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197 Mind-Stretcher. A few scientists have suggested that our universe might be a deliberately created artifact of a prior civilization. The creative agents may exist in universes that are not comprehensible to the human mind, blurring the boundary between the natural and the supernatural. However, they may have left us a message, according to one theory, in patterns we might discover in the cosmic background radiation.** What are we to make of such fascinating but unproven speculations? Their advocates seem to be struggling to reconceive the universe in a way that sees life and intelligence as more than trivial accidents, which includes us as participants with roles to play. These visions bring intelligent beings back into the picture not as passive observers, but as an active force. Instead of being of being helpless, sen- tience may be able to intervene in cosmic processes. Must intelligent life arise, thrive for a period, and then die out because of forces beyond its control? Sentient beings may be able to escape this fate only if they equip themselves with powerful technologies—which may pose their own risks. Without the intervention of intelligence, the physical universe will careen outward from its origins in the dark, uncaring about its forms or its sur- vival. However, there may be a favorable trend—a spreading emergence of intelligence equipped with the technological means to shape its future. Confirmation of biocosmic concepts could inspire hope. Our speculations may be skewed because they take place within the context of a particular scientific era. We are immersed in the greatest age of biological research, assigning biology the central place that once was occupied by physics. A future era of scientific thought may focus more on other sciences, perhaps including some not yet invented. In general the Star Maker, once he had ordained the basic principles of a cosmos and created its initial state, was content to watch the issue; but sometimes he chose to interfere, either by infringing the natural laws that he had himself ordained, or by introducing new emergent formative prin- ciples, or by influencing the minds of the creatures by direct revelation. —Olaf Stapledon, 1937” The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference. Disha-An 190640 Astronomer John Herschel argued in the nineteenth century that Darwin’s theory did not sufficiently take into account a continuously The Appearance of Design The Appearance of Design —Richard Dawkins, 1995*°