For much of our existence on Earth, we humans thought of ourselves as a pretty big deal. Then along came science and taught us how utterly insignificant we are. We aren’t the centre of the universe. We aren’t special. We are just a species of ape living on a smallish planet orbiting an unremarkable star in one galaxy among billions in a universe that had been around for 13.8 billion years without us.
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Science also teaches us that the laws of physics are ridiculously, almost unbelievably, “fine-tuned” for you and me.
One must log in or subscribe to find out how they straighten it out.
Huh? Isn’t the whole basis of New Scientist’s existence that it isn’t real?
How do I know what they’ll say without having read the article? Well, here’s a hint: someone who subscribed sent me the article that pretended to raise the possibility that the paranormal might be real. But the interview subject was just your everyday market materialist who was certain it would be disproved despite current evidence.
NS, lose the pom poms. Fine tuning is real. Fewer and fewer people care what you think, or you wouldn’t be playing these games around what you think.
If you choose to think fine tuning is real, you are on track with the evidence. But wait, the multiverse beckons. And falsifiability is for nerds, religious believers, and suckers, right?
Note: I, O’Leary for News, would be sorry to see New Scientist go under. I have consistently got more goofy pop science news from them than from any other source, and we have to laugh now and then.
See also: How we got from here to the multiverse, and the road back to sanity.
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“There is a sense in which we are still the centre of the universe.”
Smack dab in the center. Modern Cosmology & Astrophysics have put us there. Someone needs to tell Bill Nye:)
as to this comment:
Although I don’t have a subscription to the magazine and therefore can’t see what they said about the fine-tuning of the universe for life, particularly about the fine-tuned ‘for you and me’, I do know that when scrutinizing the details of physics and chemistry, that not only is the universe fine-tuned for carbon based life, but is specifically fine-tuned for life like human life (R. Collins, M. Denton).
And although we are not at the center of the solar system, there is mounting evidence that we are at the center of the universe.
But first a bit of history as to how we came to view ourselves as mediocre in the universe.
Galileo had improved upon the recently invented telescope. With this improved telescope he observed many strange things about the solar system. This included the phases of Venus as she revolved around the sun and the fact Jupiter had her own satellites (moons) which revolved around her. Thus, Galileo wrote and spoke about what had become obvious to him personally; Copernicus was right, the planets do indeed revolve around the sun and geocentrism, as far as Galileo himself was concerned, was effectively, but not popularly, overturned at that time.[9b]
It is now commonly believed that man was cast down from his special place in the grand scheme of things, since the Earth beneath his feet no longer appeared to be the ‘center of the universe’, and indeed the Earth is now commonly believed by many people to be reduced to nothing but an insignificant speck of dust in the vast ocean of space (mediocrity/Copernican principle). Yet actually the earth became exalted in the eyes of many people of that era, with its supposed removal from the center of the universe, since centrality in the universe had a very different meaning in those days.[10a] A meaning that equated being at the center of the universe with being at the ‘bottom’ of the universe, or being in the ‘cesspool’ of the universe. This following quote makes that point clear.
Yet contrary to what is commonly believed by many people today of the earth being nothing but an insignificant speck of dust lost in a vast ocean of space, there is actually a strong case that can now be made from science for the earth being central in the universe once again.
First it is important to note, in what I consider an absolutely fascinating discovery, Einstein’s General Relativity has now shown that 4-dimensional (4D) space-time ‘expands equally in all places’:
Thus from a 3-dimensional (3D) perspective, any particular 3D spot in the universe is to be considered just as ‘center of the universe’ as any other particular spot in the universe is to be considered ‘center of the universe’.
This centrality found for any 3D place in the universe is because the universe is a 4D expanding hypersphere, analogous in 3D to the surface of an expanding balloon. All points on the surface are moving away from each other, and every point is central, no matter where you live in the universe.
And as such, it may now be possible for the Earth to be, once again, considered ‘central/special in the universe’. George Ellis puts the situation like this:
This intriguing possibility, for the Earth to once again be considered central in the universe, is clearly illustrated by the fact the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR), remaining from the creation of the universe, due to the 4-Dimensional space-time of General Relativity, forms a sphere around the earth. I find the best way to get this ‘centrality of the Earth in the universe” point across is to visualize it first hand. Thus I reference the first few minutes of this following video to clearly get this ‘centrality in the universe’ point across:
Moreover, this ‘circle’ of the CMBR that is found by modern science to encompass the Earth, from the remnant of the creation event that brought the entire universe instantaneously into being, was actually predicted in the Bible centuries earlier:
Moreover, there are universal geometric considerations which also now beginning to place the earth, instead of the sun, at the center of the universe:
So in a holistic sense, when taking into consideration the higher dimensional foundation of space-time, and when taking into consideration large scale geometric considerations of the universe, (and also when taking into consideration the ‘Privileged Planet principle’ of Gonzalez and Ross which, from probability calculations of a planet having all the necessary conditions to host advanced life, gives strong indication that the Earth is uniquely suited to host complex life in this universe), it may now be possible for the Earth to be, once again, considered ‘central in the universe’.
Moreover, quantum mechanics goes even one step further and places, not the earth, but man himself at the center of the universe.
