richard_dawkins_-_the_god_delusion
374 T H E G O D DEL U S I O Nagainst are so great that, if you had set out writing the number atthe origin of the universe, you still would not have written enoughzeroes to this day. The power to calculate such odds - the power toquantify the near-impossible rather than just throw up our hands indespair - is another example of the liberating benefactions ofscience to the human spirit.Evolution in Middle World has ill equipped us to handle veryimprobable events. But in the vastness of astronomical space, orgeological time, events that seem impossible in Middle World turnout to be inevitable. Science flings open the narrow windowthrough which we are accustomed to viewing the spectrum ofpossibilities. We are liberated by calculation and reason to visitregions of possibility that had once seemed out of bounds or inhabitedby dragons. We have already made use of this widening ofthe window in Chapter 4, where we considered the improbabilityof the origin of life and how even a near-impossible chemical eventmust come to pass given enough planet years to play with; andwhere we considered the spectrum of possible universes, each withits own set of laws and constants, and the anthropic necessity offinding ourselves in one of the minority of friendly places.How should we interpret Haldane's 'queerer than we cansuppose'? Queerer than can, in principle, be supposed? Or justqueerer than we can suppose, given the limitation of our brains'evolutionary apprenticeship in Middle World? Could we, by trainingand practice, emancipate ourselves from Middle World, tear offour black burka, and achieve some sort of intuitive - as well as justmathematical - understanding of the very small, the very large, andthe very fast? I genuinely don't know the answer, but I am thrilledto be alive at a time when humanity is pushing against the limits ofunderstanding. Even better, we may eventually discover that thereare no limits.
AppendixA partial list of friendlyaddresses, for individuals needingsupport in escaping from religionI intend to keep an updated version of this list on the website of the RichardDawkins Foundation for Reason and Science: www.richarddawkins.net. Iapologize for limiting the list below largely to the English-speaking world.USAAmerican AtheistsPO Box 5733, Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733Voicemail: 1-908-276-7300Fax: 1-908-276-7402Email: info@atheists.orgwww.atheists.orgAmerican Humanist Association1777 T Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009-7125Telephone: (202) 238-9088Toll-free: 1-800-837-3792Fax: (202) 238-9003www.americanhumanist.orgAtheist Alliance InternationalPO Box 26867, Los Angeles, CA 90026Toll-free: 1-866-HERETICEmail: info@atheistalliance.orgwww.atheistalliance.orgThe BrightsPO Box 163418, Sacramento, CA 95816 USAEmail: the-brights@the-brights.netwww.the-brights.netCenter For Inquiry TransnationalCouncil for Secular HumanismCampus Freethought AllianceCenter for Inquiry - On Campus
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Appendix
A partial list of friendly
addresses, for individuals needing
support in escaping from religion
I intend to keep an updated version of this list on the website of the Richard
Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science: www.richarddawkins.net. I
apologize for limiting the list below largely to the English-speaking world.
USA
American Atheists
PO Box 5733, Parsippany, NJ 07054-6733
Voicemail: 1-908-276-7300
Fax: 1-908-276-7402
Email: info@atheists.org
www.atheists.org
American Humanist Association
1777 T Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009-7125
Telephone: (202) 238-9088
Toll-free: 1-800-837-3792
Fax: (202) 238-9003
www.americanhumanist.org
Atheist Alliance International
PO Box 26867, Los Angeles, CA 90026
Toll-free: 1-866-HERETIC
Email: info@atheistalliance.org
www.atheistalliance.org
The Brights
PO Box 163418, Sacramento, CA 95816 USA
Email: the-brights@the-brights.net
www.the-brights.net
Center For Inquiry Transnational
Council for Secular Humanism
Campus Freethought Alliance
Center for Inquiry - On Campus
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