Fine-tuning of the universe
Fine-Tuning Argument for God? | Otangelo Vs Leophilius
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6gZKqQkPw&t=1631s
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1277-fine-tuning-of-the-universe
The Big Bang was the most precisely planned event in all of history. Without fine-tuning, there would be no universe. The likelihood to have the right expansion rate at the Big bang is one to 10^123 ( Cosmological constant )
Steven Weinberg Department of Physics, University of Texas
There are now two cosmological constant problems. The old cosmological constant problem is to understand in a natural way why the vacuum energy density ρV is not very much larger. We can reliably calculate some contributions to ρV , like the energy density in fluctuations in the gravitational field at graviton energies nearly up to the Planck scale, which is larger than is observationally allowed by some 120 orders of magnitude. Such terms in ρV can be cancelled by other contributions that we can’t calculate, but the cancellation then has to be accurate to 120 decimal places.
The following gives a sense of the degree of fine-tuning that must go into some of these values to yield a life-friendly universe:
The expansion rate of the universe: 1 part in 10^55
Initial entropy: 1 part in 10^ (10^123)
Gravitational constant: 1 part in 10^34
Electromagnetic force versus force of gravity: 1 part in 10^37
Cosmological constant: 1 part in 10^123
The mass density of the universe: 1 part in 10^59
The chance to get a universe with stars is 10^229
The chance to get the force of gravity just right for life to exist is 1 out of 10^21
The chance to get the strong nuclear force just right for life to exist is 1 out of 10^21
Estimate of number of grains of sand on earth: 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand
How Many Stars Are In The Universe? 10^24
How Many Atoms Are There in the Universe? 10^82 atoms in the known, observable universe.
1. The initial conditions of the universe, subatomic particles, the Big Bang, the fundamental forces of the universe, the Solar System, the earth and the moon, are finely tuned to permit life. Over 150 fine-tuning parameters are known.
2. Finetuning is either due to chance, necessity, or design.
3. Finetuning is extremely unlikely due to chance or necessity. Therefore, it is most probably due to a powerful creator which did set up the universe in the most precise exact fashion to permit life on earth.
Fine-tuning of the Laws of physics
Fine-tuning of the Big Bang
Fine-tuning of the cosmological constant
Fine-tuning of the initial conditions of the universe
Fine-tuning of the fundamental forces of the universe
Fine-tuning of the subatomic particles
Fine-tuning of the Milky Way Galaxy
Fine-tuning of the Solar System
Fine-tuning of the sun
Fine-tuning of the earth
Fine-tuning of the moon
Fine-tuning of the electromagnetic spectrum
Fine-tuning in biochemistry
Multi Fine-tuning
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2810-multi-tuning
In most analyses of the fine-tuning of the force strengths and constants of nature, only one parameter is adjusted at a time (to make the problems more tractable). This would correspond to changing one dial at a time on our Universe-Creating Machine while leaving the other dials unchanged. Even taken individually, each of these examples of fine-tuning is impressive. But in the real universe, the values of all the constants and force strengths must be satisfied simultaneously to have a universe hospitable to life.
Codata lists about 360 different fine-tune constants, which have to be just right in order to have a life-permitting universe.
Fundamental Physical Constants --- Complete Listing 2018 CODATA adjustment
https://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/Table/allascii.txt?fbclid=IwAR1wllIggtvjUltZUyrNeLQO0c67keXqybFrDjwKZ5NFtuIW_bwm6YBf1RU
Lee Smolin, The life of the Cosmos, page 53:
If we are to genuinely understand our universe, these relations, between the structures on large scales and the elementary particles, must be understood as being something other than coincidence. We must understand how it came to be that the parameters that govern the elementary particles and their interactions are tuned and balanced in such a way that a universe of such variety and complexity arises. Of course, it is always possible that this is just a coincidence. Perhaps before going further we should ask just how probable is it that a universe created by randomly choosing the parameters will contain stars. Given what we have already said, it is simple to estimate this probability. For those readers who are interested, the arithmetic is in the notes. The answer, in round numbers, comes to about one chance in 10^229. To illustrate how truly ridiculous this number is, we might note that the part of the universe we can see from earth contains about 10^22 stars which together contain about 10^80 protons and neutrons. These numbers are gigantic, but they are infinitesimal compared to 10^229. In my opinion, a probability this tiny is not something we can let go unexplained. Luck will certainly not do here; we need some rational explanation of how something this unlikely turned out to be the case.
Exemplification
Several famous physicists, including, Stephen Hawking worked out that the relationship between all the fundamentals of our universe is so finely tuned that even if we slightly changed the 55 th decimal point then our universe could not exist. Put another way, several leading scientists have calculated that the statistical probability against this fine-tuning being by chance is in the order of 1 in 10^55.
This probability is hard to imagine but an illustration may help. Imagine covering the whole of the USA with small coins, edge to edge. Now imagine piling other coins on each of these millions of coins. Now imagine continuing to pile coins on each coin until reaching the moon about 400,000 km away! If you were told that within this vast mountain of coins there was one coin different to all the others. The statistical chance of finding that one coin is about 1 in 10^55 . In other words, the evidence that our universe is designed is overwhelming!
The Fine Tuning of the Universe: Evidence for the Existence of God?
https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2018/PSCF9-18Bradley.pdf
Atheist Physicists Prove God. Anthropic Principle Fails
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4E_bT4ecgk&t=4s&fbclid=IwAR12Y5J11T4nMvmQEdjaYPAKDCJ-j2np89IW-nxRlMvbusdFCz2JxpXAiTk
The standard model of physics contains around 26 constant paramenters and changing most of these by even the smallest amount can result in changes to chemistry, nuclear physics and space itself that would cause life to be impossible. Why it is that particular forces have the strengths that they do is a deep and fascinating mystery.
http://www.bretthall.org/fine-structure.html
The expansion rate of the universe: 1 part in 10^55
The chance to get a finely tuned universe with stars: 10^229
The electromagnetic radiation of the sun is restricted to a tiny region of the total electromagnetic spectrum, equivalent to one of 10^25, and that is the region precisely required for life.
The odds against a successful unguided synthesis of a batch of primed nucleotide on the primitive Earth: 10^10^9
The odds to specify just ONE life-essential protein like Helicase by chance: 1 to 10^1300
The odds to specify the right amino acid sequence for a minimal Cell: 560 proteins x average 400 amino acids each: 224.000 amino acids. The odds: 10^378.000 !!
Estimate of number of grains of sand on earth: 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand
How Many Stars Are In The Universe? 10^24
How Many Atoms Are There in the Universe? 10^82 atoms in the known, observable universe.
Life emerged either by a freaky lucky accident or the creative act of a super intelligent, powerful designer. Based on the knowledge of how minutely small the probability is, that a life-permitting universe and life arose by unguided occurrences, we can infer creation as the better alternative.
1. The initial conditions of the universe, subatomic particles, the Big Bang, the fundamental forces of the universe, the Solar System, the earth and the moon, are finely tuned to permit life. Over 150 fine-tuning parameters are known.
2. The Finetuning is either due to chance, necessity or design.
3. Finetuning is extremely unlikely due to chance or necessity. Therefore, it is most probably due to a powerful creator which did set up the universe in the most precise exact fashion to permit life on earth.
