Editor's Note: This week we begin the second round of our new series, Science in Focus. The point of departure for February is a chapter from Marcus Chown's 2009 book The Matchbox That Ate a Forty-Ton Truck. Chown began his career as a radio astronomer at CalTech, then turned to full-time science writing. A skillful and witty expositor, he is the author of many books and hundreds of articles.

The chapter we're focusing on is "Random Reality," subtitled thus: "How the fact that lots of information is needed to describe the world tells us chance played a key role in creating everyday reality." Perhaps no commonly deployed concepts are as widely misunderstood as the notions of "randomness" and "chance." Our writers examine these concepts and their implications from several different angles. In addition to Chown's chapter, they refer to a technical article by Stephen D. H. Hsu, "Information, Information Processing, and Gravity," cited by Chown. The first response comes from Randy Isaac, executive director of the American Scientific Affiliation.

Why is there so much information in the universe? Marcus Chown reasons, based in part on a paper by physicist Stephen Hsu, that after the big bang, but before the rapid inflation period, there was a time when the amount of information in the universe was on the order of 1,000 bits. During the inflation period, the information content increased dramatically, so that today we see a universe with about 10^90 bits. In a classical, deterministic universe, where energy and entropy are conserved, there can be no increase in information. From where did all that information come?

Hsu says, "The answer is quantum randomness—the randomness inherent in measurements of quantum outcomes." He points out that during the inflation period, a vast number of quantum fluctuations collapsed into real physical bits of information. Hsu deduces that "essentially every detailed aspect of our universe … is a consequence of quantum fluctuations!"

For Chown, the implication is clear: "We owe our existence here today to quantum unpredictability …. Like it or not, we live in a random reality." The philosophical message he seems to convey is that we do not have purpose-driven lives established by a divine creator. Let's take a closer look.

The details of the logic underlying Hsu's physics and Chown's estimate may be debatable, but the conclusion that we live in a kind of random reality is bolstered by the recognition that all of nature is rife with randomness. In God, Chance and Purpose: Can God Have It Both Ways? (2008), David Bartholomew writes, "It would be unwise to conclude prematurely that, at bottom, the world is either random or deterministic. What we do know is that we are in a situation in which random behaviour at the micro level produces order at the macro level and where determinism at the micro level generates apparent randomness at the macro level." In other words, randomness is an inherent part of nature, from its origin in quantum fluctuations to its ubiquitous occurrence in nature.

Can we therefore conclude that there is no purpose in our universe or in our lives? At one end of the spectrum, Bartholomew says, "To the common way of thinking, chance … is synonymous with lack of purpose or direction and therefore hostile to belief in a God whose will and purpose is supposed to be expressed in the created order." He proceeds to argue that this is a fundamental misunderstanding. On the other end of the spectrum, randomness as found in quantum uncertainty is seen as the means by which divine action and providence are implemented. God acts in quantum mechanical fluctuations to achieve his purposes. The Bible seems to indicate a few examples where God uses random actions to achieve his purpose, such as the casting of lots to determine the apostle to replace Judas (Acts 1:26) and the random shooting of an arrow to kill the king of Israel (1 Kings 22:34). Perhaps we need to learn to see randomness as part of, not exclusive of, God's created order. Could quantum fluctuations be the means by which God injects information into the universe, balancing determinism with randomness, and ultimately enabling the foundations of free will?

Randy Isaac is the executive director of the American Scientific Affiliation.

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