Thursday, February 26, 2009

Atheism and Theism

Creation or Evolution? Intelligent design vs Darwin's evolution



Did the universe evolve or was it created by a skilled designer?
This debate has been going on for centuries. Darwin after 20 years of meticulous research came up with his book "On the Origin of Species " which is
considered a landmark in the field of evolutionary biology. This theory of evolution was contradicted by several eminent researchers and scientists on the
grounds that an intelligent system cant evolve on its own. It requires a skilled designer, which may be the God to create the system.



This was well described by an example of watchmaker,
Assume you were walking on a sea shore and you found a stone lying down. You would safely assume that it had been lying there for ages. However instead of a
stone if you found a watch you would not go by the above assumption. Here the watch which is a complex and well designed object could be compared with a
human or any of nature's creations. For the watch (human) to be well designed its certain that the watch maker(God) needed to be equally dexterous.
Darwin's evolutionary theory is not able to explain several aspects of nature. The scientists seconding the Intelligent design also coined a new term called
complex specified information(CSI). CSI means all information is right there specified in front of you yet it is so complex that one is unable to understand
it.
An example by William Dembski,
"A single letter of the alphabet is specified without being complex. A long sentence of random letters is complex without being specified. A Shakespearean
sonnet is both complex and specified."
Another similar example of CSI is Mozart's sonata.
All nature's creatures are examples of CSI. They cannot be explained using Science or other laws.



Fibonacci series and the Golden ratio


We all know Fibonacci's series , 1,1,2,3,5,8,13.....
Here we all know the number n is the addition of (n-1) and (n-2) numbers.
Also if you notice,
2/3,3/5,5/8,8/13 values are almost the same which is approximately 0.618034.
This ratio is called the Golden ratio.
The golden ratio is seen everywhere only that our eyes are not able to interpret them. On careful observation you may realise that it definitely requires a
master technician to create them and they could not have just evolved.
The arrangements of petals in all flowers are in a Fibonacci's series and are placed at 0.618034 distance from each other.The coniferous trees are another example where the pines are at a distance of 0.618034 from each other. Pineapples are perfect examples.Shells are another example of the Fibonacci series.
The human body also follows the golden ratio rule.1) Ratio of length of forearm to the arm.2) Ratio of length of fingers to the length of the palm.3) Ratio of length of the legs to the whole body.
We can keep on quoting many examples like these.
Another interesting relationship of golden section to the design of the human body is that there are: a) 5 appendages (secondary parts) to the torso, in the arms, leg and head. b) 5 appendages on each of these, in the fingers and toes and 5 openings on the face. c) 5 senses in sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.
The golden section in turn, is also based on 5, as the number phi, or 1.6180339..., is computed using 5's, as follows:
5 ^ .5 * .5 + .5 = Phi
In this mathematical construction "5 ^ .5" means "5 raised to the 1/2 power," which is the square root of 5, which is then multiplied by .5 and to which .5
is then added.
Do u really feel human body could have evolved satisfying all these extraordinary ratios.


Symmetry in Nature


We all would have studied about symmetries in geometry. Ever tried to investigate the different symmetries that exist in nature.



Line symmetry


If you draw a line cutting through the center of a butterfly its left and right halves would be perfectly identical. This symmetry exists for most organisms
in this world including human beings.


Rotational Symmetry
Say you rotate an object less than 1 complete turn. If its final position is identical to its initial position we achieve a rotational symmetry. All flowers
come in this category. If you rotate a flower a quarter turn it still looks identical to its initial position.
If you still feel that this astoundingly symmetrical and perfectly proportional world could have evolved on its own without a master I guess you might have
to re think.
Such is the beauty of nature that all of its creations are perfectly symmetrical.



Science and Theism
I think it has become fashionable for people to say that they believe in Science and not in God. People feel themselves to be more educated and learned when
they behave as atheists and support only scientific facts.
Science is something discovered and interpreted by humans. This interpretation keeps changing with the passage of time. Lets hope one day will come when
people would stop thinking it superstitious when someone believes in God.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Where are we.... !?

Periyar Erode Venkata Ramasamy (September 17, 1879 – December 24, 1973), also known as Ramaswami, EVR, Thanthai Periyar, or Periyar, was a Dravidian social activist, who founded the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam.Periyar propagated the principles of rationalism, self-respect, women’s rights and eradication of caste. He opposed the exploitation and marginalization of the non-Brahmin indigenous Dravidian peoples of South India and the imposition of, what he considered, Indo-Aryan India.
People especially in Tamil Nadu compare the lives of Mahtma Gandhiji and Periyaar as both were great social activists who strived for social welfare all through their lives. However there was a significant difference in their ideologies and preachings. I am not able to imagine in my wildest dreams a person who thrust atheism upon people being compared with Mahatma. I truly understand that many may disagree with my views. This mutual respect of each others opinion s is what makes us humans. So how could so called "Thanthai" Periyaar not respect the sentiments of thousands of God fearing people in this country.
Adolf hitlerWhat does this name bring to your mind? Disgust and Hatred. Very true because Hitler's Aryan Supremacy theory lead to the genocide and holocaust of the jews.Now when Hilter's Pro- Aryan theory offends you how could we accept Periyar's Pro-Dravidian theory. Our country is made of people from different races and we cannot support an ideology which vehemntly detests certain sect of the society. If you still dont agree then imagine Hitler being born in India. I doubt if Periyar would have been able to propogate his views. I read few excerpts where Periyaar had derided Subramania Bharathi, a great insprirational poet and freedom fighter. I was not able to understand and broke my head as to why "Thanthai" did so. Then the "Sherlock Holmes" inside me came out and I checked to which cast Bahrathi belonged to. Perfect, you guessed it he was a brahmin.
How could Periyaar drive his atheist ideals into the god fearing and temple going people's hearts? How could he hurt the sentiments of millions of people.Dont believe me then watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxM5kpqt7oc&feature=related
Realisation dawned on me. It was not atheism but it was anti-Hindus, anti-North India and anti-Aryans. This was were the anti-hindi campaign also started. Speaking of the campaign lets analyse his ideology and political party Dravida Kazhagam. Dravida means south india , parts of Sri Lanka and some parts of Malyasia,Singapore. Does this party or its offshoots have any presence outside Tamil Nadu, forget Malaysia,Singapore. The DK party's initial slogan and ideology was a demand for a separate Dravidian country. Imagine what would have happened to the numerous North Indian and Brahmin families in tamil Nadu. Doesnt this still make you think that Periyaar really acted like Hitler.However this cause of a separate country was not supported by the other dravidian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. Soon an amendment was made to the costitution leading to the prosecution of any protests for separate country. Fearing backlash the DK party changed its slogan to a separate province for Tamils. Now wait, is Periyaar working for the welfare of Tamils or Dravidians?We neither need a pro Aryan group nor a pro dravidian group. What we need is peaceful co existence of people from different religions, caste and culture.We need a united India.