Tony Sunderland

Our Godless Universe Tony Sunderland

Most people believe that our universe was either created supernaturally by a divine entity, or that everything exists as the result of natural occurrences devoid of any creative, organising force. But could there be another explanation for how things came to be?In his new book, Tony Sunderland contends that because our universe is ultimately understandable, and the constants of physics so finely tuned, it is reasonable to conclude that the universe was created by intelligent beings, similar to us but far more advanced. Sunderland takes the misused term intelligent design away from religious apologists and expresses it in its proper form and context, to refer to the deliberate intervention of intelligent beings in the natural order of things. For Sunderland, the term intelligent design signifies that certain features in our universe are best explained by an intelligent cause. Could it be that the evolution of superior forms of intelligence is part of a greater narrative, written before the birth of our universe? Sunderland tells the story in two parts: first is the story of the relentless struggle of our genes across time, and the cultural attempts to transcend our predetermined genetic nature - both personal and societal. In the second part, he discusses the constant spiritual yearning that resides within each of us, and urges us to envision life as more than mere survival. But this unique trait has also been abused and manipulated by other (usually religiously inspired) forces. Sunderland traces an unbroken testament that reveals, across time and space, a possible method in the madness we have endured along the way, one that starts with the most powerful organising force in the universe: evolution by natural selection.