Reason, Evidence, and Searching for Truth

Using reason and evidence in a search for truth doesn't threaten my faith. I'm Catholic, a faith I share with folks like Galileo, Copernicus, and Mendel. (July 20, 2011; October 26, 2009)

Another Week, Nine New Worlds

Caltech, the California Institute of Technology, published information about another nine previously unknown planets on January 28, 2013. One of these worlds is BD-06 1339 b. It's 20.1 parsecs, or 65.5 light years, away: in the general direction of Orion's belt, if I'm reading the coordinates correctly.

This newly-found planet is about eight and a half times as massive as Earth, and whips around its star in a little less than four days. The star, BD-06 1339, is a little cooler and a bit dimmer than Earth's star: but not all that different.

BD-06 1339 b is really close to its parent star: roughly 1/10 the distance that Mercury is from the Sun. It's not likely to be home to the sort of life we're used to.

Kepler-47c

Kepler-47, a planetary system about 4,900 light years away in the constellation Cygnus, might be to home to critters more or less like us. One of the planets is probably a gas giant, a bit larger that Neptune: in a circular orbit, at a distance that should allow liquid water on a rocky world like ours. If Kepler-47c has a rocky moon: that moon could have an atmosphere, water, and life.


(from NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle, used w/o permission)
"...This diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-47, a double-star system containing two planets, one orbiting in the so-called 'habitable zone.' This is the sweet spot in a planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of a planet...."
(NASA/JPL-Caltech (August 28, 2012))

My faith doesn't depend on knowing that I live in a universe that's almost unthinkably vast and many powers of ten more ancient than the six millennia imagined by Bishop Ussher. On the other hand, it most certainly does not depend on maintaining ignorance of this marvelous creation.

Life, the Universe, and Everything

I doubt that this universe is like the delightfully wacky world described in Douglas Adams' third "Hitchhiker's Guide the the Galaxy" books. It's probably a great deal stranger.

That doesn't bother me at all. Neither does the idea that God isn't a white-haired European man with a muscular build.


(Michelangelo Buonarroti, via Wikipedia, used w/o permission)
Detail of Michelangelo Buonarroti's Creation of Adam fresco, in the Sistine Chapel.

We've learned a great deal about this creation in the centuries since Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel. My guess is that we've got a great deal more to discover.

I think it's a good idea to use the brains God gave us, trying to discover more facets of the universe, and figure out how they work. Learning about the world suits my faith just fine, since "...the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God..."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 159)

What I Expect

I'd be astonished if the universe turned out to be like the setting of Douglas Adam's Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy stories. Adams' assorted robots, aliens, and lunatics are, well, quite human. That's fine, since the stories focus on a great many human foibles. But I think the universe will prove to be a great deal less familiar.

If there's life elsewhere in the universe, and if we share this creation with other people with material form, who aren't human: I think it's likely that they'll be quite unlike us:

"...There's nothing wrong with telling a story about a galaxy teeming with non-human people - who all just happen to be almost exactly as smart as humans; with almost exactly the same interests, needs, and goals; and using almost exactly the same technology.

The universe could be like that, but probably isn't. If humanity was one of a few billion almost-exactly-like-human civilizations; all of which were within a few thousand years of each other in terms of technology - humanity would probably be selling souvenirs to space alien tourists.

It seems hard to remember how old the universe is. A million years ago, humans were learning how to use fire without killing themselves. But a million years is only a tiny fraction of the time that stars and planets have been spinning around this galaxy's core...."
(Apathetic Lemming of the North (February 1, 2013))

Again, the idea that humanity isn't the only possible sort of people doesn't upset me.

The Universe, God, and Imagination

Although the Almighty seems to like repeating some forms at a dizzying variety of scales, like logarithmic spirals, the more we learn about the universe, the more variations on themes we find.

A geneticist wrote one of my favorite descriptions of what we can expect to find in this magnificent creation:

"I have no doubt that in reality the future will be vastly more surprising than anything I can imagine. Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose."
(J. B. S. Haldane, via Wikiquote)

I might not have imagined a planet like BD-06 1339 b, but I didn't design this universe. As I've said before, God's God, I'm not.

