“ > > > > > > STEPHEN C. MEYER ”

HARPER ONE | March 30, 2021 release

“This book makes it clear that far from being an un- scientific claim, intelligent design is valid science.” —Dr. Brian D. Josephson, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Cambridge, Fellow of the Royal Society, Nobel Laureate in Physics

Key Points INSPIRING HOPE: The scientific rediscovery of God provides hope of purpose and meaning to human existence, > contrary to the claims of atheists who assert that human life lacks any ultimate significance. > THEISTIC IMPLICATIONS: Recent discoveries in cosmology showing the universe had a beginning have decidedly theistic implications; namely, they point to a transcendent creator as the cause of the origin of the universe.

A UNIVERSE FROM SOMETHING: Physicists such as Stephen Hawking and Lawrence Krauss, who claim to have > explained the origin of the universe from nothing but the laws of physics, inadvertently advance ideas that actually support the God hypothesis. > TACKLING THE MULTIVERSE: The book shows why positing one God is a better explanation than the multiverse hypothesis for the fine-tuning of the physical parameters that have made life possible. > MASTER PROGRAMMER: The book shows that recent discoveries about DNA point to a master programmer or designer for life. > JUDEO-CHRISTIAN TRADITION: Judeo-Christian ideas provided the inspiration for science during the period of the scientific revolution. Devoutly religious scientists such as Johannes Kepler, Robert Boyle, and Sir Isaac Newton show that science and Christianity have not always been at war, contrary to the claims of atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Lawrence Krauss, Neil Tyson, Bill Nye, and others.

When you don’t understand the details of living systems, ignorance permits discounting a Creator. But when the “ details of science are thrust upon you, you’re forced to ask: How on Earth—literally—did that happen? Thus, the God hypothesis returns. Stephen Meyer convincingly drives the point home: How could it be this way? Only God!” —James M. Tour, Ph.D., T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Nano-Engineering, Rice University”

STEPHEN C. MEYER A comprehensive and lucid argument for theism as the best explanation for the scientific evidence. Stephen “ Meyer has a true gift for conveying complex concepts clearly. —Dr. Robert Kaita, former” Principal Research Physicist, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.

Dust Jacket Description

Beginning in the late 19th century, many intellectuals began to insist that scientific knowledge conflicts with traditional theistic belief—that science and belief in God are “at war.” Philosopher of science Stephen Meyer challenges this view by examining three scientific discoveries with decidedly theistic implications. Building on the case for the intelligent design of life that he developed in Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt, Meyer demon- strates how discoveries in cosmology and physics coupled with those in biology help to establish the identity of the designing intelligence behind life and the universe.

Meyer argues that theism—with its affirmation of a transcendent, intelligent and active creator—best explains the evidence we have concerning biological and cosmological origins. Previously Meyer refrained from attempting to answer questions about “who” might have designed life. Now he provides an evidence-based answer to perhaps the ultimate mystery of the universe. In so doing, he reveals a stunning conclusion: the data support not just the existence of an intelligent designer of some kind—but the existence of a personal God.

About the Author

Stephen C. Meyer, received his PhD from Cambridge University in the philosophy of science. He directs the Center for Science & Culture at Discovery Institute in Seattle and authored the New York Times bestseller Darwin’s Doubt and Signature in the Cell, a (London) Times Literary Supplement “Book of the Year”.

Meyer has published in a wide variety of publications including: The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The National Post (of Canada), The Daily Telegraph (of London) and The Los Angeles Times. He has appeared on programs such as The Jim Lehrer News Hour, NBC Nightly News, ABC Nightly News, CBS Sunday Morning, Ben Shapiro’s Sunday Special, The Dennis Prager Show, Adam Carolla Show, Nightline, Fox News Live, CNN, Good Morning America, C-SPAN and The Tavis Smiley Show. He has also been featured in two New York Times front-page stories and has garnered attention in other top media.

