The Coming Scientific Validation of the Urantia BookPhilip Calabrese
pc@datasynthesis.org
Introduction. Although the Urantia Book [UB] was first published in 1955, already by 1942 it was "fixed" and by 1946 the final versions of the 1st edition plates were in the vault of printer RR Donnelley & Sons of Chicago, ready to produce 10,000 copies. [Mul00]
Did Human Beings Write The Urantia Book? Imagine some people cooperating in the endeavor of quietly putting the Urantia Papers together. Without computers their research team would need to find the best human writers in astronomy, geology, paleontology, chemistry, physics, biology, botany, and all other fields, selectively use their ideas and sometimes even their phrasing, but avoid all of their blunders. A superhuman task!
Items a) and b) below will be proved by exhibiting certain scientific quotations from the Urantia Book and from prominent contemporary scientists and commentators. Items c)-f) will be supported by additional references from the UB.
a) The Urantia Book has predicted many implausible and subsequently verified scientific facts better than our scientists while also successfully avoiding untenable systematic errors, unlike our scientists.
b) Therefore, on statistical grounds, only superhumans could have written the science and cosmology of the Urantia Book.
c) Concerning the UB's disclaimers of providing "inspired cosmology", the cosmology of the Urantia Book while "transient" (a few hundred years in this context) is nevertheless of "immense value" in this transition period and beyond.
d) Examples of immensely valuable "instruction in cosmology" from the UB.
e) Soon-coming scientific predictions of the UB, and
f) Predictions for the future from the cosmology of the UB.
Science and Cosmology in the Urantia Book. The following are implausible scientific positions and predictions that are now accepted by contemporary scientists:
1) "Piltdown Man" - The 1912 & 1917 "missing link" fossils, a hoax finally exposed and discredited after 1950 [Har03]. Almost all scientists in the field were fooled including William Gregory and Henry Osborn, who was the Urantia Book's main human source for prehistoric man [Blo05].
Had it taken "Piltdown Man" seriously The Urantia Book would have discredited itself as a divine revelation. But while acknowledging and describing Neanderthal, Cro-Magnon, Java and Heidelberg Man, and even while affirming evolutionary theory's main lines of thought, The Urantia Book nevertheless flatly states that no such "missing link" (aka "Piltdown Man") will be found because none exists [p.669]. Conservatively, less than 2% of scientists disbelieved Piltdown "missing link" man. The probability of randomly choosing these over the others is less than 1/50.
2) Pangaea - Alfred Wegener's 1920's theory of a single continent that broke apart and "drifted" (largely rejected by 1929, vindicated in the late1950's and 60's). [Wag96, Hug05,Wei05]. Continents float on liquid rock; allowed "continental drift". Only a few geologists (< 5%) defended Wegener's theory of continental drift until the 1950's. So the probability of randomly choosing their position is less than 1/20. But the UB embraces it. [p.663]
3) Plate Tectonics. Collisions of continents with obstructions cause mountains; shifting now causes earthquakes; periodic submergence continues. [p.688-9] Since these were not the expressed positions of most contemporary scientists, the probability of randomly choosing these positions is rather generously estimated to be as much as 1/2.
4) Injury Repair Cell Proliferation.. As late as 2001 Dr. Emilio Orfei, Department of Pathology, Loyola University of Chicago, wrote that the injury response is still not understood and may be humoral, something the Urantia Book said in 1955. [Orf01] [UB, p.735] A correct description of this injury repair mechanism was unknown in 1955. The probability that some correct human description written before 1955 was somehow chosen by human authors of the UB is generously estimated to be as much as 1/50.
5) Hundreds of Millions of Galaxies. New cosmic maps of the whole universe are now confirming the bold cosmic predictions made by the Urantia Book before 1955: "No less than 375 million" galaxies in far outer space. [p.130] Only in the 1990's did our scientists confirm what the Urantia Book said in 1955. [Wor97] Large scale ring structures separated by "voids" predicted to circle in the plane of the Milky Way. [p.125] The probability of there being some correct human description before 1955 which somehow was chosen by human authors is generously estimated at less than 1/100.
6) Large scale structures. In the 1980's, expecting randomness astronomers were surprised to see "large scale structures", "walls of galaxies", separated by huge voids, walls that may circle the Local Group (Grand Universe) including the Milky Way (Orvonton). [Cor90; UB,p.129]. No prominent astronomers were predicting non-randomly spaced galaxies in far outer space. The probability of human authors correctly guessing this is again generously estimated to be no more than 1/100.
