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Fine tuning

So fine tuning of the universe for life goes right down to the level of the atom?

Our universe seems fine-tuned for life to come into existence, as Michael Denton stresses. If so, life may indeed inhabit other planets. If people believe that there is intelligent life on other planets in the galaxy, the best theory to support it, absent evidence at present, is intelligent design. Read More ›

Life is rare in the universe—IF there is no design

It would make a lot of sense for astrobiologists to be fans of intelligent design theory. Eventually, they will fall and hit their heads and realize that. Read More ›

The Privileged Planet, Redux

We’ve all heard about the fine-tuning of physical constants–just change them ever so slightly and a different kind of universe emerges. Then, there’s simply our location in our galaxy that allows us to see outwards to the galaxy itself, and beyond. Now, even the radioactivity in the earth’s core seems to be conducive to life. At Phys.Org there is a press release on this paper (behind paywall). “What they found is that if the radiogenic heating is more than the Earth’s, the planet can’t permanently sustain a dynamo, as Earth has done. That happens because most of the thorium and uranium end up in the mantle, and too much heat in the mantle acts as an insulator, preventing the molten Read More ›

Biochemist Fuz Rana on a curious pattern in the origin of life algorithm, Alchemy

Rana: there appear to be constraints on prebiotic chemistry that inevitably lead to the production of key biotic molecules with the just-right properties that make them unusually stable and ideally suited for life. Read More ›

Karsten Pultz offers some thoughts on the flap over the now-famous Thorvaldsen and Hössjer paper

It should also be considered that in his book Der Teil und das Ganze, Werner Heisenberg expresses his own and also Niels Bohrs’ doubt that random mutations could have produced any of the complex biological systems... Bohr adds that while natural selection obviously occurs it is the idea that new species come about by random changes, which is very hard to imagine, even if this is the only way science can explain it. Read More ›

Sabine Hossenfelder dismisses fine-tuning; Brian Miller and Steve Meyer respond

Fine-tuning of the universe is one of those concepts that can pass every possible evidence test and still be rejected because it is just not supposed to be true. No matter how foolish the arguments against it are, they will always appear preferable. If the situation results in confusion, well, confusion is clarity. Read More ›

At Mind Matters News: Believers in God detect patterns more easily

Researchers: ""Individuals who can unconsciously predict complex patterns, an ability called implicit pattern learning, are likely to hold stronger beliefs that there is a god who creates patterns of events in the universe, according to neuroscientists at Georgetown University." Read More ›

Cancel Culture lets an ID-friendly paper slip through the cracks

At ENST: "Sure enough, after Darwinists discovered the article, they succeeded in obtaining a “disclaimer” from the journal’s editors, who proclaimed their bias against ID. But the disclaimer actually made publication of the article all the more significant." Read More ›