| J.Tofflemire | Sun, Dec 14, 4:10 PM (2 days ago) | ||
to me | |||
The Hidden Face of God 2001 224 pgs, by Dr Gerald. Shcroeder ( has PhD‘s in nuclear Physics and in earth sciences, Is Jewish and now teaches at Hebrew Univ ) Every particle, every being, from atom to human appears to have a level of information and of conscious wisdom. The universe also has detailed coordinated information, and some consciousness. Chap 1 The universe is the physical expression of the metaphysical. The fields of physics , cosmology, and molecular biology all have a system of complex information. The human brain has consciousness.At the moment of the big bang there was a tiny speck of powerful energy( the universe) that inflated with time. There appears to be an outside designer that started and guided this. Before the start there was no time. Although some matter appears solid, it is full of rapidly orbiting electrons and is full of space and force fields. There is the invisible pull of gravity from all matter and gravitons between objects. Quantum physics has found that Wave/particle packets of energy also underlie matter and protons have quarks P.4. Mind/Matter All our body feelings are noted in our brain and what we see and hear. They become stored biochemical impulses. Organization of information separates living from dead mater and we have consciousness. Even particles seam aware of each other. Physicist Dyson says atoms behave like active agents and make unpredictable choices via quantum mechanics and show awareness of other particles even at a distance p. 8. We swim in a stream of consciousness without being completely aware of it. The bible implies intelligent design, but not always perfect. Cain kills Abel and God flooded the world as the society became degenerate. Gen. 6:7 He said “I regret I made them all- humanity” Also the world due sin, became cursed. In Gen 1:1 Chaos became orderly. In Deut. 6:4 there is a concept that the Eternal is one. Zech. 14:9 “On that day Yahweh will become King over all the earth-Yahweh alone, and His name alone” Perhaps some unity pervades all existence. God appears to have put a level of indeterminacy in the system and allows the world to operate in that range. For humans it shows itself as our ability to make free choices and have free will. P 12. Exod. 3:14 “I AM WHO I AM. Or I will be who I will be. Deut. 4:39 “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.”or nothing else p14. Everything is a manifestation of this eternal unity which is God. Chap. 2 Physics and metaphysics. The solid objects in our lives including our bodies are composed of moving particles and ethereal energy. Under the energy lies information which in a sense is non-material. Could this be part spiritual? The Heisenberg Uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics says that both the position and momentum of a particle cannot be measured precisely and simultaneously; Its location is probabilistic. P. 18 The amount of information in the universe is vast, but finite, still we can’t know it all, p 19 Still there is as unity binding it all together.The unity is a concept of both science and biblical religion. Revelation(the bible) and science( of nature) are 2 aspects of creation and our knowledge, p. 20. There is a range of scientific tools that impact all aspects of life, both physical and spiritual. The book explores this in physics, cosmology, biology and neuroscience and the brain/mind interface. Science ow also has 2 parts now: physics and metaphysics. Chap. 3 The Universe The universe is expression of information. E= MC2 The type of matter is immaterial. Also if you heat up and item it will change form. Max Plank discovered that heated objects radiate light at fixed energies called quanta. The quanta also known as photons occur when electrons fall to lower energy levels. Matter is related to a frequency and wavelength. This wisdom and use of information has made possible transistors, lasers and cell phones, p 27. Four basic forces govern the physical interactions of all matter. One force is gravity that is weak but acts at long distances. A second one is electrostatic attraction; from pulling electrons from wool for example. Also we have magnets that pull on iron. James Maxwell integrated the electrical and magnetic forces into a laws of electromagnetism, with photons. Maxwell incorporated light and wave phenomena into electromagnetism. He showed that electric and magnetic fields travel together through space as waves of electromagnetic radiation, with the changing fields mutually sustaining each other. Examples of electromagnetic waves traveling through space independent of matter are radio and television waves, microwaves, infrared rays, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays, and gamma rays. Ref: Electromagnetism | Definition, Equations, & Facts | Britannica. A third force is the Strong nuclear force that holds the atoms together and is also responsible for the energy released by nuclear fusions. The forth force is the weak nuclear force allows for some disintegration and radioactive decay where a nucleus expels a particle. Now the weak nuclear and electromagnetic forces have been unified. Physicists have the goal of unifying all forces. Wolfgang Pauli discovered that electrons travel about the atom at discrete and different quantized orbits. This allows for certain chemical reactions. We have the equation hv= MC2 Where H is Planck’s constant and v is the wave frequency. The big bang produced from a speck, of very hot energy packed radiations which then inflated, according to Starbolinski and Guth; with each doubling of the scale of the universe, the temperature halved. When the temperature was reduced to 1013 K some of the energy condensed into protons and neutrons; with hydrogen being one proton and Helium being 2 protons and 2 neutrons; photons of energy was mostly present- then the ratios were 23% helium and 77% hydrogen. After 3 minutes of inflation the force of gravity became dominate., building on tiny inhomogeneities in the expanding mass, clouds and swirls of mass developed and stars were formed. When a stars supply of hydrogen depleted, it collapsed on its mass and then rebounded in a supernova explosion, seeding the universe with a few heavier elements like, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen. Our sun formed later and was not a first generation of stars, as our sun contains some of the heavier elements. MY note- to me this sounds like assumed natural speculation- as God would have needed to guide the processes. The big bang is now widely accepted by scientists as the beginning of time, space and mater. So some logic would say this implies a non-material and eternal beginner. There seams to many coincidences: the planets formed and cooled, habitable planets formed with water and a healthy atmosphere, and life developed including man. There must be fine tuner for this; there is ordered complex information and laws. Occam’s razor says the simplest elegant explanation is usually correct p. 46- my note- That is God.
Chap 4 The Cells of Life In the 1950’s scientist found the double helix structure of DNA Then with advances in molecular biology and computer science, came the understanding of the depth of the information in the DNA. An Arabic translation of Gen. 1:1 is -”With wisdom God created the Heavens and the earth” PS. 104:24 “How countless are Your works, Lord! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.” The human body is a finely tuned machine with its cells all operating smoothly together, P.49 A sperm cell and an egg cell combined have all the information for the creation. He claims that fossils of fully developed bacteria were found in rocks 3.6 billion yrs old. Francis Crick claimed the origin of life as miraculous, p 51-3. Still shaking a bag full of letters and occasionally clusters will form that spell words, but never long sentences; and then further shaking destroys the prior order.The 2nd law of thermodynamics says unless order is held, momentary order degrades into chaos. A bacteria cell is very complex and its probability of random occurrence is extremely rare. He discusses the very complex activity of a cell in pg 52-64. An amino acid has been formed in a laboratory, and it consists of about 23 atoms. A protein contains 100’s or 1000’s of amino acids in a chain and can’t be formed by chance, p 58. The Hebrew word for evening can also means disorder or chaos and the word for morning also means orderly and easily discerned. So this could also means a change from disorder to order in Gen. 1. The Kabala renders Gen.1:31as “And God saw everything that was made and behold, it was in unified order.” He gives a diagram of a cell on p. 61 with a dozen or more components; in the center is the nucleus with the DNA; The cell is a beehive of activity forming 1000’s of proteins very few seconds. The cell wall is unique with a double layered membrane made of phospholipids. It has portals for entry, that require special signals to allow entry. The cell has many fiber-like pathways, the cytoskeleton for transporting items brought in or created. Glucose is taken in the cell and transported; enzymes transform it to Pyruvate and the mitochondria transform it to ATP for stored energy.p 67. Chap 5. Meiosis and the making of a Human. This Ref. Tells the difference in Meiosis and Mitosis: “Mitosis vs Meiosis Mitosis is the process of cell division that produces two genetically identical daughter cells from a single parent cell. This form of cell division functions in growth, tissue repair, and asexual reproduction in some organisms. Mitosis is part of the cell cycle.
