always was,' gets no repect as a legitimate answer to, 'What was around before the beginning?' But for many religious people, the answer, 'God always was,' is the obvious and pleasing answer to, 'What was around before God?'"
I'm reminded of a debate I saw and there were a couple of religious people sitting on one side. I can't remember exactly how it was phrased so forgive my clunkiness, but one of the thiests gave an analogy of scientists climbing a mountain of discovery and reaching the summit only to find a bunch of theologists waiting for them to which the other thiests smiled and nodded, sagely. I remember thinking, No you won't! You'll be where you are now and where you'll always be; on the ass of scientists leeching them and claiming you already had the knowledge because your creator endowed you with it and pointing to an obscure passage in whichever holy book which could mean anything. Fucking parasites!
Sorry. Had to get that out
EDIT: Wrote 'preface' instead of 'first chapter'.
The prologue is called, The Geratest Story Ever Told and no, it's not the Bible. It is of course the story of the unfolding of the universe from Big Bang to now talking in evolution along the way to bring us to where we are now, in a position to uncover this.
The first chapter is called, In The Beginning. And it starts, "In the beginning there was physics." He ends by noting we don't know much about what happened before the Big Bang, stating, "Astrophysicists have no idea. Rather, our most creative ideas have little grounding in experimental science. Yet the religious faithful tend to assert, often with a tinge of smugness, that something must of started it all..." God, of course. He goes on to ask what if the universe was always there, or the quantum soup was and points out that, "... therein lies a fascinating dichotomy. 'The universe always was,' gets no repect as a legitimate answer to, 'What was around before the beginning?' But for many religious people, the answer, 'God always was,' is the obvious and pleasing answer to, 'What was around before God?'"
I'm reminded of a debate I saw and there were a couple of religious people sitting on one side. I can't remember exactly how it was phrased so forgive my clunkiness, but one of the thiests gave an analogy of scientists climbing a mountain of discovery and reaching the summit only to find a bunch of theologists waiting for them to which the other thiests smiled and nodded, sagely. I remember thinking, No you won't! You'll be where you are now and where you'll always be; on the ass of scientists leeching them and claiming you already had the knowledge because your creator endowed you with it and pointing to an obscure passage in whichever holy book which could mean anything. Fucking parasites!
Sorry. Had to get that out
EDIT: Wrote 'preface' instead of 'first chapter'.