Religion and Science
3. The Mechanical Interpretation of the Universe
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explanation. While philosophers were still debating
whether a machine could be constructed to
reproduce the thoughts of Newton, the emotions of
Bach or the inspiration of Michelangelo, the average
man of science was rapidly becoming convinced
that no machine could be constructed to reproduce
the light of a candle or the fall of an apple ... The old
science had confidently proclaimed that nature
could follow only one road, the road which was
mapped out from the beginning of time to its end
by the continuous chain of cause and effect.
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But finally science had to admit that the past of the
universe could no longer be so adamantly claimed
as the cause of the future. In the light of modern
knowledge, a great majority of scientists are in
agreement that the river of knowledge is leading
them to a non-mechanical reality.
Regarding the origin of the universe and its
movement, both the theories which have been
advanced in the course of scientific progress still fail
to carry conviction. Modern research does not
strengthen their basis, but rather undermines them.
Thus science itself is contradicting its own theories.
