Highly Illogical

I consider myself generally to the left on most issues, but nonetheless I have a fascination with right-wing pundits and bloggers. Their arguments are often so ridiculous, they make me feel very intelligent by comparison. One of the blogs I often read is View From the Right. It's written by a dude named Lawrence Auster, who is a blatant racist (although he bristles at any charge of racism) who fancies himself a deep thinker.

This one article he wrote, "A simple proof of the existence of God," is delightfully audacious. His main premise is that the differences in the properties of hydrogen atoms and larger atoms suggest that those properties are not inherent to matter itself, but rather imposed from some force outside of the universe. In his words, these properties "are not material. They are mental." Therefore, I guess, he means to posit that the universe is governed by some intelligence.

I take issue with this for three reasons:

First, while physics doesn't yet explain why a basic unit of matter (the hydrogen atom) does not seem to have properties that would predict the behaviour of larger atoms that are largely made up of the same components, it does not necessarily follow that physics can't ever explain it.

Second, he assumes that there are no components below the level of protons and electrons that would have properties that explain the behaviours of all atoms at once. String theory and loop gravity theory posit that these components really do exist.

Third, even if there really is some force outside of the universe, outside of matter and space-time, that imposes these properties on matter rather than those properties being inherent, it doesn't necessarily follow that that force is intelligent or eve conscious. For the properties of matter to exist outside of the universe, all that is necessary is that information be stored and retrieved from some source. This does not require any kind of intelligence.