00100			MODERN FORMS OF THE RELIGIOUS HYPOTHESIS
00200	
00300		When Napoleon asked what place  there  was  for  God  in  the
00400	cosmology  of  his  Mecanique Celeste, Laplace replied that he had no
00500	need of that hypothesis.    The hypothesis  is  that  the  world  was
00600	designed  for a purpose rather than that it merely evolved.  There is
00700	still no need for the hypothesis. The laws of nature have  been  more
00800	fruitfully  investigated  by  asking how events occur rather than for
00900	what purpose.   Nevertheless, the hypothesis is still an  interesting
01000	one, and we propose to take a fresh look at it from a modern point of
01100	view.
01200	
01300		Religions originally view God or gods as very like  men  with
01400	all   the  human  emotions.   As  a  scientific  theory,  it  led  to
01500	subtheories  that  explain  various  phenomena  as  serving   various
01600	purposes  of  the  diety.   For  example, a hill-billy religious song
01700	explains the rainbow as a sign that it won't be water but  fire  next
01800	time.    Thunder is explained as the crash of Thor's hammer, and more
01900	recent  religious  types  find  sermons  in  stones.   However,  this
02000	approach  never  led to a coherent theory or to control over physical
02100	phenomena. Therefore, the original scientific  purposes  of  religion
02200	have  been  abandoned,  and  now religion serves mainly emotional and
02300	authoritarian functions.   The  aspects  of  religion  that  conflict
02400	sharply  with  science have been abandoned or at least de-emphasized.
02500	Therefore, there has been little need to try to bring religion  as  a
02600	scientific  hypothesis  into  a  modern  form.  Here are a few of the
02700	possibilities in this respect.
02800	
02900		Of all the classical arguments for the existence of God,  the
03000	only  one  that  retains  any force is the argument from design which
03100	asserts that the world and  especially  the  phenomena  of  life  and
03200	intelligence  are  too  complex  to  have arisen by chance.   Indeed,
03300	various writers have attempted to put this argument into quantitative
03400	form  by  trying  to  to  compute the probability of self-reproducing
03500	units of the present type  having  arisen  from  the  primeval  soup.
03600	They  get  impossibly  low probabilities even taking into account the
03700	billions of years and the ocean of soup.  However, their argument  is
03800	unconvincing,  because  they have not exhausted the possibilities for
03900	intermediaries  or  considered  their  possible  stability  or   self
04000	catalysis.    Nevertheless,  biochemistry  has not yet come up with a
04100	convincing mechanism of chemical evolution  yet,  and  the  field  is
04200	still much too young to expect it.  Even less has it been possible to
04300	make the evolution of complex structures like the eye or the brain or
04400	even  many  detailed  behavior  patterns  of  animals seem plausible.
04500	Teleological explanations are still much easier to find.   Again,  it
04600	is a thousand years too soon to give up.
04700	
04800		However,  as  long  as  there  is  no proof that the steps of
04900	evolution are reasonably plausible, the hypothesis that  the  various
05000	features  of  life  were  designed can be entertained.  In this case,
05100	however, since the paleontological evidence  for  the  succession  of
05200	species  is  overwhelming, one must postulate an interventionist God,
05300	rather than the Newtonian watch maker who wound up the  universe  and
05400	then  let  it  run.  If there is an interventionist God then we shall
05500	probably eventually find it out by catching Him  in  the  act  or  at
05600	least making precise where extremely improbable events occurred.
05700	
05800		The  next  speculation  concerns  astrology,  numerology, and
05900	other attempts to find occult connections among events.  The  general
06000	scientific  opinion  is that these efforts have been unsuccessful and
06100	certainly the believers have not acquired any  practical  control  of
06200	physical  or interpersonal phenomena.  Suppose, however, that some of
06300	these  speculations  were  validated  without   any   refutation   of
06400	scientific  law.   Then,  we would have to conclude that the universe
06500	was constructed in the manner of a crossword puzzle so as to be  able
06600	to  satisfy  simultaneously laws of two different types.   This would
06700	apparently impose considerable restrictions on what these types might
06800	be.    At  present,  there  seems  to  be  no  way  of  making  these
06900	speculations more concrete, but  we  shall  try  to  make  them  more
07000	entertaining  by  interpolating  at  this point a mathematics fiction
07100	story, the only genuine mathematics fiction story I know.
07200	
07300			A MATTER OF JUDGEMENT
07400	
07500		For  the first hundred years after the Earthmen developed the
07600	faster-than-light drive, their government  was  able  to  keep  their
07700	expansion  under  control,  and,  in  particular,  to  regulate their
07800	intercourse with less advanced intelligent life forms.  However,  the
07900	establishment  of  remote  and  rarely  visited colonies with frankly
08000	experimental social systems which in turn  spawned  further  colonies
08100	when  diverging  views  appeared  among  the colonists led to a great
08200	variety of systems.  A few of these took on  a  definitely  predatory
08300	form  with  respect  to  less  advanced  civilizations which was only
08400	finally halted when the Earthmen accepted the  Galactic  Rule  a  few
08500	centuries  later.  The  most  predatory  of  the  lot  were  the  New
08600	Conquistadores  who  modelled  themselves  on  tales  of  a  military
08700	invasion  of  a continent on their own planet newly discovered by the
08800	technically more advanced society of the time.
08900	
09000		Naturally, it was some time before they ran across  a  planet
09100	that  even  remotely  fitted their idea of a potential conquest since
09200	life forms typically spend a  very  small  part  of  their  histories
09300	between  the  invention  of  fire  and the invention of inter-stellar
09400	travel.  What they actually found was a planet of the Judges  in  the
09500	middle of a ten thousand year cycle of non-mechanical civilization.