Lots have people have reflected to me their surprise at the result of my recent AI experiment (see my previous post). I have to say I’m surprised by the general surprise. The AI’s conclusion that God probably exists is exactly the result I was anticipating. The growth in scientific understanding in recent decades has pointed inexorably toward a supernatural first cause and severely eroded the naturalists’ tenuously held position.
I’ve been banging on about this for years. The hard scientific data across multiple disciplines consistently points to the impossibility of biological life and the universe itself coming into existence by natural causes. Such things as the origin of DNA, the irreducible complexity of biological components, the fine tuning of the cosmological constants, the indisputable evidence of the universe’s finite beginning and the mysterious existence of human consciousness and cognition all defy purely mechanistic explanation. In the light of our deepening understanding of these and many other areas of scientific evidence the naturalist is effectively bereft of a viable explanation.
I find a curious disconnect within our society. At the popular level, the average person has the perception that science and faith are at war with each other. They consider that religious faith and hard scientific data paint diametrically opposed worldviews and that a person of faith must reject or ignore scientific evidence in order to maintain a belief in God.
But at the coalface of scientific endeavour where scientists are studying the hard data at the deepest levels, the growing body of evidence is increasingly pointing toward an underlying intelligent, supernatural cause that cannot be explained by random mechanistic processes.
As a result there is a growing movement within open-minded scientists towards, if not outright theism, at least supernaturalism – an explanation that lies beyond physical nature.
Thus, as I say, a curious disconnect is at work within society. The general populace popularly believes that science is building a cumulative case against God, while the scientists who are studying the evidence at depth are finding that the data actually supports the existence of an underlying supernatural cause.
For example, in 2001, Australian scientist, Dr. John Ashton, published the book, “In Six Days: Why Fifty Scientists Choose To Believe in Creation”. The book contains 50 chapters, each written by a different Ph.D. scientist, explaining why they have rejected naturalistic theories in favour of a creationist viewpoint. The scientists are all highly credentialed Ph.D. scientists drawn from a wide range of scientific disciplines, some of whom hold senior research and teaching positions at major universities.
These scientists who contributed to Dr. Ashton’s book are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a growing tide of scientists moving towards a supernatural explanation for our universe. In 2006, the website, Dissent from Darwinism, invited only Ph.D. scientists who had rejected purely naturalistic explanations for life and the universe to sign a public statement indicating their belief in a supernatural cause. The list of scientists signing the statement quickly grew to over 1,000. Many were professors and senior researchers at major universities.
What has happened to these scientists? Have they experienced some kind of religious epiphany? Did God speak to them from a burning bush? No. They simply arrived at their position as a result of studying the hard data.
This is why I was not at all surprise that ChatGPT concluded that the best explanation of the scientific evidence is that God probably exists. AI software has access to the latest hard scientific data and it sees that naturalism is increasingly contra-indicated by the evidence.
Dr. Max Born, the German physicist, who won the Nobel Prize for Science in 1954, said; “𝙏𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙨𝙩 𝙢𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚.” In the 70 years since he made that statement, the evidence for God’s existence has continued to grow.
If you would like to find out more, either to satisfy your curiosity about God’s possible existence or to strengthen the faith that you already have, I recommend my 24-part video series, “Evidence For Belief”. You can access it from my SmartFaith website or watch it directly on my YouTube channel (search for Kevin Simington). Here is a direct link to the video series on my website: VIDEOS