The following gives a sense of the degree of fine-tuning that must go into some of these values to yield a life-friendly universe:
The expansion rate of the universe: 1 part in 10^55
Initial entropy: 1 part in 10^ (10^123)
Gravitational constant: 1 part in 10^34
Electromagnetic force versus force of gravity: 1 part in 10^37
Cosmological constant: 1 part in 10^123
The mass density of the universe: 1 part in 10^59
The chance to get a universe with stars is 10^229
The chance to get the force of gravity just right for life to exist is 1 out of 10^21
The chance to get the strong nuclear force just right for life to exist is 1 out of 10^21
Fine-tuning of the universe
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1277-fine-tuning-of-the-universe
Fine-tuning of the Big Bang
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1866-fine-tuning-of-the-big-bang
Fine-tuning of the cosmological constant
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1885-fine-tuning-of-the-cosmological-constant
Fine tuning of the initial conditions of the universe
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1964-fine-tuning-of-the-initial-conditions-of-the-universe
Fine-tuning of the fundamental forces of the universe
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1339-fine-tuning-of-the-fundamental-forces-of-the-universe
The Force of Gravity
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1366-the-force-of-gravity-evidence-of-fine-tuning
Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1935-matter-antimatter-asymmetry
Fine Tuning of our Galaxy
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1417-fine-tuning-of-our-galaxy
Fine Tuning of the Solar System
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1416-fine-tuning-of-the-solar-system
The sun - just right for life
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2550-the-sun-just-right-for-life
FineTuning of the earth
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1415-finetuning-of-the-earth
The electromagnetic spectrum, fine-tuned for life
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2033-the-electomagnetic-spectrum-fine-tuned-for-life
Is the universe hostile to life ?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1896-is-the-universe-hostile-to-life
1. If our universe is random, then it is very unlikely that it permits life.
2. Our universe permits life.
3. Therefore, the existence of our universe is very likely due to something other than chance.
1. The fine-tuning of the universe is due either to physical necessity, chance, or design.
2. It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
3. Therefore, it is due to design.
Objections to the fine-tuning argument
Objection: The weak anthropic principle explains our existence just fine. We happen to be in a universe with those constraints because they happen to be the only set which will produce the conditions in which creatures like us might (but not must) occur. So, no initial constraints = no-one to become aware of those initial constraints. This gets us no closer to intelligent design.
Response: Given the narrowness of the required intervals, how surprising is it that life actually came into being? The answer would seem to be, very unlikely (unless there are a large number of actual universes within which life could arise by chance). The fundamental constants of the universe held their present values before human beings existed, and they are a pre-requisite for life to begin. Other constants would produce a universe which would not permit the existence of stars, nor planets, and much less, life. If anything, the physical structure of the universe (as represented by fundamental constants and various mathematical relations) are an efficient cause of the existence of a life permitting planet.
John Leslie illustrates this point by means of the Firing Squad analogy.
Imagine that you are facing a firing squad of sharpshooters, firing at close range. Somehow, you survive the volley. Is the volley something that requires an explanation? It is old evidence -- you already know with probability 1 that you are still alive. Nonetheless, it is, from a suitably impersonal perspective, a very surprising thing that you did survive, under the circumstances. Similarly, we already know, with probability 1, that life exists, but this is a very surprising fact, given the anthropic coincidences that were required.
The following gives a sense of the degree of fine-tuning that must go into some of these values to yield a life-friendly universe:
Atheists love to use Occam's razor. Remarkable, that arguing that there is no evidence of God because he cannot be perceived by our senses, in order to explain fine-tuning, he sticks to infinity of completely made-up, undetectable and unobservable parallel universes and claim the proposal to be entirely scientific and disregarding Occams. Me thinks. Occam's would not be amused.
Objection: Using the sharpshooter fallacy is like drawing the bullseye around the bullet hole. You are a puddle saying "look how well this hole fits me. It must have been made for me" when in reality you took your shape from your surroundings.
Response: The fallacy is characterized by a lack of a specific hypothesis prior to the gathering of data, or the formulation of a hypothesis only after data have already been gathered and examined. Hundreds of constants require to be finely tuned, from the expansion rate of the Big Bang to the fundamental forces, the sun, and earthly conditions, a right atmosphere to exist, the sky to exist, hundreds of precisely specified proteins and metabolic networks in Cells, so that we can exist and wonder about our place in the cosmic order. So the argument is downright misleading. It misrepresents the fact that we know that intelligence can use mathematics, logic, create codes and uses them to create, store and use instructional information to make machines, production lines and factories with specific purposes, and upon that, we can formulate hypotheses, and test them. The only alternative to a finely tuned universe is a multiverse, which is entirely unscientific. Upon decades of scientific investigation, science has been unable to produce life in the test lab. When one explanation is not providing an expected outcome, why not search somewhere else?
Objection: Arguments from probability are drivel. We have only one observable universe. So far the likelihood that the universe would form the way it did is 1 in 1
Response: There are dozens of these very precisely balanced constants in the universe necessary to support life. While some can be significantly changed if balanced by equivalent changes in other constants to compensate, it is quite clear that the ratio of those parameters that would work vs. those that would not work is an extremely tiny fraction of all the possible ways which these constants could have been set up - which would not have allowed for the support of complex life.
The classic argument is given in response to such anthropic arguments that one shouldn't be surprised to find these fine-tuned features in the universe because if these features weren't fine-tuned, we wouldn't exist. Therefore, the fact that we exist means that such fine tuning should only be expected by the mere fact of our own existence - not at all surprising. This is obviously a response begging the question.
This argument is like a situation where a man is standing before a firing squad of 10000 men with rifles who take aim and fire - - but they all miss him. According to the above logic, this man should not be at all surprised to still be alive because, if they hadn't missed him, he wouldn't be alive. The nonsense of this line of reasoning is obvious. Surprise at the extreme fine-tuning of the universe, given the hypothesis of a mindless origin, is only to be expected - in the extreme.
Objection: every sequence is just as improbable as another.
Answer: It's true that any particular equal-length sequence is just as improbable as any other. But if the goal is to have a sequence, a particular string starting at 1, then 2,3,4,5,6 ............ 500, then intuitively you know there sequence has a specific order. The relevant point to be outlined here is: The sequence 1,2,3,4 .......... 500, exhibits a specification or particular pattern. What must be explained, is the origin not of any kind of sequence, but a particular, specific sequence.
Suppose you see a blueprint to make a car engine with 100 horse powers to drive a BMW 5X. Not any blueprint will produce this particular car engine with the right size and fit and power. Only a blueprint with the precise, specific, complex arrangement of orders that is understood by the common pre-established agreement between the engineer, and the manufacturer, will permit to be encoded, transmitted, decoded and transformed in an equivalent artifact that has the specific, recognizable function which meets the pre-established goal. The information for that particular car engine can be encoded in Bits. Lets suppose its the size of a CD, 600mb. What has to be calculated, are the odds to get that specific sequence of instructions, which permit to give rise to that particular car engine. Not any sequence will do.
Now you take a random universe generator.
Barnes: Beginning in the 1970’s, a number of physicists have noticed the extreme sensitivity of the life-permitting qualities of our universe to the values of many of the physical constants and cosmological parameters of our universe. Seemingly small changes in the free parameters of the laws of nature as we know them have dramatic, uncompensated and detrimental effects on the ability of the universe to support the complexity needed by physical life forms.
Along with atheists generally, Krauss uses the Anthropic Principle to explain away the extraordinarily unlikely precise values of the many finely-tuned parameters like those listed above, including the one in 10,000 decillion odds against us having a virtually perfect one-to-one electron-to-proton ratio.
The number of electrons (in the universe) is equivalent to the number of protons to an accuracy of one part in 10 to the 37th power. If it were not so, galaxies, stars, and planets would never form (because electromagnetic forces would so overwhelm gravitational forces). So what does one part in 10 to the 37th power look like? Ross asks us to imagine the entire North American continent covered in dimes, and that continent-wide pile of dimes reaching all the way to the moon. Now, consider a million such continent-wide, to-the-moon-high stacks of dimes, and among all those dimes a single one painted red. One part in 10 to the 37th power is like a blind-folded person successfully selecting that one red dime on the first try!
