[MD] Is Quality Value?

[Platt Holden]

Hi All:

Today's NY Times book section contains the first chapter of "Cosmic 
Landscape" by Leonard Susskind about the Anthropic Principle.  The 
following passage struck me as evidence for the reasonable assumption 
that it is better to have something in existence that knows existence 
exists than not -- i.e. a Quality principle. 

"The Bible says: "From the time the world was created, people have 
seen the earth and the sky and all that God made. They can clearly 
see His invisible qualities-His eternal power and divine nature. So 
they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God."

"This is as true today as it ever has been-in some ways, with the 
discovery of the Anthropic Principle, it is more true now than ever 
before. So the first kind of evidence that we have is the creation 
itself-a universe that carries God's signature-a universe "just 
right" for us to live in.

"And from another religious site:

"In his book "The Cosmic Blueprint," the astronomer professor Paul 
Davies concludes that the evidence for design is overwhelming: 
Professor Sir Fred Hoyle-no sympathizer with Christianity-says that 
it looks as if a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics as well as 
with chemistry and biology.

"And the astronomer George Greenstein says: As we survey all the 
evidence, the thought insistently arises that some supernatural 
agency, or rather Agency, must be involved. Is it possible that 
suddenly, without intending to, we have stumbled upon scientific 
proof of the existence of a supreme being? Was it God who stepped in 
and so providentially created the cosmos for our benefit?

"Is it any wonder that the Anthropic Principle makes many physicists 
very uncomfortable?

"Davies and Greenstein are serious scholars, and Hoyle was one of the 
great scientists of the twentieth century. As they point out, the 
appearance of intelligent design is undeniable. Extraordinary 
coincidences are required for life to be possible. It will take us a 
few chapters to fully understand this "elephant in the room," but 
let's begin with a sneak preview."

Those who find the notion of an intelligent designer laughable might 
do well to study the evidence that this book presents. I certainly 
intend to. In the meantime, I don't think anyone can claim that the 
premise of the MOQ is completely looney. The moral answer to the 
mystery of creation seems as valid as any, especially when that 
answer is inextricably tied, as Pirsig illustrates, to the processes 
of evolutiion. 

Platt