{"id":62983,"date":"2022-03-11T09:30:13","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T13:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=62983"},"modified":"2022-03-23T15:08:53","modified_gmt":"2022-03-23T19:08:53","slug":"stephen-hawking-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/stephen-hawking-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Hawking: Evolution Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How did humans come into existence on Earth? Why do monotheistic religions challenge Stephen Hawking’s evolution theory?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his book Brief Answers to the Big Questions, <\/em>Stephen Hawking gives a brief overview of how humans got here. He begins his timeline in the present day and goes back to the singularity that created time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s Stephen Hawking’s evolution timeline\u2014and why many religions disagree with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Science\u2019s Explanation of Our Origins<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What does science say about how the world works and where it came from? Hawking does not attempt to provide a comprehensive explanation of the laws of nature, but he does give a brief overview of how we got here. According to Stephen Hawking, evolution and science traces our origins back to the beginning as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Humankind developed<\/strong> from earlier life forms, as described in the theory of Darwinian evolution<\/a> (which postulates that species change over time as random mutations<\/a> alter the genetic code of different individuals, and the strongest individuals are more likely to pass on their genes).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The first life forms appeared<\/strong> in Earth\u2019s oceans about 3.5 billion years ago. Scientists don\u2019t know exactly how the first living things formed from non-living molecules. As yet, they have not even been able to synthesize DNA from inorganic substances. Nevertheless, Hawking infers that the probability of life forming in a suitable environment is probably relatively high because, in cosmic terms, life appeared on earth quite quickly\u2014only half a billion years after the earth\u2019s surface cooled enough to accommodate liquid water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Earth, the sun, and the rest of our solar system were formed<\/strong> when clouds of interstellar gas from the supernova explosions of earlier stars collapsed under the influence of gravity. This is important because carbon and other elements that are necessary for life had to be synthesized by nuclear fusion in earlier generations of stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Earlier stars were formed<\/strong> from clouds of hydrogen and helium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. These<\/strong> clouds of matter came from the big bang<\/strong>. The big bang was the moment the universe came into being at a \u201csingularity,\u201d where all matter, energy, space, and time were initially concentrated in an infinitesimally small area. The universe expanded outward from this original singularity. (Shortform note: Hawking discusses the big bang model in more detail in A Brief History of Time<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. But what caused the original singularity? Hawking says it didn\u2019t need a cause<\/strong> because time itself<\/em> began at the singularity. The theory of general relativity<\/a> predicts that time slows down in regions of high gravity. At a singularity, gravity is infinitely strong because of the infinite density of matter at that point, so time stops entirely. And time is what delineates cause and effect, because causes must come before their effects. Time starts at the big bang singularity<\/a>, so nothing can happen before it, and thus it can\u2019t have a cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Science\u2019s Answer Better Than Religion\u2019s Answer?<\/strong>

Followers of some religions (particularly monotheistic religions) tend to challenge Hawking\u2019s assertion that science provides better<\/em> answers to the question of where we came from. To illustrate how some religions still claim to offer more complete answers, let\u2019s contrast Hawking\u2019s chronology with that presented by Christian astrophysicist Hugh Ross:

Ross disputes Hawking\u2019s first two points above and instead believes that God created life on earth.<\/strong> He asserts that God created Adam and Eve as the first humans. For that matter, God created every individual species<\/a> of lifeform. 
Scientific studies of the fossil record reveal numerous species appearing and disappearing over Earth\u2019s geologic history, but scientists have never observed one species change into another, either directly or through fossil evidence. Ross argues that these observations fit better with the idea that God created new and unique animal species at each stage of Earth\u2019s geologic history than it does with the idea that earlier species changed into other species over time.

Ross goes on to assert that there are many scientific problems with the theory of Darwinian evolution, such as its inability to explain the irreducible complexity of cells<\/a>. Atheistic models offer no mechanism for the origin of the first life forms. But if the mechanism was divine intervention, then it\u2019s no wonder scientists haven\u2019t been able to find a naturalistic mechanism, and irreducible complexity<\/a> is not a problem for God.

Ross also disputes Hawking\u2019s theories of how planetary bodies formed as outlined in points three and four above, instead believing that God orchestrated Earth\u2019s formation.<\/strong> Strictly speaking, Ross agrees with Hawking\u2019s view of how<\/em> our solar system physically formed from gaseous remnants of earlier supernovae. 

However, Ross also argues that the earth and solar system are too exquisitely fine-tuned for human life to be the product of mere chance. There are so many astronomical parameters (such as planet size and chemical composition, star brightness, orbital stability, and so on) that must be in a certain range for a planet to be habitable that the odds of getting even one human-habitable planet in the entire universe by random chance are infinitesimally small<\/a>. Ross takes this as evidence that God personally fine-tuned Earth\u2019s formation, even if he worked behind the scenes through the laws of physics.

Finally, Ross weighs in on Hawking\u2019s theories of the origins of the universe<\/a>, believing that God created the big bang singularity.<\/strong> He endorses an inflationary big bang<\/a> model similar to Hawking\u2019s. But where Hawking argues that the singularity precludes the universe having a cause, Ross argues the opposite: Since time itself began at the big bang singularity, the singularity had to be <\/em>created by something (or someone) that is not confined to the space-time of our universe. In other words, since the singularity precludes a natural<\/em> cause, the universe had to have a supernatural<\/em> cause<\/a>. 

Is Ross\u2019s model better than Hawking\u2019s?<\/strong> It depends on your perspective. Ross asserts that his creationistic model matches current scientific observations better<\/a> than atheistic models do. 

But Hawking points out that, historically, people have often appealed to the supernatural to explain natural phenomena that they didn\u2019t understand. He concedes that scientists don\u2019t yet have naturalistic explanations for some things, like the origin of the first life forms. Nevertheless, he expects natural mechanisms to be discovered, based on the historical trend of natural explanations replacing supernatural ones.

Ross might argue that this goes against the scientific method: A scientist should accept the simplest model that matches current observations, and update his model as new data becomes available, rather than appealing to possible discoveries that haven\u2019t been made yet. Ross concedes that a scientist should test every model by using it to predict future observations, and then comparing the predictions to the new observations. Nevertheless, he argues that scientists\u2019 ongoing failure to identify a naturalistic mechanism for the origin of life<\/a> contradicts Hawking\u2019s predictions and agrees with the predictions of his creationistic model.

Perhaps future discoveries will eventually vindicate either an atheistic model or a theistic one, but for now the controversy continues.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How did humans come into existence on Earth? Why do monotheistic religions challenge Stephen Hawking’s evolution theory? In his book Brief Answers to the Big Questions, Stephen Hawking gives a brief overview of how humans got here. He begins his timeline in the present day and goes back to the singularity that created time. Here’s Stephen Hawking’s evolution timeline\u2014and why many religions disagree with him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":63012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,160],"tags":[591],"class_list":["post-62983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-science","tag-brief-answers-to-the-big-questions","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nStephen Hawking: Evolution Explained - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What does Stephen Hawking say about human evolution? He traced our timeline back to the original singularity. 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