Publisher's Synopsis
Why is there something rather than nothing? A fundamental question which goes to the very heart of creation and existence. Yet there are only two realistic options: 'Intelligent Design', or 'Accident of Chance' - a choice between 'God' and 'Science'. Religion, however, lacks objective evidential support, and requires no justification beyond unconditional belief, while science addresses only material creation, but ignores essential 'intangibles' - mathematics, logic and rationality - without which the universe would not be able to function. These are the Enigmas of creation, and this book addresses all aspects as equally important, including theories of creation, the purpose and nature of the universe, implications of time, concepts of reality and existence, life (biological, artificial and destiny), laws of nature, metaphysical concepts of 'pre-creation', the nature of 'higher intelligence', and the validity and limitations of 'human' Probability. Proposals put forward include, that 'the future' does not exist - only indefinite perpetuation of increments of 'present'; laws of nature being stored by digital encoding onto quantum fluctuations of vacuum energy; and that quantum gravity does not exist. The book collates and evaluates these topics, to compare and prioritize the relative significance of 'real' and 'speculative' arguments, and reaches a 'balance of evidence' conclusion as to why the universe exists - Accident or Design?