Meiosis, on the other hand, produces gametes (sperm and egg cells in animals. It results in four non-identical daughter cells, each with half the number of chromosomes of the parent cell. This process is crucial for sexual reproduction and genetic diversity.”Meiosis is especially complex the the prior ref. List 9 steps for it to complete. Schroefer(Sch) also describes it in detail p. 70-74. The chromosome sets now contain pieces from the mother and the father and an X and Y ones. Stepping back a bit, he now tells the complex process of How the sperm and egg combine p.74-8. A chemical key, a specially shaped protein on the sperm’s head must match the special protein on the egg, only then can the sperm force its way in. No foreigners are allowed; Then the then the egg locks itsself to others. As the 2 sets of cells divide they must find the correct pairs for the heart, lungs , eyes and other body parts, another miracle of information. The fertilized egg must know the 100’s of processes it must do to form a child. By day 4 the embryo releases a hormone, hCG that the mom’s body she is mothering an embryo and chemical a made to terminate the menstrual cycle. The presence of hCG in her urine and blood shows that she is pregnant. There is a special process to form the placenta, That will isolate the fetus from the mom. It also has a channel for taking in nutrients form mom and expelling wastes. By 2 weeks differentiation has begun. By some unknown mechanism a set of genes in one cell turns on and then off and while another set of genes does the same for making another body part as the cells divide. By 3 weeks structures that will become the heart and the nervous system are there. By 5 weeks the key organs are in place. By 6 weeks the eyes are visible and the brain is forming., By 8 weeks there are small arms and legs and by 9 weeks, it is clearly a fetus that looks human. Pg.82-86. Now SCH gives a detailed description of the eye which is quite a marvel of many unique parts. The birth process is also a marvel of many actions. Contractions start, the blood flow form mom is restricted, the fetal heart must change, and the lungs clear, and the fetal digestion be started, the placenta shed. It’s a metamorphosis. A tiny fertilized cell has turned into a human! Chap 6 Nerves; natures information network. Nerve cells are complex and have axons and dendrites; The axon extends from the cell and carries a bio-electrical signal to a target organ. The finger-like extension of the dendrite allows receiving multiple signals the cell sums the signals and if enough, passes them on. Fig 7 is a diagram of the nerve cell p. 96 and it had nodes for sodium channel excitation, the axon has myelin insulating sheaths. The electrical signal is changed to a chemical one and transmitted in less than a millisecond. There is lock and key transmission of this process. To prevent reverse transmission there is a double lock on the sodium channels ,p. 102. In summary the human nerve transmission is a very fast and complex process. Chap 7 The Human Brian. The human brain has about 100 billion neurons and each axon connects to as many as a hundred thousand dendrites.The branching is stupendous with a million billion connections. The bran can do parallel processing and multiple tasking. Still our actions are proceeded by a thought whether conscious or unconscious. The 23rd chromosome is XY or XX and determines the sex- male or female. In the male pulses of testosterone and the testes are produced. There are some brain differences with sex, with girls often better in speech and social relationships and male better in spacial recognition, p 112. The limbic system is the seat of stored emotions: components include the thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, and amygdala. The thalamus relays sensory and motor signals, while the hypothalamus maintains homeostasis. The hippocampus is associated with memory, and the amygdala mediates emotions. Ref( Limbic system | Description, Components, Function, History of Study, & Facts | Britannica) The mediating of emotions is important,( it develops in adults)to prevent un-needed violence, like road rage, p.113. Sch then describes the complex detail of the brain’s role in vision, p 114-7. There are millions of receptors on the visual cortex and the image cycling time is 30 milliseconds. Sch continues to describe the various parts of the brain and noted that the hearing apparatus is also marvelous. Sound waves on The ear drum moves 3 tiny bones that send vibrations into a fluid filled cavity with 20,000 tine hairs; the hairs send electrochemical signals to the thalamus where musical sounds of many different frequencies can be noted.p 124-5. This again is very complex. Sch p. 113 The brain is a wonder machine of intelligence and electrical and biochemical reactions expressing wisdom with its many components. At every level from the cell to the interaction of the nerve and muscle, to the brain’s 1015 neural connections with an astonishing depth of information. Nature left to itself, favors disintegration, but the story of life is increasingly complex with order being locked in place. MY note: this implies God’s wisdom
