The recent overwhelming tsumani in southwest Asia and its horrendous aftermath have once again showed the insignificance of humanity as an integral part of the universe. Why has our Heavenly Father allowed such an evil catastrophe to happen? Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and other charlatans on the televangelist circuit will probably attribute it to an act of a vengeful God to punish all those Asian Muslims and pagans who do not believe in Jesus, as an afterthought, the sinning vacationers in Phuket were also struck down.Actually this disaster appears to be a result of tectonic plate movement beneath the ocean floor, a process initiated during Earth’s formation following the Big Bang.
Earth’s outer crust, the lithosphere, as distinguished
from the hydrosphere and atmosphere, consists of several large
plates that are slowly moving around, independently of each
other. They are responsible for continental drift. When they
collide, seismic and volcanic activity are likely to occur.
Some years ago James Lovelock declared that Earth is a self-contained living organism. (The Ages of Gaia by James Lovelock, 1988, W.W.Norton & Co. New York). Accordingly, the recent S. Asian catastrophe could appear as a natural growing pain in aging Earth. The Gaia theory has not been accepted; however, recent discoveries of elegant natural cycles such as the “plankton effect”, wherein tiny organisms in the oceans release vast quantities of organic material into the air which in turn affects the amount of sunlight bounced back into space and thus the surface temperature, lend support to the Gaia concept.
The reductionist thesis outlined in my book: Cascading Universe, The Integration of Science and Religion by Charles C. Worthington, 2004, Dorrance Publishing Co., Pittsburgh, PA 15222, also would attribute the tsumani, like the Holocaust, the war in Iraq, Israeli incursion into Palestine and other catastrophes to natural causes rather than a curse invoked by an avenging god.
In my materialist world, life originated during the early universe when it was a seething mass of energy particles and atoms. Stable aggregations of atoms formed replicating molecules (RNA and DNA). These gave rise to populations of biochemical aggregates of various forms and configurations. The more stable of these persisted and formed larger aggregates which now constitute the biota which covers Earth and of which humanity is only a small fraction.
The interesting thing about Homo sapiens is his neural development. Humans everywhere have the illusion that they are capable of independent thought, intentionality, and to a limited extent, of communicating with fellow beings and of altering the physical environment to suit themselves. The answer to the “Mind-Body Problem” according to John Searle is: “Mental phenomena are caused by neurophysiological processes in the brain and are themselves features of the brain.” (The Rediscovery of the Mind by John R. Searle, 1992, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.). Granted, philosophically this is solipsistic, but acceptance of the elegant ever expanding edifice of scientific knowledge is mightily satisfying.
The basis of the theory of evolution is natural selection by which fitter, stronger individuals survive in the struggle for existence at the expense of the weak. Group behavior, interpersonal relationships and dependencies require at times altruistic cooperation, as in patriotic endeavors and self-sacrifice. Indeed, altruism as indicated by increasing social “humanism” is very evident in our times as shown by the current stance for “political correctness” and opposition to racism. However, as Richard Dawkins has pointed out in The Selfish Gene (New Edition) 1989, Oxford University Press, New York, in nature there is no welfare state. In the long haul, it is selfish individuals who survive. And it is as individuals that we live and die. Though many human endeavors are good and beneficial for society; of utmost importance to each of us as persons is basically “what’s in it for me; my children and family?” Strong, intelligent, competent organisms are the fountainhead of all successful human societies, including families. In earlier times belligerent leaders shaped history and the spread of humanity throughout the globe. Nowadays, population density and widespread technical know-how (i.e. nuclear weapons) have somewhat limited wars of aggression except for primitive tribal, territorial and religious warfare. It is hoped that United States’ ill-conceived aggression into Iraq for oil will not be repeated; though it is hard to tell. Bush and his Neoconservative cohorts seek an American Empire.Our lives, world events and those of the universe are all entangled in the cascade of energy particles that burst forth in the Big Bang of some fourteen billion years ago. Let us hope that eventually common sense will prevail.
