Chapter 13      The Morally Crucial Characteristics Of Modern Physics                

Part A

         At last. We are ready to tackle the moral challenge. The question now is: "What are the characteristics of the real universe, according to our best scientific undersanding of that universe, that bear on how we should design our new moral code?" The answer is: "The two most morally relevant characteristics of the scientific worldview are quantum uncertainty and entropy." Each of these needs a bit more elaboration in order for us to see, first, how it works in human lives materially and, second, what its significance is morally.

 Quantum uncertainty requires that humans, and especially human societies, survive in reality by learning to calculate probabilities of events, probabilities ranging from the likelihood that it is going to rain this afternoon, to the likelihood that I'll get a stomach ache if I eat these fried onions, to the likelihood that a leopard is hiding in that field of grass ahead, to the likelihood that a war will come if we tell the tribe that regularly cross our rope bridge that they can't use it anymore, to the likelihood that Germany will attack Russia, given Hitler's words in "Mein Kampf" about Germany's need for living space to the east.

   

    

probability density for an 

electron orbiting an atom 

in the state: 

n=4, l=4, m=0

   

   The second morally relevant feature of physical reality is the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and it is more familiar and easier to explain than quantum uncertainty. This law tells us that energy always flows downhill, from areas of greater concentration to areas of lesser concentration. If matter and energy are getting more concentrated or organized in one area of space, that fact only means there will be an even greater dissipation of energy in all nearby areas. 

   An area of matter-energy organization and concentration (like the biosphere of our planet or the mass of my body) must always be maintained at the expense of even greater rates of energy dissipation in nearby spaces. I get energy by eating plants or animals, which also depend ultimately on eating plants, and plants get their energy from the sun as it burns. Fossil fuels when they are burned are also only releasing stored solar energy, as are hydro-electric dams and wood pellets. The sun is our source, and it burns and dissipates energy much more intensely than the creatures in the biosphere of the Earth burn or store second-hand sun energy.

dying star at edge of universe (13 billion light years away)

    Stars are burning out. The universe is heading toward a final state in which more than 10 to the 79^th instances of some kind of elemental particle will be spread uniformly across it at a temperature of absolute zero. We really don't understand numbers that big, but that doesn't matter. The heat death of the universe, as far as we can see right now, is inevitable. The heat death of the universe isn't due for at least another five billion years or so, but the human-scale effect of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is seen every day in the way that things keep falling apart; decay is built into the fabric of daily life.

          To humans, who are complex, energy-concentrated, subtly organized, living entities, this means that we, like all living things, must live against the natural flow of the physical universe. The ever-increasing “disorganizedness” or “burnt-outness” of the universe is called “entropy”, and overall in the universe, entropy must always be increasing. 

          

           Thus, our present worldview is telling us, at least at this stage of our evolution, that the universe is made of large masses of particles governed by what we recognize as two main inherent principles: adversity and uncertainty.

          Of course, this worldview may be superseded someday in a way that overrules our current picture of reality. However, in order to grow beyond our current worldview, we are probably going to have to work out its implications for these times in order to make it possible for some future generations to envision subtler models of the universe and then some better, more efficacious values and morés to go with their improved worldview. For now, then, let's focus on whether the worldview given to us by our scientists in these times clearly points to any particular values and morés.