This is another one that came out of teaching the introductory physics class.
Whenever we cover angular momentum, we always end by discussing gyroscopes. A gyroscope is a wheel with a rigid, low-friction axis. It has most of its weight concentrated on the outside, so it is rotationally "heavy". Angular momentum is a vector (i.e. the direction of rotation matters). The purpose of a gyroscope is to carry a large quantity of angular momentum at safe rotation speeds and to be physically aligned with its angular momentum vector. This sets up a great classroom demonstration of the three-dimensional nature of torque. (Torque is defined as the rate of change of angular momentum; it is also a vector.) Any force used to try to reorient the gyroscope produces a torque that is perpendicular to both the force applied and the axis of the gyroscope. Students have been told that this is true repeatedly and even done homework calculations, but when the whole gyroscope kicks sideways and twists out of their grip it becomes much more real.
The wonky dynamics of a gyroscope when large torques are applied make them fun demonstrations. The other side of constrained angular momentum is that small bumps and twists have almost no effect on the gyroscope's orientation. Even if a gyroscope moves side to side violently, it will usually continue pointing in the same direction. Among other things, this is incredibly useful for navigation. Most planes and ships today have a gyroscope somewhere on board in an isolated environment. The gyroscope is not mechanically tied to the vessel. Instead as the vessel pitches and yaws the apparent motion of the gyroscope indicates the attitude deviance, allowing for rapid and precise corrective action. Attitude (meaning rotational orientation) control is critical to navigation, especially in air travel. If a plane is not flying level, a course correction intended to steer left or right may include a downward component as well, a potentially disastrous error.
We are used to thinking of up as "the direction opposite the pull of gravity" but in stormy seas or high winds this metric loses its meaning. When the world around has lost all of its familiar reference points, a gyrostabilizer acts as an internal "external reference frame". Navigation in any direction remains possible because there is something that is inside the vessel, but unaffected by its turbulent environment, that knows which way is up.
A gyroscope by itself won't keep a plane from crashing. The pilot needs to note that his attitude is out of synch with the reference and take corrective action. Actually, the pilot rarely has to intervene so directly in modern aircraft. The plane's control surfaces (flaps, ailerons, etc.) automatically adjust when an attitude deviation is indicated. Tellingly, this is called "slaving" the controls to the gyroscope. This leaves the pilot free to navigate in the macro sense of deciding where the plane should go and what is the best way to get there. The pilot has increased freedom as a result of making his second-to-second activities slaved to the device inside his plane that points upward.
Maybe this is akin to what is meant by "freedom in Jesus". There are places our Lord wants to go with us, but we'll never get there if we spend all of our time dealing with the storms and temptations of life, just trying to keep from crashing. We need to slave our habits and attitudes, the things we do on automatic, to Jesus. Fortunately, there is a Spirit living inside us who always knows which way is up, even in the midst of the storms. At first, we have to pay close attention to the Spirit's nudging while we try to maintain control ourselves. When we finally submit everything to Him, we find that we are not made completely powerless. Instead, we are free for the first time to really fly.
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Is There A God? (Methods In Experimental Deity Detection)
Given the immense success of the modern scientific establishment, which has taken on some of the outstanding Big Questions about the world and the people in it, and the equally great popularity of various philosophical frameworks which invoke an omnipotent Creator God, it seems reasonable for scientists to think we might now be in a position to either address or dismiss the question "Is there a God?"
The word 'god' is used to describe a variety of entities, so some clarification is needed. For example the Greek gods, situated on Mt. Olympus and bearing human-like forms, can be sought by satellite imaging. There is a clear test which can be performed to falsify their existence. That test has been done; we looked and found nothing. That makes the Greek theory of gods a scientific theory, but a false one. On the other hand, pantheistic 'God is in everything'-type deities are so ill defined as to be clearly outside the purview of science.
When most Westerners say "I (don't) believe in God" they mean something loosely based on the God of Abraham. At a minimum this means a quasi-omnipotent, omniscient, intangible spirit. On the face of things, the inclusion or non-inclusion of such a God in a scientist's understanding of the world seems like it must be axiomatic. There is no way to empirically distinguish between a well-ordered universe which strictly obeys certain laws because it is subject to the absolute rule of a lawful Creator and one that arose spontaneously in accordance with its own internally-consistent set of rules. In his recent book, A Universe From Nothing, Lawrence Krauss presented a very convincing argument that a Universe could (or must) arise from fluctuations in the quantum vacuum. He was immediately dismissed by those not inclined to his philosophical views for failing to account for the existence of the quantum vacuum. Conversely, in a disordered universe there would be no sure way to detect or dismiss a lawless God who just did whatever seemed right at the time.
