Daniel Díaz: There is a constant attached to the gravitational law. And in that gravitational law, that constant is producing some effect. Were the constant too small, then stars could not be formed.
Fine tuning
At Mind Matters News: Can there be a general theory for fine-tuning?
Swedish mathematician Ola Hössjer, who is working on a general theory of fine tuning, sees the beauty of mathematics in the fact that seemingly unrelated features in cosmology and biology can be modeled using similar concepts.
At Mind Matters News: Life is so wonderfully finely tuned that it’s frightening
A mathematician who uses statistical methods to model the fine tuning of molecular machines and systems in cells reflects…
At Mind Matters News: Fine-tuning? How Bayesian statistics could help break a deadlock
Bayesian statistics are used, for example, in spam filter technology, identifying probable spam by examining vast masses of previous messages.
What Steven Weinberg’s “pointless universe” really meant
What it really meant was permission to ignore the significance of the fine-tuning of the universe and of Earth for life. It really amounts to saying that evidence does not matter any more.
The remarkable fine-tuning of the dragonfly
One harm Darwinism has done to people is to make things that are conventional expressions of intelligence sound “insane. ”
Privileged Address: An excerpt from Neil Thomas’s Taking Leave of Darwin
Neil Thomas: Through the lens of a celestial telescope, it is true, one can see little but the unfeeling immensity of that unremittingly hostile universe invoked by [Bertrand] Russell, but if we look around us here on Earth we can see a planet which seems entirely discontinuous with the rest of the observable cosmos and abounding in a host of benign phenomena so numerous that they tend to go largely unnoticed.
Jerry Coyne vs Ross Douthat on science-based belief in God
Coyne makes a virtue of the fact that he finds typical, widespread points of view hard to comprehend. Uncommon Descent to Jerry Coyne: Come in Coyne, are you reading us?: Buckle that seatbelt, man! This is the BIG roller coaster, Flyin’ Annie. Not the little ones you are used to. Over and out.
Kirk Durston on design in the universe
Kirk Durston talks about John D. Barrow (1952–2020) and Frank Tipler who introduced the conversation we have today
Physicist: Fine tuning explains the ugliness of the Standard Model of the universe
Well, ugly is as ugly does. String theory sounds beautiful but unrealistic.
Larry Krauss article at Inference Review – reply from Steve Meyer
Then, Larry Krauss responds. If you are stuck in some ridiculous lockdown, be sure to find a link to Inference Review and order in lots of good coffee.
Do antimatter stars anti-twinkle?
Before we worry too much about the fate of the Standard Model of the universe, it’s worth noting that we are also told that it would be “extremely difficult” to prove that a star is really an anti-star. It’s mainly just an intriguing idea at this point.
Hitchhiker’s Guide author’s “puddle” argument against fine-tuning — and a response
It’s a good argument. But in reality, any argument against fine-tuning will be accepted, whether it makes sense or not. It is only the defenders of a rational universe who need to make sense. And that’s not for the other guy; it’s for you.
At Mind Matters News: Why believe atheists about God?
Logic and evidence both point to the existence of God, whatever atheists may think: Michael Egnor addresses three arguments in Steve Meyer’s new book, The Return of the God Hypothesis.
More evidence of fine-tuning in DNA replication
“Just the right amount” over and over in a cascade is still just a big accident, right? That’s if you still want your job at the lab…