In hmolscience, Provident G. Peterson (c.1950-) is American writer noted for his 2010 The Universe, God, and Us, wherein he argues that humans, as molecules, originated from the big bang and the hydrogen atom, but that along the way god put a "spark" into the picture.
Overview
In 2010, Peterson, in his The Universe, God, and Us, attempted to integrate the concept of God with the modern science view of the universe, defining a person specifically as an evolved atomic-based material substance that originated form the “human molecule”, the seed molecule of all life. He specifically states about his book that it is intended for the astronomer and astrophysicist, but that what the contents of the book may not be acceptable to the scientific community. [1] In his opening pages he specifically states that everything that exists on earth is made of matter and that matter is made of atoms, the building blocks of matter. On the subject of gravity, Peterson correctly states that “gravity is nothing more than a large number of atoms with a large charge [such as the earth], attracting a lesser number of atoms with a lesser charge [such as a human].” He also goes on to introduce the logic that atoms, not only generate gravity, but also heat.
Difficulties
The book seems to be cogent, that is until Peterson begins discussing the human molecule and how God relates to the formation of the human molecule. First he outlines the view that the hydrogen reacted with other hydrogen atoms, following the Big Bang, forming all the elements of the periodic table and various other larger molecules, such as water, and that eventually, through the interactions of heat and gravity, a chemical soup of all known elements and water, in the state of chaotic reactions, had formed on the surface of the earth, after which “one specific element resulted in the first spark of life” to eventually evolve to create the “human molecule”. Peterson goes on to argue that “the seed of God lies embedded within every nucleus of one specific atom, which if he had to guess would be carbon, and that this particular atom, containing the seed of God, has just the right energy to spark the beginning of life, and to create the first molecule of life. He goes on to argue that the desire of this element, and its living descendants, is the “fulfillment of one’s evolution”.
He then postulates that, following the formation of the God seed element, there formed what he calls an “Alpha combination of molecules”, that resulted in “the liquid dwelling entity that would eventually become a human being.” He continues “the molecule that was to become the human being, triggered the formation of all ensuing molecules of life. The human molecule created the need for all other molecules of life.” Its seems, to note, that although Peterson defines all bodies to be made of atoms, he does not seem to come right out and say that the human is a molecule, but rather a descendent of the first Alpha, God-infused, ‘human molecule’, which itself formed from the first Alpha, God-infused atom, which Peterson posits was carbon.
Education
Peterson is a dropped out of high school in circa 1970 later becoming U.S. government employee, where he remained for 35-years, recently retiring in late 2000.
References
1. Peterson Jr., Provident G. (2010). The Universe, God, and Us (human molecule, pgs. 38, 55). Dorrance Publishing Co.