In its abstract form, then, the existence of God is not a scientific question. The modern popular understanding of 'God' contains more than enough wiggle room to evade any conceivable attempt at falsification. However, there are a number of large scientific experiments currently in progress which have limited falsification power, but are aimed at detecting something which we think ought to exist. Taking our cue from this kind of science, we might at least be able to test specific claims about God. If you hope or suspect that there is a God but aren't sure how to approach Him, this might be a worthwhile path to pursue.
The key to any detection experiment is to determine what kinds of signals can only originate from the subject and tune an instrument to distinguish that signal from all others. To reduce the complexity of its backgrounds, any deity detection experiment should probably take the approach from direct dark matter searches that an omnipresent entity is easiest to detect locally. If something is everywhere and it has discrete, measurable effects on its surroundings, then the best place to look for it is here. (For most people, a God who doesn't have local effects might as well not exist.) We should also borrow a page from the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and assume that God is much more powerful than we are and wants to be found, or at least isn't hiding. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7) However like SETI we should expect a certain other-ness from the object of our search. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." (Isaiah 55:8) Derivation of the behavior of God from first principles is, almost by definition, impossible. Any concrete information we have must come from revelation (God tells you what He is like), which rather obviates the existence question. Fortunately, there are several extensive books which purport to outline in detail the behavior of God as it relates to people. For this exercise, we will use the text of the Bible to develop tests for the Christian God, although you could presumably start with the Quran, the Torah or other texts.
Following the advice of Matthew 7:7 ("Ask and it will be given to you…"), the simplest possible deity detection experiment is to say out loud "God, do you exist?" If you can summon the confidence to say it aloud and then trust yourself to hear the answer, the Direct Question Method has an anecdotally high success rate. However it may be difficult to interpret the result. The act of performing the experiment is likely to cause feelings of awkwardness and hyper-sensitivity. On top of those emotions, a sudden unexpected thought in your head saying e.g. "Yes, I do." may not be especially convincing. A better question might be "Show me that you exist." That moves the detector out of your head, but opens up the entire world as the signal region. It then becomes necessary to decide over an extended period whether the events of your life might have happened on their own or had to be orchestrated by God. To simplify the analysis, variants on the Gideon Method could be employed:
In principle, by selecting a number of sufficiently unlikely independent tests, God's existence could be established to arbitrary confidence. In practice, there is some biblical record of God frowning on extensive use of this method. In several instances where a risky behavior is suggested purely to show that God is God, the Bible says flat out "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." (Deut 6:16 and Luke 4:12) Instead "...Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" (John 8:31-32, emphasis added)
The problem here is that the God of the Bible is not primarily interested in being detected. He is interested in positive relationships. "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder." (James 2:19) The question of a locally acting deity is important to our immediate lives, so once we have reasonable confidence that God might be trying to get our attention, the expectation is that we play by His rules and take our data from personal interactions.
A Biblical Experiment
So what does it mean to hold to Jesus' teaching? At one point, a religious scholar asked Jesus
Loving God
First, how does one love a God who is unknown and possibly doesn't exist? We can get some help here from other places where people are actively forming new relationships. Dating often begins with a lot of talking and time spent in places where the other person likes to hang out. Talking to God is called prayer. Agnostic prayer usually starts with "God, are you there?" but can quickly move to other things you want to know, concerns, etc. Just like on a date, taking time to be quiet and listen is a plus, as is praise. Since praise implies an established relationship, it may be easier to start with gratitude, ranging from the joys of the day to the wonder of creation. An omniscient deity presumably does not require us to pray aloud, but most people find that vocalization makes communication, including prayer, more concrete and cuts down on distractions.
Where does God like to hang out? Omnipresent beings hang out everywhere by definition, so it could be argued that hanging out with God is simply a matter of cultivating an awareness of His presence all the time. This is a valuable exercise, but one complicated by the open question of God's existence. A more concrete method would be to hang out with other people who are hanging out with God (or, for those still on the fence, people who think they are hanging out with God). "For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them." (Matt 18:20) In most places in North America, a brief search will turn up many churches within a short distance. These organizations are nominally all part of a single Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27) tasked with carrying out the work of God on Earth. Matters of denomination are largely irrelevant to the present query, but before investing much time in a church it would be prudent to determine that they believe God is active in their midst and look to the Bible as an authoritative reference. Another clue is found in Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." No one is perfect, but if these things are completely absent from a church, the God described in the Bible should be sought elsewhere.
