The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery

by Guillermo Gonzalez, Jay Wesley Richards

Overview

Earth. The Final Frontier

Contrary to popular belief, Earth is not an insignificant blip on the universe’s radar. Our world proves anything but average in Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards’ The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery.

But what exactly does Earth bring to the table? How does it prove its worth among numerous planets and constellations in the vastness of the Milky Way? In The Privileged Planet, you’ll learn about the world’s:

life-sustaining capabilities
water and its miraculous makeup
protection by the planetary giants

And how our planet came into existence in the first place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781596987074
Publisher:	Regnery Publishing
Publication date:	03/01/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	172,300
File size:	9 MB

About the Author

Guillermo Gonzalez, Ph.D., is assistant research professor of astronomy and physics at Iowa State University. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Washington, and did his post-doctoral research at the University of Texas, Austin, and the University of Washington. He has received fellowships, grants, and awards from NASA, the University of Washington, Sigma Xi, and the National Science Foundation. He is the author of over sixty peer-reviewed scientific articles.

Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., is vice president and senior fellow of the Discovery Institute in Seattle. He received his Ph.D. with honors in philosophy and theology from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the author of many academic and popular essays. He is also the author and editor of several books in subjects as diverse as science, philosophy, and theology, including Are We Spiritual Machines?: Ray Kurzweil Versus the Critics of Strong AI.

Table of Contents

	Introduction
Section 1.	Our Local Environment
Chapter 1	Wonderful Eclipses	1
Chapter 2	At Home on a Data Recorder	21
Chapter 3	Peering Down	45
Chapter 4	Peering Up	65
Chapter 5	The Pale Blue Dot in Relief	81
Chapter 6	Our Helpful Neighbors	103
Section 2.	The Broader Universe
Chapter 7	Star Probes	119
Chapter 8	Our Galactic Habitat	143
Chapter 9	Our Place in Cosmic Time	169
Chapter 10	A Universe Fine-Tuned for Life and Discovery	195
Section 3.	Implications
Chapter 11	The Revisionist History of the Copernican Revolution	221
Chapter 12	The Copernican Principle	247
Chapter 13	The Anthropic Disclaimer	259
Chapter 14	SETI and the Unraveling of the Copernican Principle	275
Chapter 15	A Universe Designed for Discovery	293
Chapter 16	The Skeptical Rejoinder	313
	Conclusion: Reading the Book of Nature	331
Appendix A	The Revised Drake Equation	337
Appendix B	What about Panspermia?	343
	Notes	347
	Acknowledgments	417
	Figure Credits	419
	Index	421

Editorial Reviews

A movement known as "intelligent design" has emerged in recent years to counter evolution theories that hold that the design of the universe is random. Critics have dubbed this the "new creationism," since many in the movement correlates the intelligent designer with the Judeo-Christian God. Gonzalez and Richards now take the defense of intelligent design one step further. By assessing the elements that compose our planet, they argue, we can tell that it was designed for multicellular organic life. The presence of carbon, oxygen and water in the right proportions makes it possible for organic life to exist; and this combination of minerals and chemical elements exists only on Earth. Moreover, they argue, we can measure the ways that Earth became habitable. Thus, tree rings, stomata on leaves, skeletons in deep ocean sediments and pollen in lake sediments help us to measure how life on Earth developed by design. In addition, the authors contend, the universe itself is designed for discovery ("Mankind is unusually well-positioned to decipher the cosmos. Were we merely lucky in this regard?" No, the authors respond), and because the Earth is habitable we can use it as a measure of the uninhabitability of other planets. "The myriad conditions that make a region habitable are the best overall places for discovering the universe in its smallest and largest expressions." Overall, the authors (Gonzalez is an assistant research professor of astronomy and physics at Iowa State, Richards has a doctorate from Princeton Theological Seminary) provide a reasoned case for intelligent design, but it's important to note that the vast majority of scientists reject the intelligent design argument, and this book is unlikely to persuade many to change their minds. B&w photos. (Mar. 8) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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