[MD] Dawkins quotes RMP on religion.

[Arlo Bensinger]

Greetings Ian,

Like I said, I can't get past three principle issues. First, if 
"life" (forget even _intelligent_ life, for the moment) was somehow 
built into the unfolding of the cosmos, if certain gravities and 
speeds were all constrained so as to one-day engender "life", why is 
it so incredibly rare? Why do we not see a cosmos swarming with 
amoebas and bacteria? It seems to me that given this, "life" is 
something that is able to emerge only under very rare, happenstance 
conditions within a very large cosmos.

Second, I think its quite arrogant to assume (anthropic, even :-)) 
that should any of the "cosmic variables" have been different, the 
cosmos would be entirely devoid of life. This sets up a "the universe 
gets US or it gets nothing". Perhaps, had those variables been 
different, the cosmos WOULD be teaming with life. Perhaps the 
universe collapsed and exploded a zillion times, and this one time we 
see as special is actually the one comparatively devoid?

Third, isn't it also arrogant to assume "we" are the final leg in 
this chain? Maybe, like the dinosaurs, we exist only so that our 
decomposing bodies will one day grant a future species some form of 
fuel. We have this illusion of being on a pinnacle because we can 
look back but never ahead.

I am reminded of Calvin and Hobbes yet again, where Calvin proclaims 
himself the "zenith of evolution", saying something like (not exact), 
"think about it, hobbes, every event, every decision that has ever 
happened has happened to produce 'me', therefore I am what the 
universe planned all along!". Really, think about it Ian, if your 
great-great-great grandparents had never met, you would never have 
been born, but you were born and therefore their meeting had to be 
part of a cosmic plan to produce you. That's really what we are 
saying, no matter how you dress it up.

Yes, there is much interesting in the debate, and yes, I do believe 
we will one day encounter life "out there". The idea of multiverses 
and inter-dimensional realities I find fascinating. Maybe we are 
squares unable to comprehend a sphere.

Arlo