Richard Conn Henry, Professor of Physics at John Hopkins University, puts the situation like this in regards to quantum mechanics
More specifically, because of advances in Quantum Mechanics, the argument for God from consciousness can now be framed like this:
I find it extremely interesting, and strange, that quantum mechanics tells us that instantaneous quantum wave collapse to its ‘uncertain’ 3D state is centered on each individual conscious observer in the universe, whereas, 4D space-time cosmology (General Relativity) tells us each 3D point in the universe is central to the expansion of the universe. These findings of modern science are pretty much exactly what we would expect to see if this universe were indeed created, and sustained, from a higher dimension by a omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, eternal Being who knows everything that is happening everywhere in the universe at the same time. These findings certainly seem to go to the very heart of the age old question asked of many parents by their children, “How can God hear everybody’s prayers at the same time?”,,, i.e. Why should the expansion of the universe, or the quantum wave collapse of the entire universe, even care that you or I, or anyone else, should exist? Only Theism, Christian Theism in particular, offers a rational explanation as to why you or I, or anyone else, should have such undeserved significance in such a vast universe. [15]
Moreover, from a slightly different angle, ‘Life’, with a capital L, is also found to be central to the universe in that Christ’s resurrection from the dead provides a very credible reconciliation to the most profound enigma in modern science. Namely the unification of General Relativity with Quantum Mechanics/Special Relativity (Quantum Electrodynamics) into a ‘Theory of Everything’:
As well, in the lead off article in the OP, they quipped
Although the fossil record, genetic evidence, and anatomical evidence, contrary to what Darwinists have apparently misled them to believe, certainly does not indicate that “We are just a species of ape”.
The most notable evidence that we are are not just another species of ape, but instead are made in the ‘Image Of God’, is our unique ability to understand, communicate, and create, information:
More interesting still, the three Rs, reading, writing, and arithmetic, i.e. the unique ability to process information inherent to man, are the very first things to be taught to children when they enter elementary school. And yet it is this information processing, i.e. reading, writing, and arithmetic, that is found to be foundational to life itself:
As well, as if that was not ‘spooky’ enough, information, not material, is now found to be foundational to physical reality:
It is hard to imagine a more convincing proof that we are made ‘in the image of God’, than finding that both the universe and life itself are ‘information theoretic’ in their basis, and that we, of all the creatures on earth, uniquely possess an ability to understand and create information.
I guess a more convincing evidence could be that God Himself became a man, defeated death on a cross, and then rose from the dead to prove that He was God.
But who has ever heard of such an overwhelming evidence as that?
Verses and Music:
references are listed at the bottom of this following site:
The Galileo Affair and “Life/Consciousness” as the true “Center of the Universe”
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BHAcvrc913SgnPcDohwkPnN4kMJ9EDX-JJSkjc4AXmA/edit
I too want money to tell you if fine tuning is real. It is. Send money. Thank you.
semi related:
The Dark Matter ‘conspiracy’ – Apr 30, 2015
Excerpt: One of the most surprising scientific discoveries of the 20th century was that spiral galaxies, such as our own Milky Way, rotate much faster than expected, powered by an extra gravitational force of invisible ‘dark matter’.
Since this discovery 40 years ago, we have learned this mysterious substance, which is probably an exotic elementary particle, makes up about 85 per cent of the mass in the known Universe, leaving only 15 per cent to be the ordinary stuff encountered in our everyday lives.
Dark matter is central to our understanding of how galaxies form and evolve and is ultimately one of the reasons for the existence of life on Earth – yet we know almost nothing about it.
“One of the surprising findings of this study was that spiral galaxies maintain a remarkably constant rotation speed throughout their disks,” Dr Cappellari said. “This means stars and dark matter conspire to redistribute themselves to produce this effect, with stars dominating in the inner regions of the galaxies, and a gradual shift in the outer regions to dark matter dominance.”
But the ‘conspiracy’ does not come out naturally from the models, and some fine-tuning is required to explain the observations.
http://phys.org/news/2015-04-dark-conspiracy.html
New exoplanet too big for its stars – May 01, 2015
Excerpt: The Australian discovery of a strange exoplanet orbiting a small cool star 500 light years away is challenging ideas about how planets form.
“We have found a small star, with a giant planet the size of Jupiter, orbiting very closely,” said researcher George Zhou from the Research School of Astrophysics and Astronomy.
“It must have formed further out and migrated in, but our theories can’t explain how this happened.”,,,
“The planet has a similar mass to Saturn, but its radius is similar to Jupiter, so it’s quite a puffed up planet. Because its host star is so cool it’s not heating the planet up so much, it’s very different from the planets we have observed so far,” Mr Zhou said.
http://phys.org/news/2015-05-e.....stars.html
Long-term galactic cosmic ray exposure leads to dementia-like cognitive impairments – May 1. 2015
Excerpt: What happens to an astronaut’s brain during a mission to Mars? Nothing good. It’s besieged by destructive particles that can forever impair cognition,
http://phys.org/news/2015-05-l.....osure.html
I think it would be a very interesting topic. I have even read about there being evidence that the earth’s magnetic field has reversed several times. Is this true? If so, what could such a drastic change to take place? Still, any scientist may need some financial help and it may be quickly given in a form of instant payday loans online.