Re: Petroleum, Design, Hoyle's Warning to the World

----- Original Message -----
From: "wallyshoes" <wallyshoes@mindspring.com>
To: "ed babinski" <ed.babinski@furman.edu>
Cc: "Glenn Morton" <glennmorton@entouch.net>; <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2004 4:31 AM
Subject: Re: Petroleum, Design, Hoyle's Warning to the World

>
>
> ed babinski wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> SERIOUS chilling comment: The famed astrophysicist, Hoyle, once made a
>> prediction regarding a possible future that the world's leaders need to
>> address more urgently now than ever before (though folks like Ross will
>> probably find a way to put a "designer's smile" on this too, should
>> things
>> turn out this way):
>>
>> "It has often been said that, if the human species fails to make a go of
>> it here on Earth, some other species will take over the running. In the
>> sense of developing high intelligence this is not correct. We have, or
>> soon will have, exhausted the necessary physical prerequisites so far as
>> this planet is concerned. With coal gone, oil gone, high-grade metallic
>> ores gone, no species however competent can make the long climb from
>> primitive conditions to high-level technology. This is a one-shot affair.
>> If we fail, this planetary system fails so far as intelligence is
>> concerned. The same will be true of other planetary systems. On each of
>> them there will be one chance, and one chance only. (Hoyle, 1964;
>> emphasis
>> added)
>> For the complete article see
>> http://www.dieoff.com/page125.htm
>
> This is the same Hoyle who ridiculed the "big bang" theory and advocated
> the
> "steady state" theory.
>
> Maybe he will be wrong again.

& the same Hoyle who worked out stellar nucleosynthesis with Fowler &
others. Maybe he will be right again.

Yes, he was wrong about the steady state theory but it was in its time a
good theory & Hoyle's work in arguing for it advamced scientific cosmology.
He was certainly a good enough scientist that his arguments ought to be
examined on there own merits - & the one noted above seems fairly
plausible - without trying to condemn them with guilt by association
tactics.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
Received on Tue Oct 5 08:19:53 2004