11 year old college grad wants to get a PhD in astrophysics and prove God is real...
The world is still a wonderful, curious and perhaps even a bit mystical for most 11 year olds - regardless of academic achievements. He should follow whatever path his intellectual curiosity leads him down. Would love to get follow ups on this young man - it will be interesting to see what he "discovers".
Bertrand Russell attempted to do this with mathematics early in the twentieth century. I think he thought he succeeded, for a while.
Loads of people have thought they had found proof, but they were all mistaken.
The most often cited example is the eye, as it is thought too complex to have arisen naturally – but natural selection is able to bat away such arguments. The vagus nerve of the giraffe is often dusted off and wheeled out on such occasions to show how unlikely a creator is.
I never cease to be amazed how puerile the whole literal 'God made everything' mentality is. It is as practical as building a train set. Great fun but don't spend your life on it. And do you know, that signal box man hasn't waved to me once. He just stands there like a dork expecting something to happen. Ah, I know, I'll breath life into him and see what happens...
Great! By the time he's ready to get his driver's license he can be wrapping up a doctoral dissertation on doesntmatter.
College grad at 11? That's some serious accomplishment. He knows already what a PhD is and wants to pursue? Great !! Now, as far as proving God's existance, he will eventually become old enough to change his mind set. Regardless of his accomplishments, keep in mind he is 11
He's simply saying things that he has been taught/indoctrinated with in his parents' house... Once he is given the freedom to think on his own and make his own decisions he may very well come to some different conclusions.
Well, that'll be a dead end career.
If he can do it, more power to him and he will be the proud recipient of the Nobel prize and become the most famous person in human history. Most all A-theist say that if some evidence and proof can be presented, we would change our mind. I am prepared to wait and see for the evidence and proof. Until that time, meh.
@Kafir I agree completely.
Greater minds than his have tried to prove it. It's not going to happen.
He's young and still believes in fairy tales and imaginary friends. He's trying to reconcile his brain and knowledge with the brainwashing of his family/social group.
He will eventually get up the nerve to declare he's an Atheist.
Perhaps, perhaps not.
Bit of luck a some uni life will sort his head out ....nothing like a few years of sex ,drugs and rock n roll to make someone grow up
@archer5691 lol
Not everyone fits your mold. I am 80 years old and have never done drugs, I never listen to rock-n-roll, but sex was my thing (notice the "was", nothing lasts forever), and I feel pretty grown up. Your mileage may vary.
let's hope at age 11 he is not engaging in sex and recreational drugs. As for rock and roll, have at it.
Good on him. At least he's got a goal to drive him.
One should not have an a priori goal in the quest for truth and knowledge. Let the facts tell you.
Probably best not to tell that to an 11 year old. Leave it until he's 84 because he will have cracked it himself by then!
We came from somewhere. There is a creator. As an atheist my problem isn't with the existence of a being but with the belief system attached to him/her/it. That's truly what bugs us yes? He might be able to prove the existence of god, hell, he might even find the bones. How does that change how the world thinks if he can't prove justification of said belief?
A creator? A creator assembles pieces to form a whole. Intelligent design is obviously not in motion. Evolution is not sentient. Therefore, no creator. We came from a natural process. The laws of nature. Fundamental forces shaped us. Stars had to be born, live for billions of years, and die for us to exist. There is no creator.
By the same logic a creator would need to be created by it's own creator, etc etc. Unless you're happy to assume an infinite number of creators with nothing better to do with all their power and wisdom than create a creator, the alternative is that the first creator just appeared out of nothing for absolutely no reason. If a creator could materialise from nowhere, then so could a lesser being such as a universe. If we ever discover the fossilised bones of some proto-god you can be sure they were created and buried by some disillusioned 16 year old college drop out.
@Salo the problem is we have a lot of past to learn from and we haven't yet so...not tooooo hopeful!
It's sad when religious people think they have figured something out no one else has thought of.
Like the people who call into atheist radio shows claiming to have proof against evolution that no one ever thought of before. If they had that they should call biologists to confirm their nobel prize.
I hope the kid makes some great contribution to science, and that he quickly realizes the world is bigger than he thinks it is.