It Is In The World Of Ideas

Life Cannot Have Had A Random Beginning. ... The Trouble Is That There Are About Two Thousand Enzymes, And The Chance Of Obtaining Them All In A Random Trial Is Only One Part In 10 To The 40,000 Power, An Outrageously Small Probability That Could Not Be Faced Even If The Whole Universe Consisted Of Organic Soup.

I Do Not Believe That Anything Really Worthwhile Will Come Out Of The Exploration Of The Slag Heap That Constitutes The Surface Of The Moon...nobody Should Imagine That The Enormous Financial Budget Of Nasa Implies That Astronomy Is Now Well Supported.

I Have Little Hesitation In Saying That As A Result A Sickly Pall Now Hangs Over The Big Bang Theory. As I Have Mentioned Earlier, When A Pattern Of Facts Becomes Set Against A Theory, Experience Shows That It Rarely Recovers.

One [idea] Was That The Universe Started Its Life A Finite Time Ago In A Single Huge Explosion, And That The Present Expansion Is A Relic Of The Violence Of This Explosion. This Big Bang Idea Seemed To Me To Be Unsatisfactory Even Before Detailed Examination Showed That It Leads To Serious Difficulties.

The Seemingly Insuperable Difficulties Of Deep-space Travel Suggest An Intention To Keep Us Fixed At Home In Our Own Solar System, And The Physical Nature Of Our Part Of The Universe, As Well As The Basic Rules Of Physics And Chemistry, Have A Warning Look About Them, Like Barriers Designed To Isolate Intelligent Life. This Means That For Us, Unlike The Situation For Humble Microorganisms, Deep-space Travel Is Probably A Stark Impossibility.