Intellectual Pilgrimage: Excerpts from Anthony Flew's Intellectual Journey (1)

Intellectual Pilgrimage: Excerpts from Anthony Flew's Intellectual Journey (1) * Note: This series is from the book (There is a God: How the World's Most Powerful One Changed His Thoughts?) For more see the book. Let's start with a symbolic tale. Imagine that a satellite phone brought by the waves on a remote island shore, and was found by a primitive tribe living there, and was never in contact with any modern civilization at all. The general population proceeded to hit on the phone plate numbers and heard distinct sounds when hitting on specific sequences. They first assumed that the device was the one making those sounds again. Some of the most brilliant people; the tribal scientists, they bent over and assembled the same replica. However, the Hakim of the tribe invited its scholars to a meeting to discuss it. He thought about it, and eventually came to the following conclusion; these voices coming out of this machine are inevitably voices of human beings like themselves, living people with consciousness and perception, but in another language, speaking in a language other than their own. Instead of assuming that sounds are just a feature of the phone, they should explore the possibility that they are “in touch” with other humans through some kind of well-defined communication network. Perhaps by further study in this direction, they may reach for a better understanding of the world beyond their island. When the machine is damaged, the sounds will inevitably cease to be produced, and so, clearly, they are nothing more than the sounds of a unique combination of diodes, printed circuit boards, and lithium; the chemical element used in batteries to power the machine.” With this symbolic anecdote we see how easy it is for preconceived ideas and hypotheses to shape the way we view evidence, rather than allowing evidence to shape our own hypotheses and ideas. Thus, the Copernican boom was hampered by thousands of Ptolemaic spinners (Ptolemaic proponents of the Copernicus heliocentric model countered by the concept of spinners to minimize the significance of planetary motion scenes, as opposed to the type). Applying the same logic, when we say "we should not seek any clarification of how the world exists: we have to accept that it exists here, and that's it" or "since we don't accept the idea of a higher source of life, beyond the imagination of reason, we choose to believe in the impossible: life was spontaneously created out of inanimate matter by accident" or "that the laws of material nature are of course not codified, created out of thin air; the discussion ends like this." Now, in order to determine the right rational argument, we must present evidence that supports that argument. Let’s say that we doubt someone’s argument, or we doubt more whether that person is making an argument or not, and that the only way to understand their statement is by trying to find evidence, if there is one, to prove their claim. Because to know the truth and rationality of that statement, or to say that it is not an actual argument, is to prove it. When the sage in the symbolic tale asked scientists to investigate all dimensions of the evidence, he felt that failure to explore what at first seemed reasonable would prevent the possibility of a better understanding of the transcendent world of the island inhabited by the tribe. Currently, for people who don’t believe in God, it often seems unthinkable that there is a single piece of evidence that scientific-minded atheists would recognize as sufficient reason to acknowledge “the possibility of a god in the end.” So, I ask my former fellow atheists a simple, central question: “What should happen, or should have happened, to make a higher mind possible?” Game card detection. Moving on from the symbolic tale, now is the time to put my papers on the table, to show my dogmatic views and supporting evidence. Now I believe that the universe came into existence through infinite intelligence. I believe that the complex laws of the universe are difficult to analyze, reflecting what scientists have called the mind of God. I also believe that the origin and diversity of life is a divine source. Why do I believe that, in light of the fact that I have made a detailed and pro-atheist presentation for over half a century? The short answer is: that is the picture of the world as I see it now, which has come to me from modern science. Science highlights three dimensions of nature that refer to God. The first is that nature is governed by constant, interconnected laws, the second is the dimension of life; the emergence of intelligently harmonious beings with intrinsic goals has been driven by matter, and the third is not the existence of modern science itself. Follows... - Anthony Flew. — Source: Brahin Center website - Published on 2018-01-18 (archived at the Internet Archive) https://braheen.com/articles/philosophy/حج-فكري-مقتطفات-من-رحلة-أنتوني-فلو-الفكرية-1