I think the most futile arguments I ever see online are those around Creationism, intelligent design, and Evolution/cosmology.
The first issue is that like most poor rhetoric, you are conflating a What with a Why We pretty much know “What” happened. But because some people feel threatened with their world view thinking their “Why” is threatened, they will ignore all the mountains of evidence to the contrary. (Some visible by just looking up into the night sky!) This is attacking the strongest part instead of the weakest.
You see, although most cosmologists agree that some sort of singularly of nothing existed, and then there was something which in mere minutes spread and became our nascent universe. There is no evidence as to why. To paraphrase Terry Pratchett: in the beginning there was nothing, which exploded. For no adequately explored reason. If you are a religious person. Insert God here. There’s no evidence to the contrary and you can take comfort in knowing you are as correct as anyone else who wasn’t there at the time. I remember reading a SF short story as a teen (who’s author and title has disappeared into the mists of my memory) a civilisation sent out a probe to collect knowledge. This was particularly well built and indestructible to all intents and purposes (I suspect Star Trek the motion picture writers to have read this as well) It observed all things including the eventual heat death and shrinkage of the universe to a nothing. Being so knowledgeable it figured out how to exist outside of the non existence space time. it spent countless Eons in non time thinking and then the last words of the story is the probe saying “Let there be light”. The thing is given the difference between evidence and belief this could be just as true. No matter how far you go back, eventually you get to a why question you can’t answer. Call it God if you like. Just don’t insist on teaching it as fact.
Then you look at our amazing planet. although it appears that proteins and amino acids can pop into existence anywhere anytime given enough of a soup of chemicals and energy. Life seems to have happened only once (as far as we can tell and it happened over 3 billion years ago before the earth had hardened from molten rock which is pretty amazing) one bag of chemicals twitched thus instead of this, and before it faded it found a way to replicate itself. All life from the thermophilic bacteria on ocean vents, to billionaires owe their existence to this trick.
“pull out a human genetic sequence to repair a faulty yeast cell and it will use it as if its one of its own – as indeed it probably is”
Bill Bryson
Its likely this has happened many times in the universe as evidenced by things found in meteorites. But the only time we know for sure is it happened here. Call us the pinnacle of creation if you must.
maybe “…things just happen what the hell”.
Terry Pratchett
My Narrative telling ape brain finds amazing coincidence in things like the Earth orbits within a very narrow band in the solar system that allows it to have have liquid water. A few degrees closer or further away and it wouldn’t. But that seems amazing to me because the correlation does not equal causation fallacy that I insist on seeing with my story telling brain. Take another fact. Our DNA, durable though it is, would be ripped to shreds in minutes ending the whole life thing, if it wasn’t for the fact that we have a magnetosphere deflecting it. This is produced by our spinning molten metal core. (the only planet in our solar system to have one) Honestly its as if giant engineers created an engine to produce and protect life. But just as real is that fact that because of this cosmological anomaly, Life when it twitched into being, was able to gain a foot hold. Life is a function of the earth, not the earth cradles life. Call it a miracle if you must, because it is. Just don’t insist that we now understand the thoughts of the divine.
Remember those undersea vents? Well scientists for years wondered why the Oceans’ Salinity remained (relatively) stable. Given erosion etc it should just get saltier and saltier until the whole of the earth is covered in it. But water is sucked down into subduction zones with the continental shelf, Gets swirled around in the mantle and sub mantle then many thousands of years later gets pumped out as fresh water. Like a balanced aquarium filter on a giant scale. I know there’s nothing supernatural about it. Like the magnetosphere, ice ages and the miracle of life. It just is. That I personally find it amazing is just because I’m a human trained to look for patterns, even ones that aren’t there.
Humans need belief. If only they tried as hard to believe in Justice, equality, mercy, kindness and fought to have them taught as immutable facts of existence, striking down bullshit exceptionalism and divisive thoughts. How much more could we achieve if we did?
Leave IT to V 