A new movie, The Story of Everything, opens in theaters nationwide April 30. I’m looking forward to it. Group and individual tickets are on sale now. According to the synopsis on the movie web site from Fathom Entertainment:
The Story of Everything is a cinematic exploration of the cosmos that reveals the hidden hand behind our universe. From the precise laws that govern the stars to the intricate patterns found in every living cell, the film traces evidence of intentional design throughout nature. Whether examining distant star-forming clouds or the spiral structure of DNA, we discover a consistent signature woven into the fabric of existence.
The new documentary, directed by Eric Esau, is based on philosopher of science and New York Times best seller Stephen Meyer’s book, Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries that Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe.
A Cosmic Beginning
Display “The Story of Everything | Official Trailer” from YouTube
The three scientific discoveries are:
1) The discovery that the universe had a beginning.
A great deal of evidence indicates that the universe (space, time, matter, and energy) came into existence from nothing about 14 billion years ago. Since there were no natural causes before nature came into existence, we cannot ever hope to find a “natural” explanation for this “Big Bang.” Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity showed that a beginning was theoretically possible, and other scientists discovered powerful evidence of such an event. But if it is hard to imagine that the universe had a beginning, it is equally hard to imagine that it did not. For example, if the universe were infinitely old, shouldn’t all the stars have burned out long ago, as hydrogen fused into helium and heavier elements? How long ago — a quadrillion years ago? Why not long before that?
2) The discovery that the laws and constants of physics in our universe are extremely “fine-tuned” for life.
The universe that came into being from nothing is not arbitrary but is exquisitely tuned to allow life to exist and flourish. It is now known that the values of many basic physical constants, such as the strengths of the four fundamental forces, the masses and charges of the basic particles of physics, the speed of light, and Planck’s quantum physics constant, had to be almost exactly what they are in order for any conceivable form of life to exist in our universe. As physicist Stephen Hawking wrote, “the remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life.”
3) The discovery that the secret of life is the information contained in living things.
To preview the incredible complexity of every living cell, and what Meyer means by the “information” contained in living things, you can watch this episode of Secrets of the Cell with Michael Behe. Or watch some or all of videos 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 of the video series produced by Michael Kent, a recently retired bio-scientist from Sandia Laboratories in Albuquerque. Kent’s videos 1 and 2 deal with the other two discoveries discussed in Meyer’s book, the Big Bang and the fine-tuning of the laws and constants of our universe, and of the initial conditions at the Big Bang.
Recent Scientific Discoveries
In his introductory video Kent says of science’s “recent discoveries,” which include the three discussed in Meyer’s book and thus in the new movie:
These are discoveries of science that are not controversial. They are findings of science that are very strongly supported. Scientists may disagree about the implications or the conclusions to make from these findings, but there is little or no debate about the discoveries themselves… At the core of this debate is the question of how much evidence is needed for one to be convinced of design. For some people, those committed to materialism, no amount of evidence could ever be enough. But I don’t think that’s true for most people.
The cast of The Story of Everything includes Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, James Tour, John Lennox, David Berlinski, and Peter Thiel, making it clear that this will be a powerful and influential film. Look for it in a theater near you, April 30 to May 6.
For another preview, sort of, I also recommend my short video “A Mathematician’s View of Evolution.” This video argues for design by looking at what you have to believe in order not to believe in intelligent design.
Cross-posted from The American Spectator.