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Einstein's God: Conversations About Science And The Human Spirit (2010)

by Krista Tippett(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0143116770 (ISBN13: 9780143116776)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Penguin Books

review 1: An interesting discussion about God, religion and scienceThe author is an experienced host on public radio, and I was pleasantly surprised by the depth and knowledge she brings in her conversations with well known physicists, biologists, philosophers, psychologists, theologians, and medical experts. It is fascinating to discuss Einstein, God, and religion with Physicists like Freeman Dyson, and Paul Davies, and about Charles Darwin with biologist James Moore. If there is anyone who understood God more than any anybody else, it is certainly Einstein and Darwin. In a scientific assessment, God is regarded as an entity, a creating potential, and the all pervading Supreme Consciousness. Albert Einstein, the greatest physicist of all time frequently referred to God in his discu... moressions, but he did not imply any particular faith. Einstein saw beauty in God's design of spacetime, energy - matter relationship, spacetime - matter relationship, the symmetry in physical laws, mathematical elegance in the physical descriptions and cosmic wonders. Similarly, it is fascinating to read how Darwin struggled for 20 years, in 19 century, before he published his monumental work on the origin and evolution of living species. At that time it would be unthinkable to question Genesis and New Testament. In fact it was met with ferocious opposition in United States especially in the Bible-belt, but Darwin remained steadfast in making it clear that species evolved, and one species came from another, and all living species came from unicellular organisms. He came to this conclusion through his intensive and prolonged research in natural selection, biodiversity, species adaptations, specificity and individual variation. The discussions in this book illuminate the fact both Darwin and Einstein struggled immensely to understand God though their scientific work. In her conversations with V.V. Raman, the author has focused on the cultural and social issues of Hinduism. Although a brief discussion of dharma and karma is interesting but I would have expected a more focused dialogue on the philosophical side of Hinduism, especially Vedanta, which is very closely related to philosophy of quantum physics. Leading physicists like Erwin Schrodinger and David Bohm were life-long believers of Vedanta. A discussion on Vedanta could have been natural flow of ideas after reading her conversation with Dyson and Davies. Physicist Janna Levin describes the fascinating side of our universe in which certain truth can never be proven true; there are limits to what we will ever know. This is according to the mathematical work of Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing, the two eminent mathematicians of 20th century that has deep philosophical consequences. This is reflected in the laws of physics; theory of special relativity puts an upper limit on the speed of light and matter, consequently the concept of present and future becomes relative. Uncertainty at the most fundamental level, the Heisenberg uncertainty puts a limit on our ability to define matter and a wave separately, and according to quantum dynamics the observed reality depends on the observer. Gödel believed that there is a surreal vagueness about reality. Quantum physics further alludes to the fact that everything in the universe is preordained, there is considerable doubt about cause preceding the effect, and the individual freewill is non-existent. Janna Levin reflects on the personal tragedies in the lives of these two great men of science and the impact it had on her thoughts. Charles Darwin waited for 20 years to publish his theory, which reflects on the times and social surroundings of Darwin. It was clear to him from his upbringing that God plays a central role in the affairs of the world he created, and the church directed people into the path of God, and New Testament gives the correct description of God. Commenting on one of the letters of Darwin, James Moore recounts that Darwin labored very heavily during this time, but when he convinced himself, he decides to publish the results of his monumental work. He revolutionized the thought within the church when he suggested that nature is self-developing, only God created the laws of physics which formed chemical structures, molecular forms and life. Life forms change into another species. A gradual trend in certain behavioral characteristics or physical features indicated that they evolved independently. He found interconnectedness among all living creatures, but he never denied God's existence. In her conversation with physicist John Polkinghorne, it becomes apparent that his invoking a religious God and a Christian God in particular is unrealistic. He moves from the position of a physicist to the position of a pastor, as if he is speaking from the pulpit. He suggests that power of prayer is an interaction between God Almighty and a human. Polkinghorne's philosophy is a sellout of his academic credentials to find a non-existing path between physical laws and New Testament. In one of Einstein's letters written in 1927, Einstein states that he can not conceive that a personal God would directly influence individual actions of a living being, or judge a creature he created. He believes in this thought in spite of the fact that cause preceding the effect is in doubt according to quantum physics. It would be unlikely that the infinitely superior spirit, the God Almighty reveal himself through the physical reality we experience, when we can not comprehend our own existence. Einstein observes that morality is of highest importance for us, and not for God.
review 2: I liked the concept of the book - discussing the relationship between science and religion at the outer edges of scientific knowledge. The author has organized the book around the assumption that science and theology can effectively co-exist. That they are not concepts that inherantly conflict. When she sticks strictly to that thesis, in particular in her interviews with physicists, the book is wonderful. The world as defined by the elemental considerations of Quantum Mechanics is so different than that which we perceive with our senses that it is not hard to see the hand of God in action. Even when she drifts into to advanced medicine and issues of self identity and the soul, it remains interesting. However, when the book drifts into discussions of the role of stress on the human body and the impact if depression on the soul, the book goes off track. If you are specifically interested in the topic, I would recommend the book. If not, it's not worth the effort. less

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