Socials and Website

Facebook: www.facebook.com/drstephencmeyer Twitter: @StephenCMeyer Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/DrStephenMeyer Web: www.stephencmeyer.org

returnofthegodhypothesis.com STEPHEN C. MEYER “ ... a profound, judicious book of great value.” —Michael D. Aeschliman, emeritus professor Boston University

CONTENTS

Prologue...... 1

Part I: The Rise and Fall of Theistic Science 1. The Judeo-Christian Origins of Modern Science...... 13 2. Three Metaphors and the Making of the Scientific World Picture...... 30 3. The Rise of Scientific Materialism and the Eclipse of Theistic Science...... 50

Part II: Return of the God Hypothesis 4. The Light from Distant Galaxies...... 69 5. The Big Bang Theory...... 87 6. The Curvature of Space and the Beginning of the Universe...... 111 7. The Goldilocks Universe...... 130 8. Extreme Fine Tuning—by Design?...... 146 Media Contact: 9. The Origin of Life and the DNA Enigma...... 164 10. The Cambrian and Other Information Explosions...... 189 Andrew McDiarmid Part III: Inference to the Best Metaphysical Explanation Media Relations Specialist 11. How to Assess a Metaphysical Hypothesis...... 217 and Assistant to CSC Director 12. The God Hypothesis and the Beginning of the Universe..... 239 [email protected] 13. The God Hypothesis and the Design of the Universe...... 259 425-418-6737 14. The God Hypothesis and the Design of Life...... 279 www.discovery.org/id

Part IV: Conjectures and Refutations Discovery Institute 15. The Information Shell Game...... 301 208 Columbia St. 16. One God or Many Universes?...... 326 Seattle, WA 98104 17. Stephen Hawking and Quantum Cosmology...... 348 18. The Cosmological Information Problem...... 368 19. Collapsing Waves and Boltzmann Brains...... 388

Part V: Conclusion 20. Acts of God or God of the Gaps?...... 409 21. The Big Questions and Why They Matter...... 431

Acknowledgments...... 451 Notes...... 453 Bibliography...... 525 Credits and Permissions...... 553 Index...... 557

returnofthegodhypothesis.comDiscoveryInstitutePress.com/EvolutionandID STEPHEN C. MEYER (continued) A Factory That Builds Factories That Build Factories That… Excerpted from Ch. 3, by Eric H. Anderson

“Meyer’s book is a masterclass.” —John C. Walton, Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Sample Chapter

pgs 296-298 | RETURN OF THE GOD HYPOTHESIS

Indeed, given the facts of molecular biology, the axioms of information theory, the laws of thermodynamics, the high- energy state of the early universe, the reality of unpredictable quantum fluctuations, and what we know about the time that elapsed between the origin of the universe and the first life on earth, explanations of the origin of life that deny the need for new information after the beginning of the universe clearly lack scientific plausibility.

And since deism denies that God could have or would have acted to add any such necessary information after an original act of creation, deistic and other truly front-l oaded design hypotheses cannot account for the origin of the first life. Since, on the other hand, theism does posit an intelligent agent who acts in a creative way (in addi- tion to sustaining the laws of nature) after the beginning of the universe, theism provides a better explanation for the origin of the information necessary to produce the first cell as well as subsequent innovations in the history of life. overall explanation than deism of the three key facts about biological and cosmological origins under exam- ination: (1) the material universe had a beginning; (2) the material universe has been finely tuned for life from the beginning; and (3) large discontinuous increases in functionally specified information have entered the biosphere since the beginning. Deism can explain the first two of those facts; theism can explain all three.

A More Respectable Hypothesis In their books, television interviews, YouTube videos, and lectures, the New Atheists and others have assured millions that scientific evidence, especially as it concerns the origin of life and the universe, supports a materialis- tic or atheistic outlook. They have claimed or assumed, as Sean Carroll and Michael Shermer have done, that the fundamental laws of nature alone will prove sufficient to explain the most salient features of life and the universe. They have argued, as Richard Dawkins has done, that “the universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose . . . nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”

