THE INFINITE HALLWAY AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

Throughout history, two fundamentally life-altering questions have been asked, and yet they continue to be a mystery despite the paradigm shifts in science and technology. There had been various improvements throughout history until 1936 when German Konrad Zuse, in the medieval comfort of his parents’ living room, sired the first ever programmable computer called the Z1. You’d bet when Konrad created the programmable computer, little did he know that years later the effects would be earth-shattering—in light of how computers have literally opened the eyes of the world to boundless possibilities. Despite these major improvements in science and technology, man has failed to come up with answers to the following questions which continue to dominate every sphere of life:

• Where did we come from as humans?
• Where are we going? / What is our destiny?

Religious denominations all over the world seem to have an age-old answer to these mind-boggling questions, and while they may appear largely contrasting in detail, there is one thing which rings in all of them, one truth, one belief which they all hold as a fait accompli: they all believe that humanity originated from one Creator, the one and only true God, and also that eventually mankind will return to its Ruler to live in an eternal world. While this belief has been accepted on a gargantuan level worldwide, it is equally worthy to note that there are theories that disagree entirely with that opinion or belief. One such theory is that of English biologist Charles Robert Darwin, whose suggestion that humankind is a product of evolution has had earth-shattering consequences on the world.

To this day, Charles Darwin’s theory has not only shaped people’s thinking about the world but has also inspired rivulets of works in science and technology. Darwin’s assertion that human beings are a product of evolution has also been accepted on a global level, posing a compelling threat to the claims of religion. A lot of theorists, scientists, futurists and philosophers have often been quick to opine that evolution is such a startlingly simple concept, which happens all around us every day. Therefore, they find it almost ludicrous when people doubt that it could be the answer to some of life’s mysteries. In addition to being the magnum opus in the science community, Charles Darwin’s theory seems to be the umbilicus of an internationally heralded group of people called “atheists,” who believe that no deities exist. However on the other side of the boat there is a sect which believe in deities, some of them going to the length of believing that a God exists, who towers over us, who created us. These people who form the backbone of various religious denominations the world over, have been quick to brush aside Darwin’s evolution theory, despite its almost unequivocal nature. One of such arguments which they use in their criticism of the theory of evolution is what is renowned as the Infinite Hallway.

The Infinite Hallway is a thought process which was developed by former Harvard University lecturer and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould aimed at asking questions ancillary to the theory of evolution. Ironically the man is also renowned for his meticulous contributions to understanding the theory of evolution. However the Infinite Hallway, which is arguably his most influential work continues to serve as a tool used to pose questions to Darwinists. Below is the thought process by Stephen J. Gould:

“Imagine walking yourself down a long hallway—a corridor so long that it is impossible to see where you came from or where you’re going. Then behind you in the distance you hear the sound of a bouncing ball. Sure enough, when you turn, you see the ball bouncing toward you. It is bouncing closer and closer, until it finally bounces past you, and just keeps going, bouncing into the distance and out of sight.” The question is not: Is the ball bouncing? Because clearly it is bouncing, and we observe it. The question is: Why is it bouncing? How did it start bouncing? Did someone kick it? Is it a special ball that simply enjoys bouncing? Are the laws of physics in this hallway such that the ball has no choice but to bounce forever? Where is the ball going?”

These fundamental yet simple questions in the thought process are almost impossible to answer and since we cannot see far enough into the past or the future we cannot tell where the ball emanated from or where it is headed. I am tempted to incline that the connotative meaning of Stephen J’s concept is that, just we cannot look far into the past to explain how life began so can we not look far enough into the past to tell what will happen. However even though Stephen Gould did not mean for it to serve as a blemish on the stainless theory of evolution, many people have been quick to use it as a window to argue that the most logical explanation as to where we came from is that we emanated from a Supreme Being, a Creator, one who will eventually come back for His creation and save them from darkness. So until the world of science and technology came up with a theory or a scientific discovery, so disproving and compelling in its nature and axiomatic that it answers the questions: how did evolution start? and where will evolution lead us to? — The supposedly medieval claim that man was created by a being greater and more powerful than any man ever liveth, would continue to rule the global circus.

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Post written by @khojo, edited and posted by @camzy

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Image used was gotten from PIXABAY

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