7) Huge Redshifts. Before they were observed, the Urantia Book predicted huge redshifts equivalent to recessional speeds of "more than thirty thousand miles a second", (but it also instructs that this does not mean the universe is flying apart) [p.134]. In data provided by Allan Sandage at Mt. Wilson and Las Campanas Observatories [Rot99] the Hydra galaxy is now estimated to have a recessional speed of 61,000 km/sec = (61,000 /1.609) miles/sec = 37,900 miles/sec, which would be more than 1/5 the speed of light! Although Hubble discovered that the amount of redshift is linearly related to distance, such large redshifts as described by the UB were not seen until new telescopes revealed them, just as the UB predicted. Few if any scientists were predicting such large redshifts would soon be seen with better telescopes. They might have been wondering. The Urantia Book flatly makes a quantitatively accurate prediction even while disputing the predictable interpretation of such huge red shifts as supposedly indicating an explosive "big bang" occurred. Estimated probability of human authors making the prediction is no more than 1/5.
8) Dark Matter Holds the Universe Together. That dark matter holds luminous bodies together was first noticed in 1970's. Wikipedia [Wik05], the free encyclopedia tells us, "In the 1970s it was realized that the total visible mass of galaxies (from stars and gas) does not properly account for the speed of the rotating gas, thus leading to the postulation of dark matter." But The UB said this already in 1955. [p.173] The probability of human authors taking this position is very generously estimated to be as much as 1/5. Actually, very few if any scientists were saying anything like this back in 1955.
9) Neutrinos. While W. Pauli predicted neutrinos in 1931 and E. Fermi incorporated them into his 1934 theory of atomic decay, they were not actually observed until 1959. [Bar98]. But The Urantia Book boldly affirms their existence as "certain small uncharged particles", describes their role [p.479], and says all such particles respond to gravity (have mass) [p.461]. But only in 1998 did our scientists discover that neutrinos have mass, and it has upset their "Standard Theory". [Inf05] Estimated probability of human authors taking these correct positions is again very generously assigned the value 1/4.
Summary of Superhuman Knowledge. Systematic statements that could easily have been wrong given human knowledge at the time:
a) Not referencing paleontology fossils later found to be frauds while commenting on most others and then asserting that no "missing link" fossil (nickname for the fraudulent "Piltdown" fossil) would ever be found,
b) Describing Pangaea, continental drift on molten basalt, and formation of mountains,
c) Describing the injury repair mechanism and chemistry,
d) Predicting the existence of large-scale outer space zones containing hundreds of millions of galactic star systems,
e) Predicting these galactic assemblies (outer space zones) have structure, are separated by huge zones of almost empty space, again unknown and unexpected before being described as "voids" in 1987,
f) Predicting the extent of the "Big Bang" cosmic redshifts observed by contemporary science, (even while maintaining that the supposed rapid expansion is due to many factors of error in our spectrographic analysis of light from those objects.),
g) Even before the problem of rapidly spinning galaxies was noticed, predicting that dark matter keeps rapidly spinning galaxies from flying apart and prevents many bodies from plunging into nearby stars,
h) Affirming the existence (before actual discovery) of Neutrinos, including that they have mass.
Phenomena correctly described in The Urantia Book: Probability Estimate
Evolution is true but no "missing link" exists; Piltdown man is a hoax: ≤ 1/50
Pangaea, floating continents drifted, formed mountains when obstructed ≤ 1/40
Injured cells secrete chemicals stimulating proliferation of nearby cells: ≤ 1/50
"No less than 375 million" new galaxies will be seen: ≤ 1/100
"Walls" (actually rings) of galaxies are separated by huge voids: ≤ 1/100
Stronger telescopes will see huge red shifts of more than 30,000 mi/sec: ≤ 1/5
Galaxies spin fast; dark matter keeps them together: ≤ 1/5
Neutrinos exist and have mass ≤ 1/4
So given human authorship of the Urantia Book, the combined probability of all of these happening by chance (or by generally following the contemporary scientific beliefs) is
≤ (1/50)(1/40)(1/50)(1/100)(1/100)(1/5)(1/5)(1/4)
≤ 1/100,000,000,000 = less than 1 chance in 100 billion,
a very unlikely event! Many other examples exist reducing this probability even more. Some estimates might be raised and some lowered, but the result will be the same, an event with very small probability given human authorship.
