My primary reason for writing my first book (cover shown above) is that philosophical overview of Modern Materialism had been long overdue and I felt I had to fil the niche. This was not
only to clarify what the current version of Materialism encompasses but also to distinguish it
from the traditional Materialism of the ancient Greeks. Also, a new book was
needed to more or less update Madalyn Murray O'Hair's 'Why Materialism?' - which was actually more of a (45 pg.) pamphlet that came out in 1965.
My book included several chapters including:
I. Why Materialism?
II. The Cosmic Basis of Materialism
III. The Evolutionary Foundation
IV. A Scientific Perspective On Materialism
V. Consciousness and Modern Materialism
VI. Materialism and Morality
VII. The Future of Materialism
A seamless thread of logic actually connects all the chapters beginning with answering the basic question of why science opts for Materialist foundations and why religion rejects them - as it rejects empirical science. As noted in Chapter I:
"The beauty of Materialism is that it is minimalist by definition. No spirits, souls, demons, or other supernatural entities to clutter the ontological landscape and confuse the issues or distract."
That then paves the way for the cosmic basis of Materialism in Chapter II, after initially summarizing the cosmological principle and Einstein's principle of equivalence. These, along with the examination of the red shift which gives rise to the expansion of the universe, pave the way to dark matter and dark energy. In a way these form the core of the chapter.
Zwicky in 1933 actually laid the original, observational basis for dark matter. His measurements of galaxy clusters highlighted a 'missing mass'. He found that the mass needed to bind a cluster of galaxies together gravitationally was at least ten times the (estimated) apparent mass visible. THIS WAS NEVER OBVIOUS BEFORE HIS MEASUREMENTS!
This mass, because it was inferred but not directly detectable, became the first dark matter. Around the same time there were other confirmations, based on observed stellar motions in the galactic plane, by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort. He determined there had to be at least three times the mass visibly present in order for stars not to escape the galaxy and fly off into space. Dark matter itself occurs in either baryonic ('heavy particle' group - e.g. neutrons, protons, etc) or non-baryonic forms, depending on whether it reacts with radiation or not. If not, it's non-baryonic. This non-baryonic matter further breaks down into 'cold dark matter' and 'hot dark matter'.
The
terms 'hot' and 'cold' not so much indicative of current temperatures but
rather the phase of the early universe at which the particular dark matter
'decoupled'. (An earlier decoupling indicates a higher background temperature -
since it's closer in time to the Big Bang).
As for dark energy , I noted in CH. II that precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), including data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), provided solid evidence for it. The same is true of data from two extensive projects charting the large-scale distribution of galaxies - the Two-Degree Field (2DF) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).
The curves from other
data - with corrected apparent magnitude v. redshift (z) - give different
combinations of Wdark to Wmatter over the range. However, only one of the graph
combinations bests fits the data:
Wdark = 0.65 and Wmatter = 0.35
These correspond to
an expansion accelerating for the last 6 million years- with much more dark
energy involved (0.65) than ordinary matter.
When the
predictions of the different theoretical models are combined with the best
measurements of the cosmic microwave background, galaxy clustering and
supernova distances, we find that:
0.62 < Wdark < 0.76,
where Wdark = rdark/ rc, and -1.3 < w < -0.9
In tandem, the numbers show unequivocally that dark energy is the acceleration agent, and in addition – dark energy comprises the lion’s share of what constitutes the cosmos. Indeed, barely 7 percent of the cosmos is ordinary matter. That means less than 7% displays any order such as one might expect from a supernatural "watchmaker".
But out of that 'residue' the galaxies and stars were formed, evolved, and from the explosion of certain massive stars the solar system and planet Earth originated. Those residue heavier elements, especially carbon, then paved the way for life to evolve - which is the subject of Chapter III, starting with the examination of stellar evolution via the H-R diagram - covered in this blog post:
Selected Questions - Answers From All Experts Astronomy Forum (The H-R Diagram)
After showing how the innards of massive stars create the carbon that's the basis of life on Earth the particular focus shifts to how mutation and natural selection drive evolution, e.g.
How Mutation And Natural Selection Drive Microevolution...
This examined after first discussing molecular evolution in reference to the key molecules DNA, RNA and then protein synthesis - in other words the 'building blocks' of evolution:
Leading finally to the theory of abiogenesis:
Revisiting the Theory Of Abiogenesis ...
Also included in the chapter is the technique of radio-carbon dating, so crucial too assessing the age of fossils etc.
The stage is now set for a deep dive into the concepts of statistical dynamics as well as nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory including spontaneous appearance of order, and from quantum mechanics as applied to brain function:
Blog posts which covered similar material to the chapter content include:
Order Arising from Disorder? Not Strange At All!
The next chapter (V) gives examples of how quantum mechanics underpins consciousness, a topic I also explored at length (and in similar ways) when I shot down the nonsense of a "natural afterlife", i.e.
Also relevant to this Ch. V content is my 2015 blog post on 'new support' for a quantum model of mind:
The penultimate chapter (VI) explored how scientific Materialism is not at all averse to moral values, but rather adjusted away from an absolutist frame, e.g.
The chapter also includes an aggressive takedown of the Catholic Church concept of "natural law" - and with it all their assorted "pelvic sins". A post of mine from January this year contained similar content:
Catholic Women Don't Require Theological Conference Dispensation To Use Artificial Contraception
The rational alternative to absolutist morality is found to be “moral provisionalism” or provisional ethics. It provides a "reasonable middle ground" between relative and absolutist ethics.
The final chapter on the Future of Materialism warns that atheist, freethinkers and agnostics as well need to be mindful of the foremost threats facing our planet and by extension all skeptical thinkers. These include:
- Overpopulation, depriving too many billions of resources to survive
- Climate change-global warming: making Earth increasingly uninhabitable
-Corporatization and globalization: especially where it applies to the corporate purchase of political power, to the detriment of citizens
- Education crisis: The American system is under regular attack by outside (often right wing religious) forces to divest itself of critical thinking and controversial science topics such as Darwinian evolution. One damning finding cited - from the People for the American Way: 60% of Americans believe that religious "explanations for origins" ought to be taught in high schools. Never mind there are no religious "explanations".
Those interested in purchasing my book can find it at amazon,
The Atheist's Handbook to Modern Materialism: Philip Stahl: 9781570875397: Amazon.com: Books
As well as other commercial -retail sellers.
See Also:
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