Category: Fine tuning
Experiment makes fundamental asymmetry of water “glaringly clear”
| August 17, 2018 | Posted by News under Fine tuning, Intelligent Design |
At one time, it wathought that the mechanisms by which water transports the H+ and OH− ions were mirror images of each other, though in recent years, asymmetry was glimpsed: A team of scientists has uncovered new molecular properties of water—a discovery of a phenomenon that had previously gone unnoticed. Liquid water is known to […]
Detected: Wall of hydrogen around the solar system
| August 16, 2018 | Posted by News under Fine tuning, Intelligent Design |
Hydrogen. One outcome of the exploration of Pluto and the surrounding area: So, what is this wall? We call it “space,” but space isn’t completely empty. Even in between stars there are some stray atoms and bits of dust. Clouds of neutral hydrogen atoms float through interstellar space, but the sun can affect how they’re […]
Claim: A planet does not need plate tectonics to sustain life
| August 7, 2018 | Posted by News under Exoplanets, Extraterrestrial life, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design |
Plus, a friend offers a reply. From ScienceDaily: There may be more habitable planets in the universe than we previously thought, according to Penn State geoscientists, who suggest that plate tectonics — long assumed to be a requirement for suitable conditions for life — are in fact not necessary. When searching for habitable planets or […]
Rob Sheldon on the claimed need for new physics
| August 7, 2018 | Posted by News under Astronomy, Cosmology, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Physics |
Why do computers mean we never have to be humble again? We asked our physics color commentator, Rob Sheldon, about the recent deflation of the “expanding blueberry muffin” picture of the universe. That is, as one astrophysicist puts it “Just as cosmological measurements have became so precise that the value of the Hubble constant was […]
“Expanding blueberry muffin” picture of the universe collapses
| August 7, 2018 | Posted by News under Astronomy, Cosmology, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Physics |
And cosmologists race to win a “great cosmic bake-off” to produce a new one, says astrophysicist: Just as cosmological measurements have became so precise that the value of the Hubble constant was expected to be known once and for all, it has been found instead that things don’t make sense. Instead of one we now […]
New study: Yes, our sun IS peculiar
| August 7, 2018 | Posted by News under Astronomy, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Physics |
Only 7-20% of the “solar twins were like the sun in composition and no exoplanets were found orbiting them. Although the report does not dwell on this, it implies that the number of truly Earth-like planets in our galaxy may be limited by the absence of sun-like stars.
Startling admission about the science (i.e., non-science) basis for the multiverse
| July 25, 2018 | Posted by News under Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Multiverse |
From Ethan Siegel at Forbes: So why do so many theoretical physicists write papers about the multiverse? About parallel Universes and their connection to our own through this multiverse? Why do they claim that the multiverse is connected to the string landscape, the cosmological constant, and even to the fact that our Universe is finely-tuned […]
Hugh Ross’s five best arguments from nature for the existence of God
| July 22, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, theism |
And some objections. Via Mark Tapscott at HillFaith, from Hugh Ross at Reason to Believe: 1. origin of space, time, matter, and energy 2. origin of life 3. human exceptionalism 4. fine-tuning of the universe, Earth, and Earth’s life to make possible the existence and redemption of billions of humans 5. Genesis 1’s predictive power […]
Atheists sense design in nature?
