The Universe Is A Put-up

One [idea] Was That The Universe Started Its Life A Finite Time Ago In A Single Huge Explosion, And That The Present Expansion Is A Relic Of The Violence Of This Explosion. This Big Bang Idea Seemed To Me To Be Unsatisfactory Even Before Detailed Examination Showed That It Leads To Serious Difficulties.

Religion Is But A Desperate Attempt To Find An Escape From The Truly Dreadful Situation In Which We Find Ourselves. Here We Are In This Wholly Fantastic Universe With Scarcely A Clue As To Whether Our Existence Has Any Real Significance. No Wonder Then That Many People Feel The Need For Some Belief That Gives Them A Sense Of Security, And No Wonder That They Become Very Angry With People Like Me Who Say That This Is Illusory.

It Is Ironic That The Scientific Facts Throw Darwin Out, But Leave William Paley, A Figure Of Fun To The Scientific World For More Than A Century, Still In The Tournament With A Chance Of Being The Ultimate Winner... Indeed, Such A Theory Is So Obvious That One Wonders Why It Is Not Widely Accepted As Being Self-evident. The Reasons Are Psychological Rather Than Scientific.

The Suggestion That Petroleum Might Have Arisen From Some Transformation Of Squashed Fish Or Biological Detritus Is Surely The Silliest Notion To Have Been Entertained By Substantial Numbers Of Persons Over An Extended Period Of Time.

The Seemingly Insuperable Difficulties Of Deep-space Travel Suggest An Intention To Keep Us Fixed At Home In Our Own Solar System, And The Physical Nature Of Our Part Of The Universe, As Well As The Basic Rules Of Physics And Chemistry, Have A Warning Look About Them, Like Barriers Designed To Isolate Intelligent Life. This Means That For Us, Unlike The Situation For Humble Microorganisms, Deep-space Travel Is Probably A Stark Impossibility.