The Cosmos and “The Day of the Jackal”

Last updated on: September 5, 2018 at 9:52 am by Dan Peterson

The Cosmos and “The Day of the Jackal” 2018-09-05T09:52:47-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The “Fairy” in the Eagle Nebula (Public domain Hubble photo from NASA and the European Space Agency

Notes from an uncompleted manuscript:

The quantum theorist Hugh Everett was evidently the first to seriously propose the idea of multiple universes. He has been followed, however, by such scientists as Oxford’s David Deutsch and Lee Smolin, a faculty member at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, an adjunct professor of physics at Canada’s University of Waterloo and a member of the graduate faculty of the philosophy department at the University of Toronto. Smolin has apparently described his idea as “frank speculation” and as, in a certain sense, something of a “fantasy.”[1]

In 1971, the British novelist Frederick Forsyth published a thriller titled The Day of the Jackal, in which a clever professional contract killer very nearly manages to assassinate the French president, Charles DeGaulle. With almost superhuman skill and elaborate planning, the “Jackal” manages to get himself into position for a single fatal shot. At the very last moment, though, President DeGaulle moves, and the bullet merely enters the ground. So the cheering crowd surrounding President DeGaulle notices nothing, and life goes on as if it had never happened.

The 1973 movie that bears the same name followed the novel pretty closely, portraying the “Jackal” as elusive, ingenious, and almost unbelievably cunning.

In 1997, though, the story was again made into a movie. (Hollywood loves to remake successful films.) This time, though, it was called, simply, The Jackal, partly because the narrative had been substantially altered and partly because Frederick Forsyth wanted neither his own name nor his original novel associated with it. In this later version, the “Jackal” (now played by the American star Bruce Willis, whose strong suit probably isn’t restraint, rather than by the elegant, patrician English actor Edward Fox) is a very much less subtle assassin. No longer urbane and understated, the new “Jackal” tries to take his target out (in this version, it’s the American First Lady rather than the president de la Republique) with such massive firepower that, far from his attempt passing unnoticed, the crowd surrounding his target flees in classic Hollywood mass terror as shattered brick and glass rain down upon their heads. It would be exceedingly difficult, if one were not actually in on the plot, to figure out just who, exactly, the assassin’s target had been.

Clearly, though, either carefully planned precision or massed and massive destruction will serve to assassinate someone. It’s a matter of finesse versus wild excess.

Physicist Karl W. Giberson, from whom I borrow the “Jackal” analogy:

you can explain the marvelous design of our universe by the finesse of a wise creator or the firepower of some mindless cosmic machine extravagantly belching out alternative realities, some of which have the ingenious design of this one, but most of which do not—collateral damage on a cosmic scale.[2]

[1] Smolin, The Life of the Cosmos, prologue. [See it.]

[2] Giberson, “The Goldilocks Universe,” 30.

Previous Post

August 23, 2018

Credo

Next Post

August 23, 2018 Odium theologicum

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which mountain did this Abraham's near-sacrifice event occur on?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Mount Sinai Mount Ararat Mount Carmel Mount Moriah