And the ratio of electrons to protons is just one of more than 93 characteristics of the universe (so far documented) that exhibit extreme fine-tuning for life. 1
They make the philosophical argument that it is not surprising that the universe has all the necessary fine-tuning for life, for otherwise, we wouldn't be here to notice. In this way, they deflect attention onto the observer and away from the very design of the universe that they are pretending to explain. Meanwhile, Stephen Hawking admits, while faithfully adhering to the anthropic doctrine, "The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life. For example, if the electric charge of the electron had been only slightly different, stars either would have been unable to burn hydrogen and helium or else they would not have exploded [as beautiful supernovas]" (Hawking, Brief History of Time, p. 129). And in Hawking's book, The Grand Design, he quotes a famed astronomer, "[Fred] Hoyle wrote, 'I do not believe that any scientist who examined the evidence would fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce...'" with Hawking adding, "At the time no one knew enough nuclear physics to understand the magnitude of the serendipity that resulted in these exact physical laws" (p. 159).
The universe is finely tuned to permit life on our planet. Over 120 fine tune constants are known up to date, and as more time pasts, more are discovered. This might be due to chance, to physical need, or to design. Chance is a very bad explanation. Some advocate a Multiverse. But to have just one life-permitting universe, you need 1 to 10^500 attempts to get it done. That's a 1 with 500 zeros. If we put it in comparison, that in our universe, there exist around 10^80 atoms, this shows how improbable it is, that a Multiverse could explain fine tuning. Besides this, the Multiverse argument does not explain away God. A mechanism needs to be in place to trigger these multiverses. It could not be by physical need, since if so, why are there many planets, which are not life permitting, but our is? So it's best explained by design. Our earth/solar/moon system is a very strong evidence. Our solar system is embedded at the right position in our galaxy, neither too close, nor too far from the center of the galaxy. It's also the only location, which aloud us to explore the universe, In the other location, and we would not see more than stellar clouds. The earth has the right distance from the sun and so has the moon from the earth. The size of the moon, and the earth is the right one. Our planet has the needed minerals and water. It has the right atmosphere, and a ozone protecting mantle. Jupiter attracts all asteroids, avoiding these to fall to the earth, and make life impossible. The earth magnetic field protects us from the deadly rays of the sun. The velocity of rotation of the earth is just right. And so is the axial tilt of the earth. Beside this, volcano activities, earth quakes, the size of the crust of the earth, and more over 70 different parameters must be just right. To believe, all these are just right by chance, needs a big leap of faith. This is indeed maybe the strongest argument for theism.
Estimate of number of grains of sand on earth: 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand
How Many Stars Are In The Universe? 10^24
How Many Atoms Are There in the Universe? 10^82 atoms in the known, observable universe.
==============================================================================================================================================
Is the fine-tuning real?
Yes, it’s real and it is conceded by the top-rank of atheist physicists.
Atheist Physicists Prove God. Anthropic Principle Fails
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4E_bT4ecgk
Paul Davies, How bio-friendly is the universe ?
“There is now broad agreement among physicists and cosmologists that the universe is in several respects ‘fine-tuned’ for life. This claim is made on the basis that existence of vital substances such as carbon, and the properties of objects such as stable long-lived stars, depend rather sensitively on the values of certain physical parameters, and on the cosmological initial conditions. ” 1
Martin Rees is an atheist and a qualified astronomer. He wrote a book called “Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape The Universe”, (Basic Books: 2001). In it, he discusses 6 numbers that need to be fine-tuned in order to have a life-permitting universe.
Rees writes here:
These six numbers constitute a ‘recipe’ for a universe. Moreover, the outcome is sensitive to their values: if any one of them were to be ‘untuned’, there would be no stars and no life. Is this tuning just a brute fact, a coincidence? Or is it the providence of a benign Creator?
There are some atheists who deny the fine-tuning, but these atheists are in firm opposition to the progress of science. The more science has progressed, the more constants, ratios and quantities we have discovered that need to be fine-tuned.
The fact that the cosmos seems exactly balanced and designed for life is just an inescapable scientific observation
Biocentrism, Robert Lanza, MD, page 84
No competent scientist denies that if the laws of nature were just a little bit different in our universe, carbon-based life would never have been possible. Surely such a remarkable fact calls for an explanation. If one declines the insight of the universe as a creation endowed with potency, the rather desperate expedient of invoking an immense array of unobservable worlds [i.e., the “many worlds/multiverse/’unlimited horizons'” proposals] seems the only other recourse.”
John Polkinghorne Mathematical Physicist, one-time Dean of Queen’s College at Cambridge
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1112.4647v2.pdf
Let’s be clear on the task that Stenger has set for himself. There are a great many scientists, of varying religious persuasions, who accept that the universe is fine-tuned for
life, e.g. Barrow, Carr, Carter, Davies, Dawkins, Deutsch, Ellis, Greene, Guth, Harrison, Hawking, Linde, Page, Penrose, Polkinghorne, Rees, Sandage, Smolin, Susskind, Tegmark,
Tipler, Vilenkin, Weinberg, Wheeler, Wilczek. They differ, of course, on what conclusion we should draw from this fact. Stenger, on the other hand, claims that the universe is not
fine-tuned.
Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe by Martin Rees
Evidence of chance, physical necessity, or design?
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jun/08/just-six-numbers-martin-rees-review
One can marvel, almost indefinitely, at the balance between the nuclear forces and the astoundingly feeble but ultimately inexorable power of gravity, giving us N, a huge number involving 36 zeroes, and nod gratefully each time one is told that were gravity not almost exactly 1036 times weaker then we wouldn't be here.
One can gasp at the implications of the density parameter Ω (omega), which one second after the big bang could not have varied from unity by more than one part in a million billion or the universe would not still be expanding, 13.7bn years on.
But who'd have thought that we also needed D for dimension to equal three, because without that value the show would never have got on the road? We go up the stairs, down the hall or across the living room so often that we tend to imagine that those are the only imaginable dimensions, but there could have been just two, for instance, or perhaps four.
Had there been four dimensions, gravitational and other forces would have varied inversely as the cube of the distance rather than the square, and the inverse cube law would be an unforgiving one. Any orbiting planet that slowed for whatever reason in its orbit would swiftly plunge into the heart of its parent star; any planet that increased its speed ever so slightly would spiral madly into the cold and the dark.
Under the inverse square law, however, a planet that speeds up ever so slightly – or slows down – simply shifts to a very slightly different orbit. That is, we owe the stability of the solar system to the fact that spacetime has, on the macro scale, only three physical dimensions.
All six values featured in this book permit something significant to happen and to go on happening. Take for instance Q, the one part in 100,000 ratios between the rest mass energy of matter and the force of gravity. Were this ratio a lot smaller, gas would never condense into galaxies. Were it only a bit smaller, star formation would be slow and the raw material for future planets would not survive to form planetary systems. Were it much bigger, stars would collapse swiftly into black holes and the surviving gas would blister the universe with gamma rays.
The measure of nuclear efficiency, ε for epsilon, has a value of 0.007. If it had a value of 0.006 there would be no other elements: hydrogen could not fuse into helium and the stars could not have cooked up carbon, iron, complex chemistry and, ultimately, us. Had it been a smidgen higher, at 0.008, protons would have fused in the big bang, leaving no hydrogen to fuel future stars or deliver the Evian water.
Einstein's supposed "biggest blunder", the cosmological constant λ for lambda, is a number not only smaller than first expected; it is a number so small that the puzzle is that it is not zero. But this weakest and most mysterious of forces – think of a value with 120 zeroes after the decimal point – seems to dictate the whole future of the universe. It seems just strong enough to push the most distant galaxies away from us at an unexpected rate. Were it much stronger, there might be no galaxies to accelerate anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj_fLi_K7jA
Ed Croteau
there are only 4 forces in the universe, and the first amazing revelation is we can previously define them mathematically. The next amazing thing is we can define their variation statistically.Physics is more imprecise than mathematics, because math defines the behavior, while physics MEASURES the behavior. But in the case of the universe, the behavior is almost statistically without variation. This NEVER happens in unguided processes...whenever you find an order with the precision you never find randomness...there is always a cause for this behavior, and it's always an intelligence.
