April 26, 2005
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The Ring of FalsehoodIn memory of Philip Morrison, bombmaker,
MorrisonScientific American columnist,
pioneer of the
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
and author of
The Ring of TruthFrom The Measure of a Life:
Does religion
play a role
in attitudes toward ETIs? Philip Morrison gave his considered
opinion… “Well, it might, but I think that it’s just one of the
permissive
routes; it isn’t an essential factor. My parents were Jewish. Their
beliefs were conventional but not very deep. They belonged to the
Jewish community; they went to services infrequently, on special
occasions—funerals and high holidays”….Although Sagan did not
believe in God, he nevertheless said this about SETI’s importance… “It touches deeply into myth, folklore, religion,
mythology; and every human culture in some way or another has wondered
about that type of question. It’s one of the most basic questions there
is.” In fact, in Sagan’s novel/film Contact, described by Keay Davidson
as “one of the most religious science-fiction tales ever written”… Ellie discovers that pi—the ratio of the circumference of a
circle to its diameter—is numerically encoded in the cosmos and this is
proof that a super-intelligence designed the universe…
The universe was made on purpose, the circle said. In whatever galaxy you happen to find yourself,
you take the circumference of a circle, divide it by its diameter, measure closely enough, and uncover
a miracle—another circle, drawn kilometers downstream of the decimal point. In the fabric of space and
in the nature of matter, as in a great work of art, there is, written small, the artist’s signature.
Standing over humans, gods, and demons, subsuming Caretakers and Tunnel builders, there is an
intelligence that antedates the universe.
See also yesterday’s entry Mathematical Style.
Extra credit:
Discuss the difference betweeen physical constants and mathematical
constants. Use the results of your discussion to show that the above
discussion of pi is nonsense.
Comments (2)
It’d be the same fallacy if PI contained digits corresponding to the DNA sequence of every known species on the planet.
ah, steven. math was never what i understood the best, but i’m still willing to try. but you also gave us phillip barrigan and don ameche – yes. thanks for the reminder and the provoked memories.
lily