| July 22, 2018 | Posted by News under Atheism, Design inference, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design |
From Clay Routledge at National Review: As I discuss in my new book, Supernatural: Death, Meaning, and the Power of Invisible World, the decline of any particular religion does not reflect a decline in people’s orientation toward supernatural questions, curiosities, and beliefs. Most people still believe in God or a universal spirit. The majority of […]
Philippines president claims he’ll resign if anyone can prove God exists
| July 8, 2018 | Posted by News under Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Religion |
But leaves himself a fine-tuning loophole. From Sacramento Bee via AP: The 73-year-old leader said that if there’s “one single witness” who can prove, perhaps with a picture or a selfie that a human was “able to talk and to see God,” he will immediately resign. … Duterte, however, suggested that there must be a […]
At Prospect: Multiverse theory is undermining the integrity of physics
| July 3, 2018 | Posted by News under Fine tuning, Multiverse |
From Jim Baggott at Prospect: Over the last few decades “multiverse theories” have become increasingly fashionable within a relatively small—but publicly vocal—group of theoretical physicists. This group specialises in foundational problems in cosmology, particle physics, and quantum mechanics. These theories are advertised as science’s answer to much that we can’t otherwise explain about the universe […]
Exoplanet has stable axial tilt, like Earth – but Earth has help from the moon and other planets
| July 2, 2018 | Posted by News under Exoplanets, Extraterrestrial life, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design |
The reality that earth is fine-tuned for life screams out at us from stories that seem to make a point of not emphasizing the fact. From ScienceDaily: The researchers suggest that Kepler-186f’s axial tilt is very stable, much like the Earth, making it likely that it has regular seasons and a stable climate. The Georgia […]
At Forbes: Are we doing theoretical physics all wrong?
| June 18, 2018 | Posted by News under Cosmology, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Multiverse, Philosophy |
From astrophysicist Ethan Siegel, reviewing Sabine Hossenfelder’s new book, Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray, at Forbes: The history of physics is filled with great ideas that you’ve heard of, like the Standard Model, the Big Bang, General Relativity, and so on. But it’s also filled with brilliant ideas that you probably haven’t […]
Fine-tuning of the universe: Why David Hume’s objections fail
| June 17, 2018 | Posted by News under Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Naturalism |
From Joseph R. Miller at More than Cake: Fine Tuning has certainly advanced over the centuries, but still it is worth noting that one of the early and oft quoted critics was philosopher David Hume. However, his reasoning was fatally flawed and in a previous post I give four reasons to reject Hume’s criticism: First, […]
Christian philosopher Robin Collins vs. atheist philosopher Peter Millican on the fine-tuning of the universe for life
| June 9, 2018 | Posted by News under Cosmology, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design |
Yes (Robin Collins) or no ( Peter Millican)? Wintery Knight recalls the 2016 debate and offers a summary: Science has revealed that the fundamental constants and forces of the cosmos appear to be exquisitely fine-tuned to allow a universe in which life can develop. Is God the best explanation of the incredibly improbable odds of […]
Water can exist in two different liquid phases
| June 2, 2018 | Posted by News under Fine tuning, Intelligent Design |
We are learning more about water, which may shed light on its unusual, life-enabling properties. From Stockholm University at Phys.org: Most of us know that water is essential for our existence on planet Earth. It is less well-known that water has many strange or anomalous properties and behaves very differently from all other liquids. Some […]
Fine-tuning?: Earth slows the deadly solar wind to a gentle breeze
| June 1, 2018 | Posted by News under Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Physics |
One reason why life can exist here. From ScienceDaily: A new study describes the first observations of the process of electron heating in Earth’s bow shock. The researchers found that when the electrons in the solar wind encounter the bow shock, they momentarily accelerate to such a high speed that the electron stream becomes unstable […]
Design Disquisitions: Quote of the Month-Robin Collins on Why ID isn’t Science
| May 28, 2018 | Posted by Joshua G under Back to Basics of ID, Fine tuning, Food for thought, ID, Philosophy, Science |
It’s been a while sorry, but here’s my latest: Quote of the Month: Robin Collins on why ID isn’t a part of science
Are recent dark energy findings a blow for multiverse theory?
| May 18, 2018 | Posted by News under Cosmology, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Multiverse, Physics |
Dark energy. From Andrew Masterson at Cosmos: The question of dark energy in one universe does not require others to provide an answer. A hypothetical multiverse seems less likely after modelling by researchers in Australia and the UK threw one of its key assumptions into doubt. Dark energy is supposed to be responsible for the […]
Stephen Hawking’s final theory scales back multiverse
| May 2, 2018 | Posted by News under Cosmology, Fine tuning, Intelligent Design, Multiverse |
From ScienceDaily: The theory of eternal inflation that Hawking and Hertog put forward is based on string theory: a branch of theoretical physics that attempts to reconcile gravity and general relativity with quantum physics, in part by describing the fundamental constituents of the universe as tiny vibrating strings. Their approach uses the string theory concept […]
