Kirk Durston talks about John D. Barrow (1952–2020) and Frank Tipler who introduced the conversation we have today
Fine tuning
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…
Fine tuning of the universe: The strong force and the fine structure constant
Luke Barnes: What would happen in a hypothetical universe in which the fundamental constants of nature had other values? There is nothing mathematically wrong with these hypothetical universes. But there is one thing that they almost always lack — life.
Eric Metaxas interviews Stephen Meyer on his new book
Meyer: Historian of science Frederic Burnham has stated that the God hypothesis is now a more respectable hypothesis than at any time in the last one hundred years. The Return of the God Hypothesis looks at three critical sources of evidence.
At The Conversation: Can the laws of physics disprove God?
This seems to be a rather light piece intellectually but it gives some sense of what the wine bar would be saying about God and science if COVID-19 crazy hadn’t put it out of business: “But God isn’t a valid scientific explanation. The theory of the multiverse, instead, solves the mystery because it allows different universes to have different physical laws. So it’s not surprising that we should happen to see ourselves in one of the few universes that could support life. Of course, you can’t disprove the idea that a God may have created the multiverse.”
Researchers: Only “luck” prevented Earth from being wiped out
But they think so for the strangest reason: “Scientists found that only nine out of 8,700 planets could survive for as long as the Earth has”
One theory about why we don’t see extraterrestrials provides support for Earth as a privileged planet
If intelligent life forms are trapped in the interior oceans of rocky moons and planets, Earth is a special planet—much better suited to space exploration.
At Closer to Truth: Is the universe fine-tuned for life and mind? Well-known scientists respond
Calvert: This is an interesting set of interviews of cosmologists as they uniformly agree that there is essentially no known evidence that supports chance and/or necessity as the best explanation for the fine tuning of the universe for life.
Was the universe “made for us”? Sabine Hossenfelder weighs in. Rob Sheldon comments
The question, addressed by theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder, is more complicated than it appears at first.
Human body mass has some very interesting properties. Rob Sheldon riffs
So we are finally back to why neurons in the brain and galaxies in the universe are fractals–they are optimum solutions to connecting volumes with 1-D wires.