Superhuman Authorship. A sequence of likely pitfalls and unpopular positions and other positions can hardly ALL turn out well without superhuman authorship. There are no obvious systematic scientific blunders even though it takes some initially implausible positions. On the other hand given superhuman authorship all this becomes likely. Therefore the Urantia Book had superhuman authors.
The reason that I, a scientist, and as a scientist, believe the science of The Urantia Book and so the authenticity of The Urantia Book as divine revelation to our world is because of its humanly improbable avoidance of systematic error and the meandering convergence over the years by contemporary science to implausible positions taken by the Urantia Book authors.
Scientific & Spiritual Value of The Urantia Book. It has become fashionable in some Urantian publications to regularly warn readers that the science and cosmology is "not inspired", but instead "transient" and has "errors on its face", and even that it supposedly represents only the best of 20th century science, which is already, after a "few short years", in need of revision. To justify such supposed errors it has even been suggested that superhuman authors purposely wrote known scientific falsehoods (not just imprecise statements) so that the Urantia Book would not become a fetish!!
This shows just how far wrong logic can go when based on a false premise, namely that there are large numbers of errors already apparent in the cosmology of the Urantia Book. But the Urantia Book precludes such faulty interpretations when it says that these self-qualifications of the cosmology of the Urantia Book do not prevent it from being of "immense value" [p.1109],
a) Immense value in reducing confusion by an authoritative elimination of error,
b) Immense value in co-ordination of known or about-to-be-known facts and observations,
c) Immense value in the restoration of important bits of lost knowledge concerning epochal transactions in the distant past,
d) Immense value in supplying information that will fill in vital missing gaps in otherwise earned knowledge,
e) Immense value by presenting cosmic data in such a manner as to illuminate the spiritual teachings contained in the accompanying revelation [p.1109]
This immense value of the cosmology of the UB cannot be quickly appropriated until scientists in sufficient numbers take the Urantia Book seriously. Nor would it really be of immense value were it to be superseded by contemporary scientists in a few short years without their ever consulting it. That would mean instead that it was of little value to our scientists. As it is, even in 2005 this immensely valuable cosmology from the 1955 Urantia Book remains largely unrecognized and unrealized by contemporary science.
Instructions in Cosmology from the Urantia Book Having proved on statistical grounds that the Urantia Book had superhuman authors and having shown that according to the Urantia Book, its cosmology is of "immense value", what are some of its authoritative statements intended to point the way for us? Here are some:
a) Garden of Eden - One mile down in eastern Mediterranean [Sar03]
b) Space Expansion - Space moves and contains motion [UB,p.133-4]
c) Huge Redshifts - Due to "numerous factors of error" [p.134]
d) Existence and Universe Location of a Focal Singularity in the Topology of Space - timeless and spaceless Paradise [p.124,7,467,118]
e) Local versus Paradise Gravity [p.465]
f) The Maturation of Space Potency into Mass Particles (Ultimatons) [p.465-9,329,476]
g) Wavelike Manifestations of Quantum Mechanics are due to the Unqualified Absolute [p.124], an unrecognized reaction of the universe.
h) A Rotating Universe - K. Gdel's alternate solutions of A. Einstein's field equations [Svi96; Cal05C; UB,p.118]
i) Solar System Origin - A rare type, not just a gas condensation type [p.170,655-6,168]
j) Unknown Solar Internal Temperatures and Energy Sources - temperatures reach the electron boiling point [p.463]
k) Physics and Chemistry Alone Cannot Evolve into Life [p.738,376]
Soon-Coming Scientific Discoveries. Look for these in the near future:
a) Already "big bang" cosmologists postulate space expansion (not just matter expanding into space) to explain how galaxies quickly existed 13+ billion light years from us.
b) Discovery of Atlantis- the First Garden of Eden (<2 years)
c) The Andromeda galaxy is closer than once thought; light from there takes "almost one million years", not more than two million years as is presently believed (<10 years)
d) The forth and last outer space zone (<10 years)
e) Spectrographic reinterpretation of the distance-redshift linear relationship (<10 yrs)
f) Overthrow of "big bang" cosmology; universe is 'smaller than we thought' (<15 years)
g) Discovery of non-breathing, electrically powered humanoids "in close proximity" to Earth - Ganymede, Jupiter's satellite largest in the solar system, is a candidate (Anytime we look for them.)
