Fine tuning

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 for life? Because even though it’s obviously a bad idea, they don’t have any better ones. … As I’ve explained before, the Multiverse is not a scientific theory on its own. Rather, it’s a theoretical consequence of the laws of physics as they’re best understood today. It’s perhaps even an inevitable consequence of those laws: if you have an inflationary Universe governed by quantum physics, Read More ›

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 to accurately describe, in chronological order, key events in Earth’s history leading to humans More. Ross defends each one, for example, Origin of the universe: All our observations of the present and past state of the universe are consistent with a cosmic creation event that occurred 13.8 billion years ago. Some examples include (1) maps of the cosmic microwave background radiation; (2) past cosmic temperature Read More ›

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 religious “nones” believe in God, a higher power, or a spiritual force. Even those who reject supernatural ideas can be influenced by them. For instance, researchers in Finland found that theists and atheists exhibited similar levels of physiological stress when reading aloud statements daring God to cause harm. Other studies indicate that even atheists have a tendency to believe in fate at least somewhat and Read More ›

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 God or a supreme being that prevents billions of stars and celestial bodies from colliding in a frequency that could have long threatened the human race. More. A selfie with God will not help Dutarte think more clearly. See also: What becomes of science when the evidence does not matter?

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 we inhabit, the elementary particles we have discovered in it, and the reasons for our own existence. … The first victim is context. For example, in a recent post to this blog, Philip Ball reports on a paper published by a team of astrophysicists in the “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.” Ball reports on this paper with an accuracy entirely consistent with his Read More ›

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 Tech team thinks the same is true for Kepler-62f, a super-Earth-sized planet orbiting around a star about 1,200 light-years away from us. How important is axial tilt for climate? Large variability in axial tilt could be a key reason why Mars transformed from a watery landscape billions of years ago to today’s barren desert. “Mars is in the habitable zone in our solar system, but Read More ›

  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 heard of, like the Sakata Model, Technicolor theory, the Steady State Model, and Plasma Cosmology. Today, we have theories that are highly fashionable, but without any evidence for them: supersymmetry, grand unification, string theory, and the multiverse. … Yet unlike in the past, these dead-ends continue to represent the fields in which the leading theorists and experimentalists cluster to investigate. These blind alleys, which have Read More ›

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, Hume’s assumption that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence is itself a non-scientific assertion. Second, Hume’s claim that science disproves a supernatural cause for nature is flawed in that he assumes the conclusion in the premise. Third, Hume’s argument against the testimony of those who have faith is rooted, at best, in prejudice and, at worst, outright racism—not reason. Fourth, Hume’s threshold for validating the teleological Read More ›

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 the universe we live in being a life-permitting one? … From ‘Unbelievable?’ on ‘Premier Christian Radio’, Saturday 19th March 2016. From Wintery Knight: Brierley [host]: What is the fine-tuning argument? Collins: the fine-tuning is structure of the universe is extremely precisely set to allow the existing of conscious, embodied agents who are capable of moral behavior. There are 3 kinds of fine-tuning: 1) the laws Read More ›

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 examples are the melting point, the density, the heat capacity, and all-in-all there are more than 70 properties of water that differ from most liquids. These anomalous properties of water are a prerequisite for life as we know it. “The new remarkable property is that we find that water can exist as two different liquids at low temperatures where ice crystallization is slow”, says Anders Read More ›

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 and breaks down. This breakdown process robs the electrons of their high speed and converts the energy to heat. … The results add an important new dimension to scientists’ understanding of Earth’s magnetic field and its ability to protect the planet from harmful particles and radiation. The research paper was published in the journal Physical Review Letters on May 31, 2018. “If you were to Read More ›

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

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 accelerating expansion of our universe but current theory suggests that there should be much more than there is, so: The multiverse idea to an extent accounts for and accommodates this oddly small – but life-permitting – dark energy quotient. Essentially it permits a curiously self-serving explanation: there are a vast number of universes all with differing amounts of dark energy. We exist in one that Read More ›

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 of holography, which postulates that the universe is a large and complex hologram: physical reality in certain 3D spaces can be mathematically reduced to 2D projections on a surface. … Hertog and Hawking used their new theory to derive more reliable predictions about the global structure of the universe. They predicted the universe that emerges from eternal inflation on the past boundary is finite and Read More ›