Adam Frank, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, is the author of About Time: Cosmology and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang
As cosmologists poked around Big Bang theory on ever-finer levels of detail, it soon became clear that getting this universe, the one we happily inhabit, seemed to be more and more unlikely. In his article, Scharf gives us the famous example carbon-12 and its special resonances. If this minor detail of nuclear physics were just a wee bit different, our existence would never be possible. It’s as if nuclear physics were fine-tuned to allow life. But this issue of fine-tuning goes way beyond carbon nuclei; it infects many aspects of cosmological physics.
Change almost anything associated with the fundamental laws of physics by one part in a zillion and you end up with a sterile universe where life could never have formed. Not only that, but make tiny changes in even the initial conditions of the Big Bang and you end up with a sterile universe. Cosmologically speaking, it’s like we won every lottery every imaginable. From that vantage point, we are special—crazy special.
Fine-tuning sticks in the craw of most physicists, and rightfully so. It’s that old Copernican principle again. What set the laws and the initial conditions for the universe to be “just so,” just so we could be here? It smells too much like intelligent design. The whole point of science has been to find natural, rational reasons for why the world looks like it does. “Because a miracle happened,” just doesn’t cut it.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1704.01680.pdf
The existence of structure in our universe at all places stringent bounds on the cosmological constant. Compared to the range of values for which our theories are well defined — roughly ± the Planck scale — the range of values that permit gravitationally bound structures is no more than one part in 10^110
.
• A universe with structure also requires a fine-tuned value for the primordial density contrast Q. Too low, and no structure forms. Too high and galaxies are too dense to allow for long-lived planetary systems, as the time between disruption by a neighboring star is too short. This places the constraint 10−6. Q . 10−4 (Tegmark & Rees, 1998).
• The existence of long-lived stars, which produce and distribute chemical elements and are a stable source of energy that can power chemical reactions, requires an unnaturally small value for the “gravitational coupling constant” αG = m2 proton/m2 Planck; or, equivalently, that the proton mass be orders of magnitude smaller than the Planck mass. For stars to be stable at all, we require αG . 10−33 (Adams, 2008).
• The existence of any atomic species and chemical processes whatsoever places tight constraints on the relative masses of the fundamental particles and the strengths of the fundamental forces. For example, Barr & Khan (2007) show the effect of varying the masses of the up and down quark and find that strand-chemistry permitting universes are huddled in a small shard of parameter space which has area ∆mup∆mdown/m2 Planck ≈ 10−42
These small numbers — 10^110, 10^4, 10^33, 10^−42 — are, in the Bayesian fashion, an attempt to quantify our ignorance. We are not assuming the existence of a random universe-generating machine, nor describing the properties of a real or imagined statistical sample. The laws of nature as we know them contain arbitrary constants, which are not constrained by anything in theoretical physics.
That means any of these fine-tune constants are not set due to physical necessity. There can be any value, which would result in no universe.
As usual, we can react to small probabilities in a couple of ways. Perhaps, like the probability of a deck of cards falling on the floor in a particular order, something improbable has happened. Enough said. Alternatively, like the probability that the burglar correctly guessed the 12-digit code by chance on the first attempt, it may indicate that we have made an incorrect assumption. We should look for an alternative assumption (or theory), on which the fact in question is not so improbable. Correct. As a creation , for example?
Getting Metaphysical
At this conference, George Ellis has invited us to think about not only cosmology with a small ‘c’, defined as the the physics of the universe on large scales, but also Cosmology with a capital ‘C’, which asks the great questions of existence, meaning and purpose that are raised by physical cosmology. Nothing in our formalism assumes that T is a physical theory. Indeed, if there is a final, ultimate physical theory of nature F, then whatever we think about that theory will have to be deeper than physics, so to speak.
1. The characteristics, forces and phenomena of the universe are fine-tuned to such a degree that human life is possible. That is to say that if any characteristics were any more than slightly (and in some cases even slightly) changed, human life would be impossible.
2. The characteristics, forces, and phenomena didn’t HAVE TO be this way. There is no law governing why these characteristics, forces, and phenomena turned out the way they are. They could have been different.
The gravitational force is an unimaginable thirty-nine order of magnitude smaller than the nuclear force. If it was a mere (in comparison) trillion times larger than it is now, then the universe would be far smaller than it is now. The average star would have a mass a trillion times smaller than our sun and the lifespan of about a year. Far too short for life to develop in any meaningful way if at all. If the force of gravity had been any less powerful, the universe would not be able to hold itself together (and therefore never would have formed at all).
The other forces are no less essential and precariously positioned in their values. If the strong force had been slightly weaker, the only substance that would be stable would be hydrogen. No other atoms could exist.
As Paul Davies in his Accidental Universe summarizes it:
The numerical values that nature has assigned to the fundamental constants, such as the charge on the electron, the mass of the proton, and the Newtonian gravitational constant, may be mysterious, but they are crucially relevant to the structure of the universe that we perceive. . . . Had nature opted for a slightly different set of numbers, the world would be a very different place. Probably we would not be here to see it. .And when one goes on to study cosmology – the overall structure and evolution of the universe – incredulity mounts. Recent discoveries about the primeval cosmos oblige us to accept that the expanding universe has been set up in its motion with a cooperation of astonishing precision.
― Paul Davies
“Scientists are slowly waking up to an inconvenient truth - the universe looks suspiciously like a fix. The issue concerns the very laws of nature themselves. For 40 years, physicists and cosmologists have been quietly collecting examples of all too convenient "coincidences" and special features in the underlying laws of the universe that seem to be necessary in order for life, and hence conscious beings, to exist. Change any one of them and the consequences would be lethal. Fred Hoyle, the distinguished cosmologist, once said it was as if "a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics".
To see the problem, imagine playing God with the cosmos. Before you are a designer machine that lets you tinker with the basics of physics. Twiddle this knob and you make all electrons a bit lighter, twiddle that one and you make gravity a bit stronger, and so on. It happens that you need to set thirtysomething knobs to fully describe the world about us. The crucial point is that some of those metaphorical knobs must be tuned very precisely, or the universe would be sterile.
Example: neutrons are just a tad heavier than protons. If it were the other way around, atoms couldn't exist, because all the protons in the universe would have decayed into neutrons shortly after the big bang. No protons, then no atomic nucleuses and no atoms. No atoms, no chemistry, no life. Like Baby Bear's porridge in the story of Goldilocks, the universe seems to be just right for life.”
The Big Picture
In order for this article to be concise enough, it will suffice to say that am I excluding the names and explanations of several ratios, constants, forces, biological and chemical interactions etc. that need to be precisely the way they are to allow human life. I will gradually get into many of these fine-tuned phenomena.
Taking into account the many phenomena that need to be precisely the way they are, and considering the possible range of values they COULD HAVE, the probability of fine-tuning for human life has been conservatively estimated to be at least one part in a hundred million billion billion billion billion billion. That would be a ten followed by fifty-three zeroes. If you were to randomly throw a dart at some part of the Earth, that would be like hitting a bullseye that’s less than one trillionth of a trillionth of an inch in diameter. That’s less than the size of a single atom. It’s unbelievably precise, and the universe NEEDS this precision in order for human life to be possible. Chance cannot begin to explain this precision, it’s like throwing darts an atom. Only Intelligence explains this precision.
http://www.geraldschroeder.com/FineTuning.aspx
the laws and constants of nature are so “finely-tuned,” and so many “coincidences” have occurred to allow for the possibility of life, the universe must have come into existence through intentional planning and intelligence.
“The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is balanced on a knife-edge, but that the entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge, and would be total chaos if any of the natural ‘constants’ were off even slightly. You see,” Davies adds, “even if you dismiss the man as a chance happening, the fact remains that the universe seems unreasonably suited to the existence of life — almost contrived — you might say a ‘put-up job’.”
Dr. Paul Davies, noted author and professor of theoretical physics at Adelaide University
If we nudge one of these constants just a few percent in one direction, stars burn out within a million years of their formation, and there is no time for evolution. If we nudge it a few percent in the other direction, then no elements heavier than helium form. No carbon, no life. Not even any chemistry. No complexity at all.