Future Science. The following milestones will likely require longer periods to realize:
a) Time and Space Revisions. Time as the moving image of eternity; space as the fleeting shadow (projection) of Paradise realities [p.1295,2021]
b) Circular simultaneity of experience replacing the linear "flow of events" [p.1173,1439]
c) The Bestowal of Life - the design of life recognized [p.468], that "the meaning of life is its adaptability" [p.1434]
d) The Absolutes of Infinity, the Seven Master Spirits and their Seven Different superuniverses recognized [p.1155, 1272]
e) The Supreme Being - the unity of the universe recognized [p.1477]
f) Supreme and Ultimate experience in eternity recognized [p.1139, 1272]
g) The Spirit Nucleus - that there is One is recognized [p.142]
In the final analysis and synthesis, God is One, absolutely unifying all that is spiritual, mental, material or personal.
References
[Bar98] Tomasz Barszczak, "Super-Kamiokande detector", U. of California Irvine, 1998, URL = http://www.ps.uci.edu/~superk/neutrino.html
[Blo05] Matthew Block, well-known authority on the unnamed human sources acknowledged by the authors of the Urantia Book, personal communication, 2005.
[Cal05] Philip Calabrese, "The Coming Scientific Validation of The Urantia Book", Invited Presentation, Urantia Book Fellowship International Conference, IC05, July 30 through August 4, 2005, Villanova University, 40 pages of viewgraphs and notes, URL = http://www.datasynthesis.org/ub_validation_talk.ppt
[Cal05B] Philip Calabrese, "The Coming Scientific Validation of the Urantia Book", Research Paper, Aug. 2005, 37 pages, http://www.datasynthesis.org/ub_validation.doc
[Cal05C] Philip Calabrese, "Doppler Red Shifts Due to Universe Rotations", Mathematical analysis, 7 pages, November, 2005, URL = http://www.datasynthesis.org/rotation_redshifts.doc
[Cor90] William R. Corliss, 'Astronomers up against the "great wall"', Science Frontiers #67, JAN-FEB 1990, http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf067/sf067a08.htm
[Har03] Richard Harter, "Piltdown Man", November 16, 2003, URL = http://home.tiac.net/~cri_a/piltdown/piltdown.html#introduction
[Hug05] Patrick Hughes, "On the Shoulders of Giants", NASA Earth Observatory, 2005, URL = http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Wegener/
[Inf05] "A Weighty Discovery in Particle Physics", (by an international team of Japanese and U.S. physicists in June 1998), http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0762175.html
[Mul00] Larry Mullins with Dr. Meredith Sprunger, A History of the Urantia Papers, Penumbra Press, Boulder, Co., 2000. (Appendix 4 is Merritt Horn's exhaustive "Changes in the text of Urantia Foundation's printings of The Urantia Book".)
[Orf01] Emilio Orfei editor, "Review of Pathology of the Liver", Department of Pathology, Loyola University of Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine, Apr 10, 2001. URL = http://www.meddean.luc.edu/lumen/MedEd/orfpath/repair.htm
[Rot99] Carl A. Rotter, "The Expanding Universe", Department of Physics, University of Dallas, 1999. URL = http://www.as.wvu.edu/coll03/phys/www/rotter/phys201/2_Matter_Space_Time/Expanding.html
[Sar03] Robert Sarmast, Discovery of Atlantis, Origin Press, 2003, www.discoveryofatlantis.com
[Svi96] Egils Sviestins, "Rotating Universes and Time Traveling", http://www.ettnet.se/~egils/essay/essay.html
[UB] The Urantia Book, Urantia Foundation, Chicago, 1955.
[Wag96] Ben Waggoner, "Alfred Wegener (1880-1930)", University of California, Berkeley, Museum of Paleontology, http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html
[Wei05] Anne Weil, "Plate Tectonics: The Rocky History of an Idea ",the University of California Berkeley Museum of Paleontology, http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/geology/techist.html
[Wik05] "Galaxy", Wikipedia, 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy
[Wor97] World Book Encyclopedia, Chicago: World Book, 1997: 205.
* See [Cal05, Cal05B, Cal05C] for associated documents.