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Cosmic Coincidences: Why is the Universe Finely-Tuned for Life?
Allen HainlineRatio Christi Philippines
June 2, 2015Does God Exist?
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Outline
• More evidence• Objections to the argument from fine-
tuning to design and God
Fine-Tuning Trend(Anthropic = ‘Supporting Man’ or observers)
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“Science may be undergoing a huge course correction ... A titanic controversy has erupted over … the pattern of extraordinary unexplained coincidences that are necessary for our own existence.” Stanford Physicist Leonard Susskind
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Anthropic Articles per year
Impact of Fine-Tuning
"When I began my career as a cosmologist some twenty years ago, I was a convinced atheist. I never in my wildest dreams imagined that one day I would be writing a book purporting to show that the central claims of Judeo-Christian theology are in fact true... I have been forced into these conclusions by the inexorable logic of my own special branch of physics." Physicist Frank Tipler
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Examples of Fine-Tuning
There are at least 20 examples• Speed of light• Mass of proton, neutron, electron, …• Strengths of each of the 4 fundamental forces• Last night discussed amazing fine-tuning to have
long-lasting stars
Initial Conditions Finely-Tuned
Nearly all initial conditions of Big Bang would have resulted in lifeless universe dominated by black holes• Odds against life: 1 in 10 to power of 10123
• Writing out number requires more 0’s than particles in universe!
Fine-Tuning of Quark Masses
“Changing the quark masses even a small amount has drastic consequences for which no amount of Darwinian selection can compensate” Craig Hogan• Some of the disasters involve no protons or neutrons in the
universe or no carbon or oxygen• There are “very tight limits on the variations of the light quark
mass. Such extreme fine-tuning supports the anthropic view of our Universe.” Ulf-G. Meißner in April 2015 (1 of 8 articles)
• Fine-tuning to 1 part in 1036
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1 chance in 1036 is equivalent to– Color one tiny grain of sand red– Mix it in sandpile in Eurasia up to 5
times the height of moon– Randomly select the 1 red grain of
sand
Comprehending the Fine-Tuning
Fine-Tuning of Cosmological Constant
Affects expansion rate of universe– If too large, universe is thin hydrogen soup (no chance of life)– If too small, universe rapidly recollapses before life can form– Must be fine-tuned to at least 1 in 1053
• Like hitting a bull’s-eye on wall with diameter of 450 million light-years
New Fine-Tuning Examples Being Discovered
“Water’s life-giving properties exist on a knife-edge. It turns out that life as we know it relies on a fortuitous, but incredibly delicate, balance of quantum forces. Water is one of the planet's weirdest liquids, and many of its most bizarre features make it life-giving.” New Scientist Oct 2011 based on researchers from Stanford, Argonne National Lab
– Imposes constraints on constant affecting quantum effects• Also finely-tuned for hydrogen bonding in DNA, galaxy
and star formation, force strengths
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Isn’t this just another“God of the Gaps” argument?
• There is no gap– Based on knowledge not ignorance
• Argue that design is best explanation for facts about foundational science– A fundamental constant is not derived from a theory
• You must experimentally determine value• If it’s truly fundamental then science is done
– Admittedly scientific understandings could change• Most FT claims relates to well-understood low energy physics• Multiple fine-tunings per parameter and multiple finely-tuned
parameters outweighs uncertainties
Objection: It’s Just a Coincidence -”Improbable events happen every day”
“Someone has to win the lottery …”– If lots of chances – what if no other lottery tickets?
• What if all tickets had same numbers? (multiverse alone)
– Scientists do draw conclusions from improbable events, how does one distinguish cases?• Fine-tuning combines improbability with a specific pattern
– Physics that supports life is a miniscule subset– Fine-tuning is like 1 person winning multiple lotteries in a row– Or like winning all lotteries for entropy fine-tuning
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Objection: “Evolution will find a way” or“There could be other life forms”
• “If these fundamental parameters were much different from what they are, it is not only human beings that would not exist but no life of any kind would exist.” Lightman of MIT
• “Changing the quark masses even a small amount has drastic consequences for which no amount of Darwinian selection can compensate” Craig Hogan
• Consider best alternative candidate to Carbon (Silicon)– Cannot form double bonds, long-chain molecules less stable, SiO2 vs.
CO2, C made on the way to making Si
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Objection: This universe is just as unlikely as any other
Suppose we’re playing poker and I deal myself 10 royal flushes in a row
• I claim not to be cheating since this is no less improbable than any other set of 10 hands
– Any poker hand is as unlikely as any other only if dealt fairly – but that’s what we want to know!
– Right Question: If dealer dealt 10 straight royal flushes, what is probability she is dealing fairly?
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Objection: “We can only observe we’re in a life-permitting universe”:
Anthropic Principle
– This reasoning shown to be fallacious• Need for such precise fine-tuning is surprising!
– Consider if you are put before a firing squad of 100 marksmen but every one misses• You are not surprised that you do not observe that you
are dead• You are rightly surprised that everyone missed
– Unlikelihood of situation demands an explanation» You would rightly suspect that it was rigged
“If You Don’t Want God, You Better Have a Multiverse!”
• This was Bernard Carr’s advice• Susskind of Stanford says intelligent design is
the only alternative explanation• The astonishing thing is that the naturalist
must appeal to vast scores on unseen universes to try to increase probabilistic resources to avoid design implications!
Problems with Multiverse
• No evidence for other universes• Would need more universes than subatomic particles in this
universe• Universe generating mechanisms require fine-tuning
– Leading theory occurs 1 chance in in 10 the 66 millionth power• Multiverse alone insufficient - new universes have to have
variable constants– Constants have to vary extremely widely
• Multiverse doesn’t explain coincidence that life-permitting constraints have an overlap in parameter space
• Our universe should be typical among life-permitting universes and isn’t
Resources
– Recommended Authors• Davies, Susskind, Barrow, Rees• Lennox, Hugh Ross, Polkinghorne
– Articles but not books (yet)• Luke Barnes• Robin Collins• George Ellis