Dr. David D. Deutsch, Institute of Mathematics, Oxford University
Hoyle :
A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintendent has monkeyed with the physics, as well as chemistry and biology and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. I do not believe that any physicist who examined the evidence could fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce within stars. Adds Dr. David D. Deutch: If anyone claims not to be surprised by the special features that the universe has, he is hiding his head in the sand. These special features ARE surprising and unlikely.
Although Weinberg is a self-described agnostic, he cannot but be astounded by the extent of the fine-tuning. He goes on to describe how a beryllium isotope having the minuscule half-life of 0.0000000000000001 seconds must find and absorb a helium nucleus in that split of time before decaying. This occurs only because of a totally unexpected, exquisitely precise, energy match between the two nuclei. If this did not occur there would be none of the heavier elements. No carbon, no nitrogen, no life. Our universe would be composed of hydrogen and helium. But this is not the end of Professor Weinberg’s wonder at our well-tuned universe. He continues:
One constant does seem to require an incredible fine-tuning — The existence of life of any kind seems to require a cancellation between different contributions to the vacuum energy, accurate to about 120 decimal places.
This means that if the energies of the Big Bang were, in arbitrary units, not:
100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000,
but instead:
100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000001,
there would be no life of any sort in the entire universe because as Weinberg states:
the universe either would go through a complete cycle of expansion and contraction before life could arise or would expand so rapidly that no galaxies or stars could form.
http://www.saintsandsceptics.org/evidence-for-god-design-part-2-fine-tuning-of-the-cosmos/
These are the facts relating to fine-tuning; how are they to be explained?[1] According to the design argument, the best explanation is that the universe is the product of a rational mind. The basic motivation for design can be expressed as follows. We consider a range of possible values for these features of the universe and then ask why they happen to have values lying in the very precise region suitable for life. From an atheistic perspective, there seems to be no reason for this whatsoever. That is, given only atheism and our current scientific knowledge we would have no reason to expect the values of these features to be in the life-permitting range.
By contrast, theism provides a very neat explanation. Fine-tuning is a very precise example of the sort of order we’d expect to find in a universe created by God. We pointed out in Part 1 that God would have reason to bring about valuable things, like a community of embodied moral agents. In light of this, we’d have reason to expect God to create a universe that is fine-tuned with values in the life-permitting range. In other words, fine-tuning is the sort of thing we’d expect in a theistic universe, but not at all what we’d expect in an atheistic universe. As such, it provides strong evidence in favor of the existence of God.
The Precise Nuclear Resonances of Carbon and Oxygen:
Someone "Monkeyed with the Physics"
Helium burning in stars is a critical part of the production of all elements other than helium and primordial hydrogen. Helium burning is the first step in the creation of all of the other elements, and so their existence depends vitally on helium burning. As Fred Hoyle pointed out before it was discovered, helium burning in the stars is only possible because a precise resonance (excited energy level) in the carbon nucleus exists. Furthermore, a second precise resonance must exist in the oxygen nucleus (the next step in nucleosynthesis: C + He -> O) -- in this case a resonance that slightly retards the production of oxygen so that not all of the carbon converts to oxygen. This is what led Fred Hoyle to make several remarkable statements, including that cited above.
The position of a nuclear resonance in Oxygen is the second "coincidence" that makes it possible to have carbon/oxygen based life. In the case of carbon, the resonance was slightly above the combined mass-energy of Beryllium and Helium. In the case of Oxygen, a similar resonance is slightly above the combined mass-energy of Carbon and Helium (7.68 MeV resonance vs. 7.65 MeV mass-energy). These two "accidents" determined that the stars would produce similar amounts of Carbon and Oxygen. If the Oxygen resonance had been slightly lower, essentially all Carbon would have fused into Oxygen; if the resonance had been slightly higher, then only small amounts of Carbon would have fused into oxygen, which would have blocked not only oxygen production but also the production of the higher elements. The remarks of Hoyle refer to the combined effect of these two carefully chosen resonances
http://www.ps-19.org/Crea04SettingForLife/index.html
the ratio of the electromagnetic force constant to the gravitational force constant must be equally delicately balanced. Increase it by only one part in 1040 and only small stars can exist; decrease it by the same amount and there will only be large stars. You must have both large and small stars in the universe: the large ones produce elements in their thermonuclear furnaces, and it is only the small ones that burn long enough to sustain a planet with life.
To use Davies’ illustration, that is the kind of accuracy a marksman would need to hit a coin at the far side of the observable universe, twenty billion light years away. If we find that difficult to imagine, a further illustration suggested by astrophysicist Hugh Ross may help. Cover America with coins in a column reaching to the moon (380,000 km or 236,000 miles away), then does the same for a billion other continents of the same size. Paint one coin red and put it somewhere in one of the billion piles. Blindfold a friend and ask her to pick it out. The odds are about 1 in 10^40 that she will.
http://www.focus.org.uk/lennox.php
The argument of the fine-tuning of the Universe Constants of the Big Bang, the Universe, the fundamental forces, the solar system, and the earth
1. Parameter Ratio
Ratio of Electrons: Protons 1:10^37
Ratio of Electromagnetic Force: Gravity 1:10^40
Expansion Rate of Universe 1:10^55
Mass Density of Universe1 1:10^59
Cosmological Constant 1:10^120
2. These numbers represent the maximum deviation from the accepted values, that would either prevent the universe from existing now, not having matter or be unsuitable for any form of life.
3. One part in 10^37 is such an incredibly sensitive balance that it is hard to visualize. The following analogy might help: Cover the entire North American continent in dimes all the way up to the moon, a height of about 239,000 miles (In comparison, the money to pay for the U.S. federal government debt would cover one square mile less than two feet deep with dimes.). Next, pile dimes from here to the moon on a billion other continents the same size as North America. Paint one dime red and mix it into the billions of piles of dimes. Blindfold a friend and ask him to pick out one dime. The odds that he will pick the red dime are one in 10^37. (Dr. Hugh Ross)
4. “If we modify the value of one of the fundamental constants, something invariably goes wrong, leading to a universe that is inhospitable to life as we know it. When we adjust the second constant in an attempt to fix the problem(s), the result, generally, is to create three new problems for everyone that we “solve.” The conditions in our universe really do seem to be uniquely suitable for life forms like ourselves, and perhaps even for any form of organic complexity." Gribbin and Rees, “Cosmic Coincidences”, p. 146
5. The 90 (registered) constants prove an intelligent designer. Without such finely tuned constants, the universe would not exist.
6. This Supreme Designer of these constants and of the universe must be God, the most intelligent person.
7. God exists.
The argument of mathematical precision
1. Einstein once wondered: "How is it possible that mathematics, a product of human thought that is independent of experience, fits so excellently the objects of physical reality?" And similarly his book 'The Mysterious Universe,' the English physicist Sir James Jeans describes the flawless order in the cosmos: "A scientific study of the universe has suggested a conclusion, which may be summed up ... in the statement that the universe appears to have been designed by a pure mathematician."
Laws reflect mathematical symmetries found in Nature. For example,
a. Pauli’s exclusion principle describes the identity of electrons.
b. Noether's theorem connects some conservation laws to certain symmetries.
c. Lorentz transformations correspond to the rotational symmetry of space-time.
2. Every planet in the universe, large and small, is the critically important part of a larger order. Not one of their positions in space or any of their movements is random eg to keep everything circling at particular distances.
3. The distance between the Earth and our moon ensures many important balances and is extremely vital for the continuation of life on Earth, eg the tides flowing, the growth of the flora.
If the moon were much closer [to the Earth], it would crash into our planet, if much farther away, it would move off into space. If it were much closer, the tides that the moon causes on the earth would become dangerously larger. Ocean waves would sweep across low-lying sections of the continents.