But the evidence examined so far suggests the need to reassess such claims. That the universe had a beginning, that it was finely tunedfrom the beginning, and that our planet has experienced dramatic discontinuous increases in biological form and information since the beginning are not at all what proponents of a naturalistic worldview would most “naturally” expect. Yet theists might well expect evidence of such discontinuity and design. Theism does, in any case, offercausally adequate explanations for the origin and fine tuning of the universe and the origin of biological information. Consequently, many scientists and philosophers have begun to question a default com- mitment to scientific materialism and to consider what physicist and theologian John Polkinghorne has called “a new natural theology.” As the historian of science Frederic Burnham observed, the God hypothesis “is now a more respectable hypothesis than at any time in the last one hundred years.”29 Or as astronomer Allan Sandage commented in 1985, “If God did not exist, science would have to . . . invent the concept to explain what it is discovering.”30

returnofthegodhypothesis.com STEPHEN C. MEYER (continued)

Sample Chapter (cont.)

FIGURE 14.2 This chapter and the previous two have shown that only theism provides a causally adequate explanation for the whole ensemble of evidence about biological and cosmological origins under consideration. Deism can explain the origin of the universe and its fine tuning, but not subsequent infusions of functional biological information into the earth’s biosphere. Panspermia might in theory explain the origin of biological information on earth, but it does not explain the ultimate origin of biological information. Nor can it explain the origin of the universe or its fine tuning. Mate- rialism and pantheism fail to account for all three key classes of evidence since they deny a preexistent transcendent intelligence.

Burnham’s comment, offered in 1992, came in response to the discovery of the fluctuations in the cosmic micro- wave background radiation (CMBR) by the COBE satellite, providing another dramatic confirmation of the big bang model and its implication of a beginning. Yet it is not only cosmology that has rendered the “God hypothesis” newly respectable. As one surveys several classes of evidence from the natural sciences—cosmology, astron- omy, physics, biochemistry, molecular biology, and paleontology—the God hypothesis emerges as an explanation with unique scope and power. Theism explains an ensemble of metaphysically significant events in the history of the universe and life more simply, more adequately, and more comprehensively than major competing metaphysical systems, including not only materialism and naturalism, but also pantheism and deism31 (Fig. 14.2).

Again, this does not prove God’s existence, since superior explanatory power does not constitute deductive cer- tainty. It does show, however, that the natural sciences now provide strong epistemic support for the existence of God as conceived by Judeo-Christian and other traditional theists.32

Exhibiting deep and broad research, familiarity with recent developments, and forged in a life of debate and dia- “ logue with those with whom Meyer differs, it is hard to imagine a more important book on this topic. Stephen Meyer is one of those generational thinkers whose courage, thought and influence are pervasive on the world-stage. —Dr. JP Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Biola University; Author, Scientism and Secularism.”

returnofthegodhypothesis.com STEPHEN C. MEYER (continued) A Factory That Builds Factories That Build Factories That… Excerpted from Ch. 3, by Eric H. Anderson

“ Meyer confirms a truth that the ideologues find too frightening even to consider. —Dean Koontz, New York Times #1 Best-Selling Author”

Recent Media Appearances and Interviews

Interview with Stephen Meyer on One America News Network: February, 2021 4:26 https://rumble.com/vdsqwt-tipping-point-intelligent-design-with-stephen-meyer.html

PragerU: From Bacteria to Beethoven October, 2019 5:47 https://www.prageru.com/video/evolution-bacteria-to-beethoven/

Stephen Meyer Shatters The Myth Of The Multiverse (Science Uprising EP4) June, 2019 8:17 https://youtu.be/WR51OrawqIg

Stephen Meyer on the Ben Shapiro Sunday Special: March, 2019 59:38 https://youtu.be/FDSpLBNQk5I

Eric Metaxas interviews Stephen Meyer: March, 2019 1:11:41 https://youtu.be/Ukaz2aULa0U

Uncommon Knowledge: Mathematical Challenges to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution: July, 2019 57:13 https://youtu.be/noj4phMT9OE

returnofthegodhypothesis.com STEPHEN C. MEYER (continued) A Factory That Builds Factories That Build Factories That… Excerpted from Ch. 3, by Eric H. Anderson

“ ... exposes atheistic materialism as a modern superstition ... God will be pleased. —George Gilder, author of Life After Google, and Knowledge & Power ”