Explaining a situation (usually a person’s guilt) involves two main things. I am not an expert in the legal field but I have read and watched many “who done it” mysteries. Do you enjoy mysteries and who done it movies like me? Like those on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries?
To explain anything, an “effect”, you need two basic things that show “cause” :
- An explanation in terms of personal agent. Who did it (and maybe why)?
- An explanation in terms of laws or mechanism using science. How he did it?
Let us look at a couple of “Who done it?” examples:
1. Situation: You left the teenage children at home alone. Upon your arrival the swimming pool is very dirty. It looks like the Mississippi River after a rainstorm. Explanation: The children claim they saw a frog in the pool that must have jumped in dirty. Who Done It? The mechanism is for the frog muddying the pool is insufficient. While the children have found an agent to blame, the law of science says that any frog with that much dirt would have had to roll into the pool.
2. Situation: You left the dog and cat alone in the house for a couple hours. You come home and the entrance is destroyed. Explanation: The dog looks and you and says the cat did it. Who Done It? While an animal has sufficient capacity and time to destroy the entrance, the cat is not the personal agent who performed this dastardly deed as it is outside and the wall has dog nail scratches.
3. Situation: You left the house for a couple hours and your beloved German Shepard is in the fenced back yard. You come home and you see your favorite pillows that await you and your loving husband during your sunset swinging are destroyed. Explanation: The dog claims the pillows exploded when he jumped in the swing. Who Done It? While things do explode, usually there is a personal agent assisting in that explosion in combining the 3 agents needed: fuel, oxygen, and igniter. Things don’t just happen. It seems that the Dog Done It.
One more Who Done IT?
Situation: You look around you and you see a well orchestrated universe in balance. Explanation: Some people say it self created. Other people say they know the personal agent – God – who did it. Who Done It? In looking at the situation of the Universe, did material do it or did God do it?
For me, a personal agent has to do this as things just don’t happen. A big personal agent had a lot of work to do with all of the energy, matter, and now we hear about dark matter that the Universe contains.
What say you? Who Done It?