It is amusing to note that the way many scientists promote a novel theory is to argue that their theory is true because the alternative is to accept the hypothesis that the Earth is in a very privileged position in the universe.
For those bored with my rejection of the chance hypothesis in 500 fair coins being heads, here is a far more technical question as to whether chance can create clustering of redshifts by quasars. If quasar redshift grouping is not the product of chance, this implies either the Earth is in a privileged position (which has all sorts of unacceptable metaphysical implications to materialists), or quasar redshifts are not due to expanding space of the Big Bang, or maybe both.
Here is the paper by YP Varshni:
Is the Earth in the Center of the Universe?
Varshni echoes Halton Arp’s observation that The Fingers of God are pointing at you.
NOTES
1. Varshni defends his thesis from other critics here:
Part II
2. Filed under “Privileged Planet”. I recall Jerry Coyne went ballistic when the Privileged Planet hypothesis was presented at the Smithsonian Institution. See:
Showdown at the Smithsonian
3. Here is Varshni’s wiki entry: YP Varshni
Y.P. Varshni (born 1932) is a scientist in the areas of physics and astrophysics.
Varshni studied at Allahabad University, where he obtained his B.Sc in 1950, his M.Sc. in 1952, and his Ph.D. in 1956. He published his first research paper in 1951 at the age of 19. He served as an Assistant Professor in the Physics Dept., Allahabad University for the period 1955-60.
Varshni emigrated to Canada as a postdoctorate fellow at the National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada in July 1960. For the next two years he worked in theoretical physics under Ta-You Wu, a distinguished physicist who in China taught T.D. Lee and C.N. Yang, who won the Nobel Prize in 1957. In July 1962, Varshni was appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Ottawa. He became Associate Professor in July 1965 and Full Professor in July 1969. He retired in June 1997 and was then appointed as Emeritus Professor. Varshni has worked in a number of areas of physics and astrophysics. He wrote on the Plasma Laser Star Theory of quasars.
He has published more than 260 research papers in important scientific journals. Varshni has also contributed three biographies to the Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.
Varshni is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, Institute of Physics (UK) and Royal Astronomical Society (UK) He is also a Full Member of the American Astronomical Society.