Atheists: How do you explain 'elegance' in the universe?

Question

Scientists are always telling us how 'elegant' so many natural systems are. How is that possible in a universe based in Chance? Why would natural laws be 'elegant'? HOW is this possible without a guiding intelligence???

I asked a fresh question because I was tired of seeing old recycled questions. I wasn't expecting to be insulted for my troubles. Thank you.

Answer 1

I think many scientists are referring to how a few relatively simple physical laws enable such diversity and complexity. In a sense, all of reality has "evolved" from a set of mathematical equations. There is elegance in how the infinite variety of forms of matter and especially forms of living matter can arise from these equations that describe the physical laws.

It is clear to me that you don't understand what role "chance" plays in physics and biology. Have you ever heard of reverse osmosis filtering? Read the link below for a quick description. Note that it never refers to chance, but instead to Brownian Motion. But Brownian Motion is simply the name given to how molecules or particles inside a liquid or gas move, and it driven by randomness. A reverse osmosis filter is a passive device that filters out salt and other impurities from water, and works only because of the random motion of molecules brushing up against the filter.

Comparing the above to the Theory of Evolution, recall that evolution happens due to natural selection applied to the random mutations within the gene pool. Natural selection is like the reverse osmosis filter. Sure, if all there was in the universe was Chance, and no natural selection, then life wouldn't have evolved. But there is natural selection, and so life have evolved.

Returning back to the physical universe, you should be aware that Gravity is one of the forces that modulates "chance". Gravity forces atoms to clump together, and when you get enough Hydrogen atoms together, the gravity results in enough pressure to initiate fusion. And that fusion provides the energy influx that keeps the Earth from being a closed system, letting life on Earth escape the supposed constraints of the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

I make my living as a software engineer. We have a saying that you might have heard of: "It's not a bug, it's a feature". We say it when something at first seems to be a problem, but you can argue is actually a benefit. Chance is not a bug, it's a feature.

Answer 2

Ah, isn't it beautiful?

It wasn't created by chance, but by natural selection and physical laws that naturally favor certain shapes and forms based upon those laws. Just like how the planets and stars are all spheres because that is the only possible shape if you have enough mass with gravity pulling everything towards the center. Does it take intelligence to make a planet round? Or a leaf green? In a sense yes, but it is not based upon God, but natural laws.

One could argue that God created all the laws of nature that caused the beautiful elegance we see in nature. But why do we need that extra step? Why can't the universe simply work exactly the way it does without some God pulling all the strings?

Answer 3

On the large scale, it may seem that the universe is elegant. But when you take a look at how electrons behave, and really start understanding that all the laws of physics break down at extreme speeds and under extreme gravity, you start to realize that it may not be so elegent. Quantum mechanics suggest that electrons pop in and out of existence in a random way, and this effects everything else to some degree. It is possible that the four dimensions we exist in are just a few of the total (possibly 11) dimensions that exist in this universe. To us, many things seem elegant, but is it really so? This is coming from an agnostic, not an atheist by the way

Answer 4

There is not a human mind on the planet that can imagine all possibilites if radiation, nitrogen, all levels of chemicals in the atmosphere and in the universe were changed to some degree through billions of years. Like others said, if it doesn't work it stops existing after a while. We've only scratched the surface of the universe, the only human-made craft to leave the solar system are the voyager probes launched in 1970.

Answer 5

No one can seriously explain the universe. Some hard-nosed physicists would probably say it all comes down to one math equation, but we don't have that yet.

However, I do not accept this as evidence for a designer. For if the universe is "too elegant" to simply exist, then certainly God is even more elegant. So then God's undesigned elegance is an even greater problem than the universe's undesigned elegance. See?

Answer 6

That's a stupid precept. Why would an Atheist be called on to explain elegance. Every thing in existence is without guiding intelligence except man made things. I certainly don't find much of that intelligence design very elegant compared to nature. Don't make such silly assumptions. Atheists are not that stupid you know. Quit trying to take credit where credit hasn't been established. God bless kisses Betty.

Answer 7

I agree. Nature is so beautiful. Someone I was VERY close to passed and I often had dreams that he came to visit me and we were talking about his passing and so on, SO REAL, anyway in one of them, he showed me what Heaven was like, he didnt use words but it was this feeling I wish I could explain it, but ever since that morning when I woke up, I had a new and higher appreciation for nature. I didnt wake up looking for it, or even see any form of nature in the dream, but it was if the feeling I got from looking at nature is the feeling Im going to get in heaven, and it became a KNOWING feeling, not just a thought. Sorry I cant explain better! lol

great question :)

Answer 8

I think you would need a little more than elegance to prove that there's really a "guiding intelligence".

Answer 9

Don't you just love how atheist can look at something a billion times more complex and organized then the encyclopedia and attribute it to random chance. Next thing you know they will be trying to tell us that Mt. Rushmore was created by water erosion.
After all it is far less complicated then the human brain, and they say it was made by random chance mutations.

Answer 10

elegant is just an expression, you are reading too much into it. the universe is only organized chaos. it is not as complex or as amazing as you think. simple minds are in awe and have to make up a deity to explain existence.