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June 15, 2009

Dear Colleague:  

   If we humans came into existence in some other stellar system than the solar one, we may still be pretty smart--smart enough, in any case, to develop high culture. But we could not have developed physical science in all its rigor and beauty. For that to be possible—for geniuses like Kepler and Newton to come up with rigorous and beautiful laws governing the movement of the planets around the sun—the solar system has to be exceptionally simple. How simple? Well, one requirement is that the planetary orbits be nearly circular and non-intersecting; and, another requirement is that even the largest planet in the system has a mass that is only a tiny fraction of the mass of the sun. God, in his desire not to overtax the brain of Kepler and Newton, looked about the Milky Way and found a solar system that has just the right degree of simplicity and put them there. Lo and behold, Kepler and Newton came up with physical science, and, God, seeing what they have achieved, is well pleased (John Polkinghorne, Faith, Science and Understanding).

   But then God got worried. Given the achievement, won't Kepler and Newton and their fellow humans become overweeningly arrogant? To prevent that from happening, God made most of the physical systems, especially terrestrial ones, extremely complicated, and so unlike the "clock" mechanical simplicity of the solar system that they might as well be called "clouds." The parts of a "cloud" are interdependent, like those in a mechanical system, but the interdependence in a "cloud" is so sensitive that the slightest disturbance in one area could totally change the behavior of the rest. Prediction, then, is nearly impossible. The climate-earth system is an example of a "cloud," one that is infinitely complex and sensitive. Climatologists struggle to simplify and predict, with only modest success. They grow frustrated, ready to blame God for not making simpler systems. At the same time, they believe that the complexity could be overcome. In other words, they remain arrogant; and we too, we non-scientists who look up to them.

   God, seeing how humans continue to be arrogant, was obliged to create something in nature that is not only difficult but impossible to understand—impossible, that is, for the limited human intelligence. And that thing is called consciousness. We humans try to crack the nut of consciousness with tools derived from perception of the physical world and the structure of language, but they don't do the job. Why? Well, these tools shape our conception of the brain, "but for that very reason they make that conception inadequate for understanding how the brain levers consciousness into existence" (Colin McGinn, The Mysterious Flame). Nature, then, retains a mystery at its core. It cannot be wholly domesticated even if, one day, "clouds" are as understandable to us as "clocks." We humans will continue to feel awe. So as not to be bored, we need to feel awe, at least from time to time. See how God takes care of everything?

Best wishes,

Yi-Fu