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Stephen Minhinnick

In 1979 I attended a lecture by Richard Feynman. During question time at the end a woman asked "Where does God fit into all this?".

First he started to say that religion and science were non-overlapping disciplines. But then paused and said "Dammit, actually there is no god!". This was the first time I had ever heard anyone say this so bluntly.

He explained that we know the fundamental constants of the universe to an incredible precision. The resulting uncertainty in calculations is so miniscule that if an answer was represented as the distance from me to the moon, the uncertainty would be as small as asking "Is that measuring from the top of my head or my shoulders?". Any god hidden in such a tiny gap could have no effect on the universe.

It still took two more years before that explanation really sank in. By age nineteen I called myself an atheist and have been so ever since.

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