Charles Liu: An astrophysicist's take on God et al.



Black Hole Simulation (by Alain r)

When you’re an accountant, people don’t often interrupt your morning cup of coffee to ask whether there’s a God.  However - when you’re an astrophysicist, questions like that are par for the course.

Astrophysicist Charles Liu has therefore formulated his top three responses to the top three questions that people ask.  The God conundrum is definitely one that inquiring minds want to solve.  Right up there with it are these other two:  Are aliens fact or fiction?  Will falling into a black hole substantially change human anatomy?

Liu was kind enough to share his responses with Natalie Wolchover of Life’s Little Mysteries.  For those who are satisfied with their mirror image, leaping into a black hole may not be a wise choice.  Liu explains that a black hole’s gravitational pull is like the moon’s – only waaay more so.  Just as the moon pulls one side of the Earth more than the other, the black hole pulls one end of the body waaay more than the other.  Therefore - if someone jumped in feet first, his or her shoe size would increase dramatically.

Late-night talk show callers will be excited to learn that some of their hunches regarding aliens are likely to be correct.  Liu explains:  “The universe is so vast, and the laws of nature are so consistent throughout that vast universe, that the chances of life developing in only one place in that entire universe is essentially zero.”  Does this mean that every last Roswell story is true?  Not necessarily.  Liu thinks that it could be centuries to never before actual contact is made.

Last - but very far from least - is there a God?  Liu’s response to this is far less definitive.  In fact, he has no answer - claiming instead that “science in general and astronomy in particular do not address the question of whether or not there is a God.”  Liu also emphasizes that the Big Bang theory neither proves nor disproves that God exists - but rather allows for speculation regarding both possibilities.

Nevertheless, Liu perceives the universe to be “beautiful, complex and fascinating.”  How did it get that way?  Liu readily admits that he doesn’t know.

Resources

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/1545-top-3-questions-people-ask-astrophysicist-answers.html

http://www.amnh.org/learn/pd/physical_science/profiles/cliu.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrophysics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole

Copyright February 9, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved