From: Frederick Mann (fm1@amug.org)
Date: Mon Jan 06 2003 - 11:00:53 MST
On '60 Minutes' last night Hawking was asked
if there was room for God in his cosmology.
He responded that for him God was a metaphor
for the laws that govern the universe.
I asked my Martian friend what he thought
of Hawking's response. He answered:
"Ask Hawking what kind of creatures these
supposed "laws" are?"
"What mechanisms do they use to "govern"
the universe?"
"Do they have a very large number of little
invisible hands they use to push all parts
of the universe around?"
"Or do they have big invisible hands they
use to push only bigger parts of the
universe around?"
"Are these supposed "laws" volitional
entities? Are they independent or do
they answer to some "higher authority"
that in turn "governs" them and tells
them what to do?"
My Martian friend concluded by saying
that Hawking probably hadn't read what
Nietzsche wrote about "laws" being
human descriptions of regularities they
think they observe in the universe.
Frederick Mann
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