4. There are 93 constants in the fine-tuning of the Universe, Martin Rees discusses six dimensionless constants.[1]
5. N, the ratio of the strengths of gravity to that of electromagnetism, is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. According to Rees, if it were smaller, only a small and short-lived universe could exist.[1]
5b. Epsilon, the strength of the force binding nucleons into nuclei, is 0.07. If it were 0.06, the only hydrogen could exist, and complex chemistry would be impossible. If it were 0.08, no hydrogen would exist, as all the hydrogen would have been fused shortly after the big bang.[1]
5c. Omega, also known as the Density parameter, is the relative importance of gravity and expansion energy in the Universe. If gravity were too strong compared with dark energy and the initial metric expansion, the universe would have collapsed before life could have evolved. On the other side, if gravity were too weak, no stars would have formed.[1]
5d. Lambda is the cosmological constant. It describes the ratio of the density of dark energy to the critical energy density of the universe, given certain reasonable assumptions such as positing that dark energy density is constant. Lambda is around 0.7. This is so small that it has no significant effect on cosmic structures that are smaller than a billion light-years across. If it were extremely large, stars would not be able to form. [1]
5e. Q, the ratio of the gravitational energy required to pull a large galaxy apart to the energy equivalent of its mass, is around 1/100,000. If it is too small, no stars can form. If it is too large, no stars can survive because the universe is too violent, according to Rees. [1]
5f. D, the number of spatial dimensions in spacetime, is three. Rees claims that life could not exist if there were two or four. [1]
6. a. Thus, scientific discoveries of innumerable patterns and many inter-related complexities of the universe cannot be explained as an appearance after mere accidents just as your computer hasn’t appeared by accident. Mathematical and rational symmetries are wonderful designs indicate a designer.
That wonderful designer that designed symmetries in the whole universe can be only God.
6. b. The universe can’t have come into existence without an all-powerful, super-knowledgeable great person the dictionary meaning of the term God.
7. God exists.
Professor Ulf-G Meißner, in explaining his new groundbreaking study, states: “The Universe we live in is characterized by certain parameters that take specific values that appear to be remarkably fine-tuned to make life, including on Earth, possible. “
“certain fundamental parameters of the Standard Model of light quark masses or the electromagnetic fine structure constant must take values that allow for the formation of neutrons, protons and atomic nuclei.”
“the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis sets indeed very tight limits on the variations of the light quark mass.” “Such extreme fine-tuning supports the anthropic view of our Universe,
http://crev.info/2015/01/more-cosmic-fine-tuning-found/
The fine-tuning argument per se, when it just comes to pointing out the extraordinary special character of the laws of nature which appear to be balanced on the knife’s edge, is not a religious argument, contrary to what many atheists claim. No, the fine-tuning of the laws of nature is pointed out with broad consensus by leading cosmologists, many of them agnostics or atheists. I would think that everyone should take experts in the field of physics and cosmology seriously and be informed about what they have to say. It is remarkable and rather curious how many atheists conveniently ignore or even dismiss mainstream science when it comes to cosmological fine-tuning, thus committing the same mistake they rightfully accuse creationists of when it comes to evolution. Certainly, the further extension as a design argument is theistic, while atheistic scientists often see no other choice than to posit the multiverse (see below) as a non-design explanation.
http://home.earthlink.net/~almoritz/cosmological-arguments-god.htm
1. http://antiochapologetics.blogspot.com/2011/04/electron-to-proton-ratio.html
Further readings :
http://treesearch.org/god-exists#the-universe-is-fine-tuned-to-permit-life
2015-01-evidence-anthropic-theory-fundamental-physics.html
New evidence for the extreme fine-tuning of the universe:
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1409.2959v2.pdf
http://treesearch.org/god-exists#the-universe-is-fine-tuned-to-permit-life
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/new-evidence-anthropic-theory-fundamental-physics-constants-underlie-life-enabling-universe/
http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/how-to-defend-the-fine-tuning-argument-just-like-william-lane-craig/
Fine-Tuning For Life On Earth (Updated June 2004)
Quotes of famous scientists on fine-tuning of the universe
http://kgov.com/fine-tuning-of-the-universe
http://www.angelfire.com/pro/kairosfocus/resources/Info_design_and_science.htm
http://www.reasons.org/articles/fine-tuning-for-life-in-the-universe
http://intelligentscience.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/the-basic-fine-tuning-argument-for-gods-existence/
1. http://sci-hub.tw/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/how-biofriendly-is-the-universe/348B0E86A89D1A92A83BD97AFEE0A136
Fine-Tuning Argument for God? | Otangelo Vs Leophilius
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT6gZKqQkPw&t=1631s
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1277-fine-tuning-of-the-universe
The Big Bang was the most precisely planned event in all of history. Without fine-tuning, there would be no universe. The likelihood to have the right expansion rate at the Big bang is one to 10^123 ( Cosmological constant )
Steven Weinberg Department of Physics, University of Texas
There are now two cosmological constant problems. The old cosmological constant problem is to understand in a natural way why the vacuum energy density ρV is not very much larger. We can reliably calculate some contributions to ρV , like the energy density in fluctuations in the gravitational field at graviton energies nearly up to the Planck scale, which is larger than is observationally allowed by some 120 orders of magnitude. Such terms in ρV can be cancelled by other contributions that we can’t calculate, but the cancellation then has to be accurate to 120 decimal places.
The following gives a sense of the degree of fine-tuning that must go into some of these values to yield a life-friendly universe:
The expansion rate of the universe: 1 part in 10^55
Initial entropy: 1 part in 10^ (10^123)
Gravitational constant: 1 part in 10^34
Electromagnetic force versus force of gravity: 1 part in 10^37
Cosmological constant: 1 part in 10^123
The mass density of the universe: 1 part in 10^59
The chance to get a universe with stars is 10^229
The chance to get the force of gravity just right for life to exist is 1 out of 10^21
The chance to get the strong nuclear force just right for life to exist is 1 out of 10^21
Estimate of number of grains of sand on earth: 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand
How Many Stars Are In The Universe? 10^24
How Many Atoms Are There in the Universe? 10^82 atoms in the known, observable universe.
1. The initial conditions of the universe, subatomic particles, the Big Bang, the fundamental forces of the universe, the Solar System, the earth and the moon, are finely tuned to permit life. Over 150 fine-tuning parameters are known.
2. Finetuning is either due to chance, necessity, or design.
3. Finetuning is extremely unlikely due to chance or necessity. Therefore, it is most probably due to a powerful creator which did set up the universe in the most precise exact fashion to permit life on earth.
Fine-tuning of the Laws of physics
Fine-tuning of the Big Bang
Fine-tuning of the cosmological constant
Fine-tuning of the initial conditions of the universe
Fine-tuning of the fundamental forces of the universe
Fine-tuning of the subatomic particles
Fine-tuning of the Milky Way Galaxy
Fine-tuning of the Solar System
Fine-tuning of the sun
Fine-tuning of the earth
Fine-tuning of the moon
Fine-tuning of the electromagnetic spectrum
Fine-tuning in biochemistry
Multi Fine-tuning
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2810-multi-tuning
In most analyses of the fine-tuning of the force strengths and constants of nature, only one parameter is adjusted at a time (to make the problems more tractable). This would correspond to changing one dial at a time on our Universe-Creating Machine while leaving the other dials unchanged. Even taken individually, each of these examples of fine-tuning is impressive. But in the real universe, the values of all the constants and force strengths must be satisfied simultaneously to have a universe hospitable to life.
Codata lists about 360 different fine-tune constants, which have to be just right in order to have a life-permitting universe.
