Nature is capable of building complex structures by processes of self-organization; simplicity begets complexity. Victor J. Stenger More Quotes by Victor J. Stenger More Quotes From Victor J. Stenger Define self-awareness and tell me what it is about it that requires something more than a material explanation. I do not accept the burden of explaining all phenomena, real or imagined. If you think more than matter is required for this thing you call self-awareness, which you have not defined, then you have the burden of showing why. Victor J. Stenger real self thinking I do not think science has to make any apologies. It looks at the world and tells it like it is. And we all live longer, better lives because of this dispassionate view. Sure, it commands awe and provides inspiration. Still, I would rather be operated on by a surgeon who sees me as an assemblage of atoms than one who lovingly tries to manipulate what he or she imagines are my vital energy fields. Victor J. Stenger apology inspiration thinking But, as we have seen, movement does not require a mover, and modern quantum mechanics has shown that not all effects require a cause. And even if they did, why would the Prime Mover need to be a supernatural anthropomorphic deity such as the Judeo - Christian God? Why could it not just as well be the material universe itself? Victor J. Stenger christian doe religion Alternative explanations are always welcome in science, if they are better and explain more. Alternative explanations that explain nothing are not welcome... Note how science changed those beliefs when new data became available. Religions stick to the same ancient beliefs regardless of the data. Victor J. Stenger data alternatives religion Thought, without the data on which to structure that thought, leads nowhere. Victor J. Stenger positive-atheism data structure In fact, current cosmological observations indicate that the average density of matter and energy in the universe is equal, within measurement errors, to the critical density for which the total energy of the universe was exactly zero at the beginning. Victor J. Stenger errors zero average Debating is not an honest intellectual exercise. It's like a trial in which the goal is not to get to the truth but to win. Victor J. Stenger goal winning exercise The argument from design stands or falls on whether it can be demonstrated that some aspect of the universe such as its origin or biological life could not have come about naturally. The burden of proof is ... on the supernaturalist to demonstrate that something from outside nature must be introduced to explain the data. Victor J. Stenger burden-of-proof data fall Reality is what kicks back when you kick it. This is just what physicists do with their particle accelerators. We kick reality and feel it kick back. From the intensity and duration of thousands of those kicks over many years, we have formed a coherent theory of matter and forces, called the standard model, that currently agrees with all observations. Victor J. Stenger agreement science reality Fifteen years of skepticism has done more for me than 20 years of force-fed religion and 30 years of indifference in between. Victor J. Stenger atheism done years In a poll taken in 1998, only 7 percent of the members of the US National Academy of Sciences, the elite of American scientists, said they believed in a personal god. Victor J. Stenger polls scientist taken Any attempt at understanding humanity must include an explanation of the hold that supernatural belief continues to have on most of the human race. Victor J. Stenger understanding race humanity Is there a place in a church where you leave your brains when you enter? Victor J. Stenger church brain religion The so-called mysteries of quantum mechanics are in its philosophical interpretation, not in its mathematics. Victor J. Stenger philosophical mathematics mystery I have characterized Ross as exemplifying an extreme position among theistic scientists. However, he is not so extreme as to promote the scientifically unsound notions of the young-Earth creationists and other anti-evolutionists ... They are so far off the scale that their scientific claims need not be taken seriously. Their distortions and misrepresentations of the scientific facts are not consistent with their self-righteous claims of acting to protect all that is good and moral. Victor J. Stenger scary taken self Just because quantum mechanics is weird does not mean that everything that is weird is quantum mechanics. Victor J. Stenger doe mean religion Unlike those theists who at least pay lip service to science and scientific method, Johnson is out to convict science of fraud in the court of public opinion. Victor J. Stenger public-opinion scary pay People want to be at the center of the Universe...and they're going to flock to anybody who tells them that. Victor J. Stenger atheism fear people
