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In the beginning

A simple question of basic science may lead to a startling old discovery.

A simple question of basic science may lead to a startling old discovery.

As Tom Siegfried reports in the September 25, 2010 issue of Science News, the question, "Why gravity?" may be leading certain physicists to a position on the nature of the cosmos which Christians have believed for centuries.

Now I don't claim to understand all this, but here's the gist: Gravity is a form of entropy and is created by the erasure of certain kinds of cosmic information, and information is the prior substance of the cosmos. There you have it. Whatever that means.

Like I said, I don't understand this. But I do understand that physicists who think this way are beginning to posit an overturning of long-held evolutionary views about the nature of the cosmos. Classic Darwinian thinking insists that matter is eternal and all information derives from matter, imposed upon it by a process of human discovery. But "a flurry of recent papers" is suggesting exactly the opposite. Information came first, comes first, and matter follows what information dictates.

In fact, certain theories go so far as to suggest that the entire vast cosmos is circumscribed by an "information screen" - somewhat like a holograph: "Underlying all this hoopla is a recurring theme at today's physics frontiers: conceptualizing nature in terms of information." Information - words - not matter are the primary factor. "In other words, information might be a more profound physical entity than matter or field."

Physicist/theologian John Polkinghorne, in one of his books, reflected on the connecting point between the spiritual and the material realms, the "elbow" where they interact and connect. He described it as an incessant information flow from the unseen world to the seen. The Scriptures refer to this as the "steadfast love and faithfulness" of the Lord, or, as the writer of Hebrews puts it, the Word of God upholds the universe and all things in it by the word of His power (Heb. 1.3).

An information screen - an eternal force of Word - circumscribing the entire cosmos: Yeah, I can understand and believe that.

T. M. Moore

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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