Freeman Dyson’s Disturbing Scientific Theology — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
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Hoboken, June 9, 2024. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have given new life to the old idea that one day intelligent machines will surpass their human creators . Physicist Freeman Dyson was an early explorer of this sci-fi scenario. Dyson, who died in 2020 at the age of 96, pos

Freeman Dyson’s Disturbing Scientific Theology

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  • Author: John Horgan

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Dyson is rejecting the notion that physics can find a “final theory” that solves the riddle of the universe and brings physics to an end. Dyson is also hinting at a solution to the deepest of all theological puzzles, the problem of evil: Why would God create such a painful, unjust world?

It is a subversive laugh, the laugh of a man who insists that science at its best is “a rebellion against authority.”

Dyson was provoked into taking up this final topic by Steven Weinberg’s notorious remark that “the more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless.”

In *Infinite in All Directions*, Dyson predicts that the entire universe might eventually be transformed into one great mind.

Dyson insists that even a cosmic superintelligence cannot solve the riddle of existence. There will “always be new things happening, new information coming in, new worlds to explore, a constantly expanding domain of life, consciousness and memory.” The quest for knowledge will be–*must* be—“infinite in all directions.”

“Since we know the laws of physics are mathematical,” Dyson says, “and we know that mathematics is an inconsistent system, it’s sort of plausible that physics will also be inconsistent” and therefore open-ended.

“If you go into the future, what we call science won’t be the same thing anymore, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be interesting questions.”