The Forbidden Universe

Title: The Forbidden Universe – The Occult Origins of Science and the Search for the Mind of God

Author: Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince

Publisher:  Constable, London, 2011 (First)

ISBN: 978-1-84901-409-0

Pages: 350

Before proceeding further, let me straight away cry out at full blast the one impression that was welling up inside me – this book is perfect rubbish. Don’t even touch this filthy one, full of pseudoscientific rant. The authors claim themselves to be ‘world-renowned writers, speakers and broadcasters’, but the impression we get is that they are snake-oil peddlers. The book is neatly brought out, with fine layout and good quality print, but any positive comments end there. In fact, it is written as two parts, the first pondering over origins of modern science claiming to be from hermeticism, a little known Egyptian belief system with laughable propositions such as the material world was created by a semi-god who is the lieutenant of a more powerful being, the authors stop short of calling it God, instead naming it GUD (Grand Universal Designer) and then goes on to claim that it designed the universe, thereby trying to affirm that intelligent design is the origin of the universe. However, the first part is passable, in fact. The second part, In Search for the Mind of God is really outrageous and questions the integrity of the reader and the scientific establishment. Being pea-brained is nobody’s fault, but the authors should not expect their readers to be like them.

History of mystical thought ran deep in the Renaissance period. Modern science’s origins are thought to be on three events – Copernicus’ publication of heliocentric theory (1543), Galileo’s publication of its proof and ostracism (1633) and Newton’s publication of Principia Mathematica (1687). All three of them are claimed to be students of mystical and magical thinking, based in hermeticism by Hermes Trismegistus (thrice-great Hermes). The corpus of Hermes, Hermetica, as it is called, formed the backdrop of scientific discoveries in the renaissance period. Authors go even so far as to claim that heliocentric theory was presaged in hermetica. However hard they try to establish this, the argument is flimsy. Just because the hermeticists put the sun at the centre, every speculation which placed the sun centrally need not be extensions of the original one. Their frequent references and imagines prominence of secret hermetic societies also fail to impress. Finally, with Rene Descartes, science and magic parted ways. Cartesian logic postulated that mechanical explanations lay behind physical events.

As noted earlier, the second part is the most unfortunate. In search of the mind of God, it attempts to prove that the Universe was designed for life, particularly intelligent life, by designers euphemistically called GUD. The physical parameters and constants which seem to be fine-tuned to facilitate life, they argue, is in fact made so by the designers. The so called ‘proof’ put forth is taken from discredited or doubtful hypotheses long kept at arm’s length by main stream science. False details are also used. While discussing stellar evolution, authors rightfully point out that formation of carbon nucleus was a very fortuitous event in nuclear synthesis. Without carbon, life would not exist. They then argue that “making of carbon is a rare event according to physical laws, whereas of course, the universe is actually overflowing with it” (p.217). This is gross falsehood. The percentage of carbon among elements is less than 1% - so much for overflowing! Also, the contention that universe is fine-tuned for intelligent life also doesn’t hold water. What proof we have? If it was so optimized, why is it that life is confined only to a medium-sized rocky planet orbiting a medium-sized star in a very ordinary galaxy, among the trillions of such galaxies? And here in the solar system too, intelligent life came forth only during the last one or two billion years, out of the 14 billion since the solar system emerged. So, how can a novelty which exists in only a tiny speck of sand in the huge universe for only a fraction of the time since time itself began, claim that the entire universe and the laws that govern them are fine-tuned for it? If 99.999999% of the universe is not fit for life, let alone intelligent life, the only conclusion we can rightfully draw is that it is not designed for life, rather, life was a fluke which may not repeat again, even if the conditions are reproduced again. This realization indeed help us to keep humanity in perspective of greater things and not to lose sight of them.

The second part also negates evolution. Putting forward questions which don’t come under the purview of the theory, like ‘how life originated in the first place?’, authors declare that evolution is not the proper theory and offers their own garbage as the solution. It evokes memories of arguments like “If you don’t know the answer to this question, then what I’m saying is true”. Quoting obscure books and tainted scholars, authors argue that evolution is not proved from existing evidence. A frequent source is Fred Hoyle, who was an ardent opponent of evolution. Hoyle, who was a physicist refused to accede to Big Bang theory when it came along. In fact, ‘big bang’ is a derogatory term coined by Hoyle to discredit the new theory. Comic suggestions abound in the text. One such case is related to subatomic particles which don’t follow the diktats of cause and effect where an event may occur at two places simultaneously. This queer case of quantum mechanics is extrapolated without any sense to claim that humans may be capable of reading the future or performing mystical feats. Glorification of parapsychology abound in the book. In the end, the authors come to the weird conclusion that human conscience is part of the spirit which propels the universe and hence that spirit called GUD is the designer of this world.

The book is definitely not recommended.

Rating: 2 Star