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Why does the structure of the universe, including its physical laws and constants...?

...appear to be planned billions of years in advance for the arrival and benefit of human species?

The New York Times published that famous quote by physicists Freeman Dyson, who looked at the evidence for fine-tuning and said: "The universe in some sense must have known that we were coming." But then the author added: "This notion horrifies some physicists, who feel it is their mission to find a mathematical explanation of nature that leaves nothing to chance or the whim of the Creator."

Scientist Francis Collins puts it well: "When you look from the perspective of a scientist at the universe, it looks as if it knew we were coming. There are fifteen constants... that have precise values. If any of those constants was off by even one part in a million, or in some cases, by one part in a million million, the universe could not have been able to coalesce, there would have been no galaxy, stars, planets or people."

Update:

@Dendronbat Crocoduck, good observation. You seem to be one of the few who actually took my question seriously instead of using 'pothole' analogies. This still leaves me with a troublesome question or two: If there are an infinite number universes with all possible conditions, then is it possible that there is a universe where god exists, since an infinite number of universe acknowledges all possible conditions? And does that mean because god is omnipresent he exists in every universe?

Update 2:

@Heavy Metal Jesus, why do you contend that the fine-tuning requires no explanation? as others have countered, the remarkable fine-tuning of the universe is so improbable that it still demands an explanation.

The precision is so utterly fantastic, so mathematically breathtaking, that it's just plain silly to think it could have been by accident. Especially since we're not just talking about simple odds but theorists call 'specified probability,' which rules out chance beyond a reasonable doubt. That is why an intelligence has monkeyed with physics, and there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature.

Update 3:

Although Oxford physicist Roger Penrose appeals to the multiverse, he said one parameter, the "original phase-space volume," required fine-tuning to an accuracy of one part in ten billion multiplied by itself one hundred and twenty three times. Penrose remarked that it would be impossible to even write down that number in full, since it would require more zeros than the number of elementary particles in the universe! This showed, he said, "the precision needed to set the universe on its course." So obviously the fine-tuning requires an explanation.

Update 4:

A true scientific explanation, says Davies, is like a single well-aimed bullet. The idea of a multiverse replaces the rationally ordered real world with an infinitely complex charade and makes the whole idea of 'explanation' meaningless.

Swinburne is just as strong in his disdain for the multiverse explanation: "It crazy to postulate a trillion [causally unconnected] universe to explain the features of one universe, when postulating one entity [God] will do the job."

9 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    that is the way God does things he speaks then into being and they come into being years after he spoke them into being, God say we as christrian are already seated in heaven with him.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    It doesn't.

    Take just a second, and look at it from another perspective...

    If the universe were significantly different from what it is, you wouldn't be here to wonder about it. It shouldn't be at all surprising or miraculous that a living species that needs certain kinds of matter, certain balancing of forces, liquid water, abundant carbon, and an oxygen atmosphere evolved on a universe that supports those basics, and on a planet that has what we need. We couldn't possibly have evolved anywhere that didn't have those things.

    Now, if you want to talk "miraculous" or "improbable:" what would be miraculous would be if we needed an oxygen atmosphere, but were on a planet that didn't naturally have one. Being somewhere we should *not* naturally be able to survive or evolve -- that would be a miracle.

    By the way, that "one part in a million" thing for the "fifteen constants" is rubbish. Most of those constants could vary by thousands of times, and there would (probably) still be a universe. It might not be exactly like this one, but there would still be one.

    Peace.

  • 1 decade ago

    It "appears" that way to you because you're looking at it from a human-centric perspective. You're attributing some deeper meaning to our being here than there may actually be.

    Sure, as humans, it's natural to assume that we're special, that we're unique, that there's some special plan or purpose to our existence. We all want to feel justified in what we do, and feel as if we're working toward some great cosmic goal. But we might not be. We probably aren't. There's no indication that "human progress" is actually "progressing" toward anything. Heck, we don't even know if we're at the end of things; humanity might just be a stepping stone toward a more thoroughly developed and even more dominant life form.

    The universe has no motivation, has no goals, has no intelligence. It cannot prepare. What's wrong with the idea that we're here by lucky happenstance? Is it impossible to enjoy the universe's magnificence without attributing it to some creative intelligence? It's an awe-inspiring place in and of itself, lucky happenstances and all.

  • 1 decade ago

    Anthropic principle. You can't apply statistical probability to predict something that has already happened (e.g., why did everything work out so perfectly for the Phillies to have won the World Series last year?).

    Also according to what we know about quantum mechanics it is entirely probable our universe is just one of an infinite number of universes, each of which has different physical laws. If so, it would be improbable not to have every possible outcome realized.

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  • 1 decade ago

    Because God created the universe that way.

    The puddle/hole analogy doesn't apply, and they know it.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Haha, let me ask you this: why is it that God hates the people who live on Mars? ....What's that? There's no people on Mars for God to love? Gee....And there are people here? And the people here think they're special but before and after those people and whereever people AREN'T, they DON'T think they're special? Nevermind, your standard for truth has long been 'whatever keeps away the boogeyman' so I shouldn't waste my time. And yet....I do.

  • 1 decade ago

    Why does a pothole appear to be perfectly formed for the shape of the puddle it contains?

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Logical fallacy detected. Key word: "appear".

    If everything was designed for us, why is 99.9999999...% of the universe instantly fatal to mankind?

    Source(s): WWHMJD? HE WOULD ROCK!!! Thou shalt turn thy music UP!
  • 1 decade ago

    I forget who said it but: "imagine the puddle thinking the hole its in was designed especially for it".

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