Several Observations and Facts

by Len Schwee

When a lawyer enters a courtroom where an unpredictable judge presides, he warns his client, “Anything is possible.” But if you say, “Anything is possible” to a physicist, he will probably respond that most things are not possible. Unless something conforms to the laws of physics, it will not happen. It is far better in physics to say, “If something can happen, it might.” But if you say that to your wife, she might respond, “No kidding, Dick Tracy.” She will recognize that the statement is self evident, but may not notice it as a secret of the universe.

During the past 400 years of science, some very elusive things have been found like the neutrino. But no one has ever found a soul or any deeds caused by a soul. Souls are fabrications of ancient religions needed to survive a dead body so an afterlife is plausible. Without souls and an afterlife, the clergy would starve.

People often say, “God bless you.” What impudence! If I were God, I would get very tired of inferior creatures trying to tell me what to do.

Political leaders like to say, “Follow your faith,” or “Keep the faith.” But some faiths are immoral. Almost all faiths are enslaving and full of superstition. So people are encouraged to be immoral, enslaved, and superstitious. Faith is the acceptance of other people’s opinions, and such opinions are often ridiculous. Why should people be encouraged to believe such hearsay? Where is the leader that says, “Observe nature, use logic, and seek the truth.”

On earth, matter is made from three elementary particles--the electron, the up quark, and the down quark. Two up quarks and a down quark make the proton, and two down quarks and an up quark make the neutron. About a hundred atoms are composed of neutrons, protons, and electrons arranged differently. The atoms then are arranged to make up millions of gases, liquids, and solids. We also have light and other electromagnetic waves on earth that sometimes behave as particles called photons. All this diversity of matter and life is amazingly possible because of a few elementary particles in many different arrangements.

Science has holes in its knowledge every once in a while. For example, in the year 1900, all chemical elements up to the eighties were known except for number 43, which could not be found. It was finally made by man in 1937 and called technetium. It is radioactive, and has a half-life of 200,000 years. In other words, if you have a pound of technetium, in 200,000 years you will have half a pound, and the rest will be molybdenum, or number 42. If the bible is correct, the earth is about 6000 years old and we should have technetium in abundance. However, if the earth is 4.6 billion years old as scientists say, technetium would have been halved 23,000 times, leaving nearly none.

I once knew a rare physicist who thought that God made the universe 6000 years ago, but He made it look old when He created it. His God was very deceptive. It also means that he believed an old book more than nature itself. It is amazing how strongly many people are driven to believe superstitions instead of observations and facts.

Several Observations and Facts - by Len Schwee: August 2008