Steven Weinberg

Steven Weinberg's Opinions

Physics Is the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics correct? Agree The final approach is to take the Schrodinger equation seriously... In this way, a measurement causes the history of the universe for practical purposes to diverge into different non-interfering tracks, one for each possible value of the measured quantity. ... I prefer this last approach. Edit Pitches 01 Oct 1994    Source Is life a deterministic consequence of physical laws? Agree The human mind remains extraordinarily difficult to understand, but so is the weather. We can't predict whether it will rain one month from today, but we do know the rules that govern the rain, even though we can't always calculate their consequences. I see nothing about the human mind any more than about the weather that stands out as beyond the hope of understanding as a consequence of impersonal laws acting over billions of years. There do not seem to be any exceptions to this natural order. The Nature is Nasty Pitch   Edit Pitches 21 Oct 1999    Source Is quantum mechanics needed to explain consciousness? Disagree Some nonscientists seize on certain developments in modern physics that suggest the unpredictability of natural phenomena, such as the advent of quantum mechanics or chaos theory, as signs of a turn away from determinism, of the sort that would make an opening for divine intervention or an incorporeal soul. These theories have forced us to refine our view of determinism, but not I think in any way that has implications for human life. Edit Pitches 25 Sep 2008    Source Religion Does religion encourage good behavior? Disagree Mark Twain described his mother as a genuinely good person, whose soft heart pitied even Satan, but who had no doubt about the legitimacy of slavery, because in years of living in antebellum Missouri she had never heard any sermon opposing slavery, but only countless sermons preaching that slavery was God's will. With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil—that takes religion. The Anecdotal Pitch   Edit Pitches 01 Apr 1999    Source Science Is the world explainable without God? Agree ...it seems to me that physics is in a better position to give us a partly satisfying explanation of the world than religion can ever do, because although physicists won't be able to explain why the laws of nature are what they are and not something completely different, at least we may be able to explain why they are not slightly different. ... Religious theories, on the other hand, seem to be infinitely flexible, with nothing to prevent the invention of deities of any conceivable sort. Edit Pitches 01 Apr 1999    Source Do miracles happen? Disagree There do not seem to be any exceptions to this natural order, any miracles. I have the impression that these days most theologians are embarrassed by talk of miracles, but the great monotheistic faiths are founded on miracle stories—the burning bush, the empty tomb, an angel dictating the Koran to Mohammed—and some of these faiths teach that miracles continue at the present day. Edit Pitches 21 Oct 1999    Source Is substantially reducing CO2 emissions worthwhile? Agree ...by doubling the amount of CO2 ... we're doing things that have an obvious potential for producing great harm. We ought to be pretty sure we're not doing harm before we are sanguine about continuing to do these things. I really think we should control the amount of CO2 we're putting into the atmosphere, even if we're not certain. Edit Pitches 26 May 2008    Source Is there life after death? Disagree The more we reflect on the pleasures of life, the more we miss the greatest consolation that used to be provided by religious belief: the promise that our lives will continue after death, and that in the afterlife we will meet the people we have loved. As religious belief weakens, more and more of us know that after death there is nothing. This is the thing that makes cowards of us all. Edit Pitches 25 Sep 2008    Source Are the core truths of science and religion complementary? Mostly Disagree The Templeton Foundation offers a large prize to those who argue that there is no conflict between science and religion. ... Stephen Jay Gould argued that there could be no conflict between science and religion, because science deals only with facts and religion only with values. This certainly was not the view held in the past by most adherents of religion, and it is a sign of the decay of belief in the supernatural that many today who call themselves religious would agree with Gould. Edit Pitches 25 Sep 2008    Source

Philosophy Must God exist to explain how the universe began? Disagree In essence, [the Cosmological Argument] argues that everything has a cause, and since this chain of causality cannot go on forever, it must terminate in a first cause, which we call God. The idea of an ultimate cause is deeply attractive, and indeed the dream of elementary particle physics is to find the final theory at the root of all chains of explanation of what we see in nature. The trouble is that such a mathematical final theory would hardly be what anyone means by God. Edit Pitches 17 Jan 2007    Source Is morality objective? Disagree ...the worldview of science is rather chilling. Not only do we not find any point to life laid out for us in nature, no objective basis for our moral principles, no correspondence between what we think is the moral law and the laws of nature... We even learn that the emotions that we most treasure, our love for our [family], are made possible by chemical processes in our brains that are what they are as a result of natural selection acting on chance mutations over millions of years. The Nature is Nasty Pitch   Edit Pitches 25 Sep 2008    Source

Comparisons with Other Experts and Influencers

The similarity between Steven Weinberg and each expert and influencer is calculated by looking at how the same questions were answered. These figures are used to calculate conforming, nonconforming, and projected opinions. The accuracy of the analysis depends on Steven Weinberg's coverage, which grows with the number of their opinions entered into TakeOnIt.

Conforming Opinions

Steven Weinberg's conforming opinions are opinions that align with the group of experts and influencers Steven Weinberg typically agrees with.

Projected Opinions

Steven Weinberg's projected opinions are opinions Steven Weinberg is expected to have if their opinions align with the experts and influencers that they typically agree with.