Faith and Reason

I decided to become a Catholic in large part because this faith makes sense. We're supposed to pay attention to faith and reason:

"Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth...."
("Fides et Ratio," Encyclical Letter, John Paul II (September 14, 1998))

---

"Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God. But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man and to give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith. The proofs of God's existence, however, can predispose one to faith and help one to see that faith is not opposed to reason."
(Catechism, 35) [emphasis mine]

---

"Human virtues are firm attitudes, stable dispositions, habitual perfections of intellect and will that govern our actions, order our passions, and guide our conduct according to reason and faith. They make possible ease, self-mastery, and joy in leading a morally good life...."
(Catechism, 1804)

The Church says that science and technology are fine, and that ethics are important. (Catechism, 2293) I think one way to distinguish between science and faith is what they help us understand:

• Science
  • What things are
  • How they work
• Faith
  • Why things are
  • How we should deal with them

And that's another topic. Lots more topics.

Related posts:

• Science
  • "Redefining the Habitable Zone; Drilling for Bacteria in Antarctica; and Arson in Mali"
    (February 1, 2013)
    Particularly
    • Life, Planets, and Water
    • Critters, Kerosene, and Cold Water
  • "Science, Technology, and Being Human"
    (January 27, 2013)
  • "Technology, Freedom, and 'Love Your Neighbor' "
    (January 18, 2013)
    Particularly
    • Dealing with Dangerous Technology
    • BEAM in Orbit: For Starters
  • "Influenza, Nostalgia, Science, Ethics, and Me"
    (January 13, 2013)
  • "News, Good and Otherwise: and Billions of Worlds"
    (January 11, 2013)
    Particularly
    • Asteroid 99942 Apophis Missed Us
    • Planets Like Earth: Billions of Them
• Faith
  • "Love and Intelligence, Faith and Reason"
    (April 30, 2012)
  • "Open Eyes and Assumptions"
    (March 25, 2012)
  • "The Beauty of the Universe, God, and Respect "
    (March 21, 2012)
  • "Hope, Joy, and 'More Despondent Than Thou?' "
    (January 8, 2012)
    Particularly
    • We're All Gonna Freeze Starve Get Blown Up Drown Uh, Change?
    • Quirks and Kooks
    • Hope isn't Irresponsibility
  • " 'Religious People aren't Reasonable?' "
    (December 18, 2011)
• This creation
  • "Freedom, Joy, and Tau Ceti's Planets"
    (December 21, 2012)
    Particularly
    • "They are everywhere..."
    • Alone?
  • "Science isn't a Four-Letter Word"
    (January 29, 2012)
    Particularly
    • 1277 and All That
  • " 'In a State of Journeying' "
    (January 18, 2012)
  • "Evolution, Space Aliens, and Two Millennia of Dealing With People"
    (July 5, 2011)
    Particularly
    • Change Happens
    • Earth Exists, Therefore There is No God??!
  • "Report of a UFO Would 'Destroy One's Belief in the Church?!' "
    (August 6, 2010)
• Speculation
  • "Redefining Habitable Zones"
    Apathetic Lemming of the North (February 1, 2013)
    Particularly
    • The Lemming Philosophizes
  • "Time, the Universe, and Space Aliens"
    Apathetic Lemming of the North (April 20, 2012)
    Particularly
    • Space Aliens and the Universe
  • "Alien Life will Most Likely be - Alien"
    Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (April 12, 2010)
    Particularly
    • 'Life as We Know It,' Class M Planets and All That
  • "Gods, Demons, and Used Spaceship Dealers"
    Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (February 13, 2010)
  • " 'All We Want is Peace and Quiet' - Another Look at the Mind of the Alien"
    Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space (December 9, 2009)

More:

• "NASA's Kepler Discovers Multiple Planets Orbiting a Pair of Stars"
  Mission News, Kepler, NASA (August 28, 2012)
• "Scientific Insights into the Evolution of the Universe and of Life"
  Plenary Session (October 31 - November 4, 2008), Acta 20, Vatican City, (2009)
  (archived from http://www.casinapioiv.va/content/dam/accademia/pdf/acta20.pdf)
• "Kepler-47: Our First Binary Star 2-Planet System
  NASA Kepler News (August 28, 2012)
• "Current Exoplanet Archive Holdings
  California Institute of Technology (updated weekly)
• "New Worlds Atlas"
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology