Hi Emilie,

As Obi-wan Kenobi once said, ‘you’ve taken your first step into a larger world’

No, I don’t think you are watching too much Neil Degrasse Tyson. What you’re doing now is exactly what this man encourages all of us to do more of… question everything.

This is a good thing. No, a wonderful thing. But let me advise you to pursue it in bite sized chunks. And when looking for an answer, start with ‘I don’t know’. It’s ok not to know. This idea can be a problem for some people. Some want a clear cut answer immediately and are not comfortable with an undecided. If you ever find yourself uncomfortable in this way, please remind yourself that we as a species are just beginning to ask these big questions. Also, our brains can process only so much. Not one human can comprehend quantum mechanics, for example. The saying goes ‘if you think you understand quantum physics, then you don’t understand quantum physics’. So don’t burn yourself out.

With that said, welcome to the world of questioning everything. Is there a higher being? Who knows. If there is, what kind of evidence would you need to believe it? You mentioned precision and beauty that exists. What if we questioned THOSE things? What is beauty? Does precision necessarily mean that there was a designer? For example, the eye can be explained by evolution to have gradually (over millions of years) adapted into the beautifully precise instrument it is today. It did not pop into existence immediately in its current form. First there was a photo sensitive cell, then a lens, then an improved lens, then a tiny hole like a pin hole camera, and on and on. Each step giving a slightly better evolutionary advantage than the previous.

As far as the evidence we have, it is plausible that everything we see in the universe started out as hydrogen atoms over 13 billion years ago. Great collections of hydrogen gas pulled together by gravity to form the first stars. Stars which burned through hydrogen, to create helium, and other elements. Some stars explode after billions of years, launching these elements towards other forming stars. One of these was our very own Sun over 4 billion years ago. Gases and other elements swirled around our sun for millions of years over a large disc area, with gravity pulling clumps together into the planets we have today, including Earth. Guess where all of the elements (iron, carbon, etc) we have on Earth came from? Yes, an exploded star from before our Sun was born. These elements account for the same elements which life is made of (hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, etc). Isn’t this amazing? As Carl Sagan said, ‘we are made of star stuff’. And even more, he said, ‘we are a way for the cosmos to know itself’. To me, if this is true, and we having mounting evidence to support it, then to have the beauty and precision we experience in life begin with only hydrogen atoms is simply awesome. With an example like that, I personally don’t need a designer to feel in awe of the universe.

Keep questioning. But when it comes to answers, you don’t have to take anyone’s word for it. Science is ALL about seeing for yourself. The mounting evidence I speak of is open for you to look at, test, and discover for yourself. Often, there is an argument brought up which seemingly puts science on the same level as religion. The argument is that religion is faith based, and since someone like me doesn’t comprehend the more complicated science theories (and/or math behind them) then I’m taking the scientific theory on faith as well. True, I don’t know all of the evidence for scientific theories. But I do know this: science is open to scrutiny, and there is no shortage of humans who want to scrutinize. Science has a peer review process where someone publishes an idea to be scrutinized by ANYONE. If just one flaw is found by anyone, the idea will be thrown out. Whereas with religion, or at least my experience with religion (raised catholic), you are told what to believe. There is no questioning, fact checking, testing, or scrutinizing among the members. The answer is always to just have ‘faith’. I don’t want to go further into this, I mainly want to point out the difference between science and religion. Certainly, there are people who believe they have their proof for the existence of a higher power, and I respect their freedom to believe.

Ok, I felt like I got carried away a bit, but I was happily excited by your post so there you have it. : )