Fundamental Physical Constants --- Complete Listing 2018 CODATA adjustment
https://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/Table/allascii.txt?fbclid=IwAR1wllIggtvjUltZUyrNeLQO0c67keXqybFrDjwKZ5NFtuIW_bwm6YBf1RU
Lee Smolin, The life of the Cosmos, page 53:
If we are to genuinely understand our universe, these relations, between the structures on large scales and the elementary particles, must be understood as being something other than coincidence. We must understand how it came to be that the parameters that govern the elementary particles and their interactions are tuned and balanced in such a way that a universe of such variety and complexity arises. Of course, it is always possible that this is just a coincidence. Perhaps before going further we should ask just how probable is it that a universe created by randomly choosing the parameters will contain stars. Given what we have already said, it is simple to estimate this probability. For those readers who are interested, the arithmetic is in the notes. The answer, in round numbers, comes to about one chance in 10^229. To illustrate how truly ridiculous this number is, we might note that the part of the universe we can see from earth contains about 10^22 stars which together contain about 10^80 protons and neutrons. These numbers are gigantic, but they are infinitesimal compared to 10^229. In my opinion, a probability this tiny is not something we can let go unexplained. Luck will certainly not do here; we need some rational explanation of how something this unlikely turned out to be the case.
Exemplification
Several famous physicists, including, Stephen Hawking worked out that the relationship between all the fundamentals of our universe is so finely tuned that even if we slightly changed the 55 th decimal point then our universe could not exist. Put another way, several leading scientists have calculated that the statistical probability against this fine-tuning being by chance is in the order of 1 in 10^55.
This probability is hard to imagine but an illustration may help. Imagine covering the whole of the USA with small coins, edge to edge. Now imagine piling other coins on each of these millions of coins. Now imagine continuing to pile coins on each coin until reaching the moon about 400,000 km away! If you were told that within this vast mountain of coins there was one coin different to all the others. The statistical chance of finding that one coin is about 1 in 10^55 . In other words, the evidence that our universe is designed is overwhelming!
The Fine Tuning of the Universe: Evidence for the Existence of God?
https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2018/PSCF9-18Bradley.pdf
Atheist Physicists Prove God. Anthropic Principle Fails
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4E_bT4ecgk&t=4s&fbclid=IwAR12Y5J11T4nMvmQEdjaYPAKDCJ-j2np89IW-nxRlMvbusdFCz2JxpXAiTk
The standard model of physics contains around 26 constant paramenters and changing most of these by even the smallest amount can result in changes to chemistry, nuclear physics and space itself that would cause life to be impossible. Why it is that particular forces have the strengths that they do is a deep and fascinating mystery.
http://www.bretthall.org/fine-structure.html
The expansion rate of the universe: 1 part in 10^55
The chance to get a finely tuned universe with stars: 10^229
The electromagnetic radiation of the sun is restricted to a tiny region of the total electromagnetic spectrum, equivalent to one of 10^25, and that is the region precisely required for life.
The odds against a successful unguided synthesis of a batch of primed nucleotide on the primitive Earth: 10^10^9
The odds to specify just ONE life-essential protein like Helicase by chance: 1 to 10^1300
The odds to specify the right amino acid sequence for a minimal Cell: 560 proteins x average 400 amino acids each: 224.000 amino acids. The odds: 10^378.000 !!
Estimate of number of grains of sand on earth: 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand
How Many Stars Are In The Universe? 10^24
How Many Atoms Are There in the Universe? 10^82 atoms in the known, observable universe.
Life emerged either by a freaky lucky accident or the creative act of a super intelligent, powerful designer. Based on the knowledge of how minutely small the probability is, that a life-permitting universe and life arose by unguided occurrences, we can infer creation as the better alternative.
1. The initial conditions of the universe, subatomic particles, the Big Bang, the fundamental forces of the universe, the Solar System, the earth and the moon, are finely tuned to permit life. Over 150 fine-tuning parameters are known.
2. The Finetuning is either due to chance, necessity or design.
3. Finetuning is extremely unlikely due to chance or necessity. Therefore, it is most probably due to a powerful creator which did set up the universe in the most precise exact fashion to permit life on earth.
The following gives a sense of the degree of fine-tuning that must go into some of these values to yield a life-friendly universe:
The expansion rate of the universe: 1 part in 10^55
Initial entropy: 1 part in 10^ (10^123)
Gravitational constant: 1 part in 10^34
Electromagnetic force versus force of gravity: 1 part in 10^37
Cosmological constant: 1 part in 10^123
The mass density of the universe: 1 part in 10^59
The chance to get a universe with stars is 10^229
The chance to get the force of gravity just right for life to exist is 1 out of 10^21
The chance to get the strong nuclear force just right for life to exist is 1 out of 10^21
Fine-tuning of the universe
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1277-fine-tuning-of-the-universe
Fine-tuning of the Big Bang
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1866-fine-tuning-of-the-big-bang
Fine-tuning of the cosmological constant
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1885-fine-tuning-of-the-cosmological-constant
Fine tuning of the initial conditions of the universe
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1964-fine-tuning-of-the-initial-conditions-of-the-universe
Fine-tuning of the fundamental forces of the universe
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1339-fine-tuning-of-the-fundamental-forces-of-the-universe
The Force of Gravity
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1366-the-force-of-gravity-evidence-of-fine-tuning
Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1935-matter-antimatter-asymmetry
Fine Tuning of our Galaxy
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1417-fine-tuning-of-our-galaxy
Fine Tuning of the Solar System
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1416-fine-tuning-of-the-solar-system
The sun - just right for life
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2550-the-sun-just-right-for-life
FineTuning of the earth
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1415-finetuning-of-the-earth
The electromagnetic spectrum, fine-tuned for life
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t2033-the-electomagnetic-spectrum-fine-tuned-for-life
Is the universe hostile to life ?
https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t1896-is-the-universe-hostile-to-life
1. If our universe is random, then it is very unlikely that it permits life.
2. Our universe permits life.
3. Therefore, the existence of our universe is very likely due to something other than chance.
1. The fine-tuning of the universe is due either to physical necessity, chance, or design.
2. It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
3. Therefore, it is due to design.
Objections to the fine-tuning argument
Objection: The weak anthropic principle explains our existence just fine. We happen to be in a universe with those constraints because they happen to be the only set which will produce the conditions in which creatures like us might (but not must) occur. So, no initial constraints = no-one to become aware of those initial constraints. This gets us no closer to intelligent design.
Response: Given the narrowness of the required intervals, how surprising is it that life actually came into being? The answer would seem to be, very unlikely (unless there are a large number of actual universes within which life could arise by chance). The fundamental constants of the universe held their present values before human beings existed, and they are a pre-requisite for life to begin. Other constants would produce a universe which would not permit the existence of stars, nor planets, and much less, life. If anything, the physical structure of the universe (as represented by fundamental constants and various mathematical relations) are an efficient cause of the existence of a life permitting planet.
John Leslie illustrates this point by means of the Firing Squad analogy.
Imagine that you are facing a firing squad of sharpshooters, firing at close range. Somehow, you survive the volley. Is the volley something that requires an explanation? It is old evidence -- you already know with probability 1 that you are still alive. Nonetheless, it is, from a suitably impersonal perspective, a very surprising thing that you did survive, under the circumstances. Similarly, we already know, with probability 1, that life exists, but this is a very surprising fact, given the anthropic coincidences that were required.
The following gives a sense of the degree of fine-tuning that must go into some of these values to yield a life-friendly universe:
Atheists love to use Occam's razor. Remarkable, that arguing that there is no evidence of God because he cannot be perceived by our senses, in order to explain fine-tuning, he sticks to infinity of completely made-up, undetectable and unobservable parallel universes and claim the proposal to be entirely scientific and disregarding Occams. Me thinks. Occam's would not be amused.
Objection: Using the sharpshooter fallacy is like drawing the bullseye around the bullet hole. You are a puddle saying "look how well this hole fits me. It must have been made for me" when in reality you took your shape from your surroundings.
