Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

At Reasons.org: Was Earth Designed for Us or Did We Evolve to Adapt?

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Astrophysicist Hugh Ross writes:

The_Earth_seen_from_Apollo_17
Reasons.org

My answer: I get asked this question nearly every time I speak on a university or college campus. Apparently, the hypothesis that humans became compatible or naturally evolved to adapt to Earth’s present conditions has become dogma in many university course offerings, more so in the social sciences than in the physical or life sciences. Consequently, I devoted an entire book to answering this question, Improbable Planet.1 Additional evidences that our supergalaxy cluster, our galaxy cluster, our galaxy group, our galaxy, the Local Bubble, the Local Fluff, the solar system, and the Sun, Moon, and Earth have been exquisitely prepared and designed for humans are presented in my next book, Designed to the Core.2

A very brief answer is that the Milky Way Galaxy, the solar system, and Earth were designed to be the ideal home for humanity and global human civilization millions and billions of years before humans showed up. More than 400 distinct features of Earth must be fine-tuned to make our existence and civilization possible.3 Even with all this exquisite fine-tuning the time window during which humans can exist in a civilized state is extremely narrow.4 It is no random accident that we happen to be here during this narrow time window when the resources we need to sustain global civilization are uniquely available.

Endnotes

  1. Hugh Ross, Improbable Planet (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2016).
  2. Hugh Ross, Designed to the Core (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2022).
  3. Hugh Ross, “RTB Design Compendium (2009),” Reasons to Believe (November 16, 2010).
  4. Hugh Ross, Weathering Climate Change (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2020), 167–186.
Comments
BR at 5, What? Never left Africa? Where does that come from? Oh, we found a lot of fossils from Africa so man started out there? Please. Check on China. They had things before the Europeans had them. And besides, the weather is better in Europe so if I could leave Africa, I would. Yes, I'm aware of the conditions in Africa thousands of years ago.relatd
October 13, 2022
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Relatd @ 3 Limited was a reference to where on the planet we live. If it were not for adaptation, man never would have left Africa.BobRyan
October 12, 2022
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Obviously, both apply: - fine tuning of physics laws and Big Bang conditions were essential for ANY sort of life existing. - the solar system and planet Earth has certain fine tunings suitable to long-term life. - humans (and other life) adapted to the planet we developed (or were created) on. The planet was also changed by the presence of life on it (atmosphere, geology, climate).Fasteddious
October 12, 2022
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BR at 2, "That is why we are not limited living on this planet." What? We aren't living anywhere else. And the people attempting to get the next Moon rocket to launch have no knowledge of how to create appropriate seals against liquid hydrogen. Something that was accomplished in 1969.relatd
October 12, 2022
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It is a little of both. Earth was designed, which is why granite does not crumble like sandstone, and man was designed to adapt. That is why we are not limited living on this planet. Past generations adapted to various environments.BobRyan
October 11, 2022
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It’s evolution great we evolved to evolve everything makes sense in light of evolution There is no need to figure out why the universe is fine tuned we just evolved to fit it! Look great success! Thanks Darwin for another Darwinsplain I’ll put this next to all those other timeless treasures, like the appendix, neural connections of the hemispheres of the brain, consciousness, and other evolutionary explanationsAaronS1978
October 11, 2022
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