Loving Your Neighbor
This brings us to loving your neighbor as yourself. In Luke's account of the Greatest Commandment discussion, the follow-up question is "And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29) Jesus responds with a parable about a Jew left for dead my robbers who is rescued by a Samaritan, his cultural enemy. The Samaritan carries him to safety and then pays a large sum of money to have him looked after. Caring for the needs of those unable to care for themselves is a major theme throughout the Bible, as is God's interaction with people engaged in this activity. Giving up our time and money to care for other people, particularly people we dislike, often feels like a giant leap into insanity and almost everyone has deeply-held limits on how far down that road they are willing to go. Since the Bible promises that God will meet us where we are (e.g. James 4:8), it is sufficient for deity-detection purposes to go as far as we are able and make these limits, once discovered, a matter of prayer. If a choice must be made between giving time or giving money, the relational aspect of giving time is an advantage here.
Besides caring for material needs, one of the things Jesus commanded us to do for our neighbor is forgive them. "Forgive" in English has two related definitions:
1) stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone (for an offense, flaw, or mistake)
2) cancel (a debt)
Forgiveness is supposed to be very healthy, but can also be extremely difficult. "Help me forgive <person> for <thing>." is a very common prayer. Considering that "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt. 6:12) made it into Jesus' 53-word stock prayer, attempts to obey Jesus' teaching should include as much forgiveness as possible.
(This post is now several years old and never got posted. I leave open the question of how to interpret the events of your life during a deity-detection search. For most people, relational intuition will be more valuable than some numerical analysis.)
The word 'god' is used to describe a variety of entities, so some clarification is needed. For example the Greek gods, situated on Mt. Olympus and bearing human-like forms, can be sought by satellite imaging. There is a clear test which can be performed to falsify their existence. That test has been done; we looked and found nothing. That makes the Greek theory of gods a scientific theory, but a false one. On the other hand, pantheistic 'God is in everything'-type deities are so ill defined as to be clearly outside the purview of science.
When most Westerners say "I (don't) believe in God" they mean something loosely based on the God of Abraham. At a minimum this means a quasi-omnipotent, omniscient, intangible spirit. On the face of things, the inclusion or non-inclusion of such a God in a scientist's understanding of the world seems like it must be axiomatic. There is no way to empirically distinguish between a well-ordered universe which strictly obeys certain laws because it is subject to the absolute rule of a lawful Creator and one that arose spontaneously in accordance with its own internally-consistent set of rules. In his recent book, A Universe From Nothing, Lawrence Krauss presented a very convincing argument that a Universe could (or must) arise from fluctuations in the quantum vacuum. He was immediately dismissed by those not inclined to his philosophical views for failing to account for the existence of the quantum vacuum. Conversely, in a disordered universe there would be no sure way to detect or dismiss a lawless God who just did whatever seemed right at the time.
In its abstract form, then, the existence of God is not a scientific question. The modern popular understanding of 'God' contains more than enough wiggle room to evade any conceivable attempt at falsification. However, there are a number of large scientific experiments currently in progress which have limited falsification power, but are aimed at detecting something which we think ought to exist. Taking our cue from this kind of science, we might at least be able to test specific claims about God. If you hope or suspect that there is a God but aren't sure how to approach Him, this might be a worthwhile path to pursue.
The key to any detection experiment is to determine what kinds of signals can only originate from the subject and tune an instrument to distinguish that signal from all others. To reduce the complexity of its backgrounds, any deity detection experiment should probably take the approach from direct dark matter searches that an omnipresent entity is easiest to detect locally. If something is everywhere and it has discrete, measurable effects on its surroundings, then the best place to look for it is here. (For most people, a God who doesn't have local effects might as well not exist.) We should also borrow a page from the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and assume that God is much more powerful than we are and wants to be found, or at least isn't hiding. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7) However like SETI we should expect a certain other-ness from the object of our search. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." (Isaiah 55:8) Derivation of the behavior of God from first principles is, almost by definition, impossible. Any concrete information we have must come from revelation (God tells you what He is like), which rather obviates the existence question. Fortunately, there are several extensive books which purport to outline in detail the behavior of God as it relates to people. For this exercise, we will use the text of the Bible to develop tests for the Christian God, although you could presumably start with the Quran, the Torah or other texts.
Following the advice of Matthew 7:7 ("Ask and it will be given to you…"), the simplest possible deity detection experiment is to say out loud "God, do you exist?" If you can summon the confidence to say it aloud and then trust yourself to hear the answer, the Direct Question Method has an anecdotally high success rate. However it may be difficult to interpret the result. The act of performing the experiment is likely to cause feelings of awkwardness and hyper-sensitivity. On top of those emotions, a sudden unexpected thought in your head saying e.g. "Yes, I do." may not be especially convincing. A better question might be "Show me that you exist." That moves the detector out of your head, but opens up the entire world as the signal region. It then becomes necessary to decide over an extended period whether the events of your life might have happened on their own or had to be orchestrated by God. To simplify the analysis, variants on the Gideon Method could be employed:
Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece, but this time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew.” That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew. (Judges 6:36-40)(Caveat: A well-controlled, successful fleece test will either change your life or result in immediate revocation of your scientist's license. Don't ask questions to which you don't want answers.)
In principle, by selecting a number of sufficiently unlikely independent tests, God's existence could be established to arbitrary confidence. In practice, there is some biblical record of God frowning on extensive use of this method. In several instances where a risky behavior is suggested purely to show that God is God, the Bible says flat out "Do not put the Lord your God to the test." (Deut 6:16 and Luke 4:12) Instead "...Jesus said, 'If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" (John 8:31-32, emphasis added)
The problem here is that the God of the Bible is not primarily interested in being detected. He is interested in positive relationships. "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder." (James 2:19) The question of a locally acting deity is important to our immediate lives, so once we have reasonable confidence that God might be trying to get our attention, the expectation is that we play by His rules and take our data from personal interactions.
A Biblical Experiment
So what does it mean to hold to Jesus' teaching? At one point, a religious scholar asked Jesus
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.'" (Matt. 22:36-40)Jesus identified Himself as the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 5:17), so all of His teaching should be contained within these two commandments. Let's take them one at a time.
Loving God
First, how does one love a God who is unknown and possibly doesn't exist? We can get some help here from other places where people are actively forming new relationships. Dating often begins with a lot of talking and time spent in places where the other person likes to hang out. Talking to God is called prayer. Agnostic prayer usually starts with "God, are you there?" but can quickly move to other things you want to know, concerns, etc. Just like on a date, taking time to be quiet and listen is a plus, as is praise. Since praise implies an established relationship, it may be easier to start with gratitude, ranging from the joys of the day to the wonder of creation. An omniscient deity presumably does not require us to pray aloud, but most people find that vocalization makes communication, including prayer, more concrete and cuts down on distractions.
Where does God like to hang out? Omnipresent beings hang out everywhere by definition, so it could be argued that hanging out with God is simply a matter of cultivating an awareness of His presence all the time. This is a valuable exercise, but one complicated by the open question of God's existence. A more concrete method would be to hang out with other people who are hanging out with God (or, for those still on the fence, people who think they are hanging out with God). "For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them." (Matt 18:20) In most places in North America, a brief search will turn up many churches within a short distance. These organizations are nominally all part of a single Body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27) tasked with carrying out the work of God on Earth. Matters of denomination are largely irrelevant to the present query, but before investing much time in a church it would be prudent to determine that they believe God is active in their midst and look to the Bible as an authoritative reference. Another clue is found in Galatians 5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." No one is perfect, but if these things are completely absent from a church, the God described in the Bible should be sought elsewhere.
Loving Your Neighbor
This brings us to loving your neighbor as yourself. In Luke's account of the Greatest Commandment discussion, the follow-up question is "And who is my neighbor?" (Luke 10:29) Jesus responds with a parable about a Jew left for dead my robbers who is rescued by a Samaritan, his cultural enemy. The Samaritan carries him to safety and then pays a large sum of money to have him looked after. Caring for the needs of those unable to care for themselves is a major theme throughout the Bible, as is God's interaction with people engaged in this activity. Giving up our time and money to care for other people, particularly people we dislike, often feels like a giant leap into insanity and almost everyone has deeply-held limits on how far down that road they are willing to go. Since the Bible promises that God will meet us where we are (e.g. James 4:8), it is sufficient for deity-detection purposes to go as far as we are able and make these limits, once discovered, a matter of prayer. If a choice must be made between giving time or giving money, the relational aspect of giving time is an advantage here.
Besides caring for material needs, one of the things Jesus commanded us to do for our neighbor is forgive them. "Forgive" in English has two related definitions:
1) stop feeling angry or resentful toward someone (for an offense, flaw, or mistake)
2) cancel (a debt)
Forgiveness is supposed to be very healthy, but can also be extremely difficult. "Help me forgive <person> for <thing>." is a very common prayer. Considering that "forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors" (Matt. 6:12) made it into Jesus' 53-word stock prayer, attempts to obey Jesus' teaching should include as much forgiveness as possible.
(This post is now several years old and never got posted. I leave open the question of how to interpret the events of your life during a deity-detection search. For most people, relational intuition will be more valuable than some numerical analysis.)
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