Response: The fallacy is characterized by a lack of a specific hypothesis prior to the gathering of data, or the formulation of a hypothesis only after data have already been gathered and examined. Hundreds of constants require to be finely tuned, from the expansion rate of the Big Bang to the fundamental forces, the sun, and earthly conditions, a right atmosphere to exist, the sky to exist, hundreds of precisely specified proteins and metabolic networks in Cells, so that we can exist and wonder about our place in the cosmic order. So the argument is downright misleading. It misrepresents the fact that we know that intelligence can use mathematics, logic, create codes and uses them to create, store and use instructional information to make machines, production lines and factories with specific purposes, and upon that, we can formulate hypotheses, and test them. The only alternative to a finely tuned universe is a multiverse, which is entirely unscientific. Upon decades of scientific investigation, science has been unable to produce life in the test lab. When one explanation is not providing an expected outcome, why not search somewhere else?
Objection: Arguments from probability are drivel. We have only one observable universe. So far the likelihood that the universe would form the way it did is 1 in 1
Response: There are dozens of these very precisely balanced constants in the universe necessary to support life. While some can be significantly changed if balanced by equivalent changes in other constants to compensate, it is quite clear that the ratio of those parameters that would work vs. those that would not work is an extremely tiny fraction of all the possible ways which these constants could have been set up - which would not have allowed for the support of complex life.
The classic argument is given in response to such anthropic arguments that one shouldn't be surprised to find these fine-tuned features in the universe because if these features weren't fine-tuned, we wouldn't exist. Therefore, the fact that we exist means that such fine tuning should only be expected by the mere fact of our own existence - not at all surprising. This is obviously a response begging the question.
This argument is like a situation where a man is standing before a firing squad of 10000 men with rifles who take aim and fire - - but they all miss him. According to the above logic, this man should not be at all surprised to still be alive because, if they hadn't missed him, he wouldn't be alive. The nonsense of this line of reasoning is obvious. Surprise at the extreme fine-tuning of the universe, given the hypothesis of a mindless origin, is only to be expected - in the extreme.
Objection: every sequence is just as improbable as another.
Answer: It's true that any particular equal-length sequence is just as improbable as any other. But if the goal is to have a sequence, a particular string starting at 1, then 2,3,4,5,6 ............ 500, then intuitively you know there sequence has a specific order. The relevant point to be outlined here is: The sequence 1,2,3,4 .......... 500, exhibits a specification or particular pattern. What must be explained, is the origin not of any kind of sequence, but a particular, specific sequence.
Suppose you see a blueprint to make a car engine with 100 horse powers to drive a BMW 5X. Not any blueprint will produce this particular car engine with the right size and fit and power. Only a blueprint with the precise, specific, complex arrangement of orders that is understood by the common pre-established agreement between the engineer, and the manufacturer, will permit to be encoded, transmitted, decoded and transformed in an equivalent artifact that has the specific, recognizable function which meets the pre-established goal. The information for that particular car engine can be encoded in Bits. Lets suppose its the size of a CD, 600mb. What has to be calculated, are the odds to get that specific sequence of instructions, which permit to give rise to that particular car engine. Not any sequence will do.
Now you take a random universe generator.
Barnes: Beginning in the 1970’s, a number of physicists have noticed the extreme sensitivity of the life-permitting qualities of our universe to the values of many of the physical constants and cosmological parameters of our universe. Seemingly small changes in the free parameters of the laws of nature as we know them have dramatic, uncompensated and detrimental effects on the ability of the universe to support the complexity needed by physical life forms.
Along with atheists generally, Krauss uses the Anthropic Principle to explain away the extraordinarily unlikely precise values of the many finely-tuned parameters like those listed above, including the one in 10,000 decillion odds against us having a virtually perfect one-to-one electron-to-proton ratio.
The number of electrons (in the universe) is equivalent to the number of protons to an accuracy of one part in 10 to the 37th power. If it were not so, galaxies, stars, and planets would never form (because electromagnetic forces would so overwhelm gravitational forces). So what does one part in 10 to the 37th power look like? Ross asks us to imagine the entire North American continent covered in dimes, and that continent-wide pile of dimes reaching all the way to the moon. Now, consider a million such continent-wide, to-the-moon-high stacks of dimes, and among all those dimes a single one painted red. One part in 10 to the 37th power is like a blind-folded person successfully selecting that one red dime on the first try!
And the ratio of electrons to protons is just one of more than 93 characteristics of the universe (so far documented) that exhibit extreme fine-tuning for life. 1
They make the philosophical argument that it is not surprising that the universe has all the necessary fine-tuning for life, for otherwise, we wouldn't be here to notice. In this way, they deflect attention onto the observer and away from the very design of the universe that they are pretending to explain. Meanwhile, Stephen Hawking admits, while faithfully adhering to the anthropic doctrine, "The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life. For example, if the electric charge of the electron had been only slightly different, stars either would have been unable to burn hydrogen and helium or else they would not have exploded [as beautiful supernovas]" (Hawking, Brief History of Time, p. 129). And in Hawking's book, The Grand Design, he quotes a famed astronomer, "[Fred] Hoyle wrote, 'I do not believe that any scientist who examined the evidence would fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce...'" with Hawking adding, "At the time no one knew enough nuclear physics to understand the magnitude of the serendipity that resulted in these exact physical laws" (p. 159).
The universe is finely tuned to permit life on our planet. Over 120 fine tune constants are known up to date, and as more time pasts, more are discovered. This might be due to chance, to physical need, or to design. Chance is a very bad explanation. Some advocate a Multiverse. But to have just one life-permitting universe, you need 1 to 10^500 attempts to get it done. That's a 1 with 500 zeros. If we put it in comparison, that in our universe, there exist around 10^80 atoms, this shows how improbable it is, that a Multiverse could explain fine tuning. Besides this, the Multiverse argument does not explain away God. A mechanism needs to be in place to trigger these multiverses. It could not be by physical need, since if so, why are there many planets, which are not life permitting, but our is? So it's best explained by design. Our earth/solar/moon system is a very strong evidence. Our solar system is embedded at the right position in our galaxy, neither too close, nor too far from the center of the galaxy. It's also the only location, which aloud us to explore the universe, In the other location, and we would not see more than stellar clouds. The earth has the right distance from the sun and so has the moon from the earth. The size of the moon, and the earth is the right one. Our planet has the needed minerals and water. It has the right atmosphere, and a ozone protecting mantle. Jupiter attracts all asteroids, avoiding these to fall to the earth, and make life impossible. The earth magnetic field protects us from the deadly rays of the sun. The velocity of rotation of the earth is just right. And so is the axial tilt of the earth. Beside this, volcano activities, earth quakes, the size of the crust of the earth, and more over 70 different parameters must be just right. To believe, all these are just right by chance, needs a big leap of faith. This is indeed maybe the strongest argument for theism.
Estimate of number of grains of sand on earth: 7.5 x 10^18 grains of sand
How Many Stars Are In The Universe? 10^24
How Many Atoms Are There in the Universe? 10^82 atoms in the known, observable universe.
==============================================================================================================================================
Is the fine-tuning real?
Yes, it’s real and it is conceded by the top-rank of atheist physicists.
Atheist Physicists Prove God. Anthropic Principle Fails
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4E_bT4ecgk
Paul Davies, How bio-friendly is the universe ?
“There is now broad agreement among physicists and cosmologists that the universe is in several respects ‘fine-tuned’ for life. This claim is made on the basis that existence of vital substances such as carbon, and the properties of objects such as stable long-lived stars, depend rather sensitively on the values of certain physical parameters, and on the cosmological initial conditions. ” 1
Martin Rees is an atheist and a qualified astronomer. He wrote a book called “Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape The Universe”, (Basic Books: 2001). In it, he discusses 6 numbers that need to be fine-tuned in order to have a life-permitting universe.
Rees writes here:
These six numbers constitute a ‘recipe’ for a universe. Moreover, the outcome is sensitive to their values: if any one of them were to be ‘untuned’, there would be no stars and no life. Is this tuning just a brute fact, a coincidence? Or is it the providence of a benign Creator?
There are some atheists who deny the fine-tuning, but these atheists are in firm opposition to the progress of science. The more science has progressed, the more constants, ratios and quantities we have discovered that need to be fine-tuned.
The fact that the cosmos seems exactly balanced and designed for life is just an inescapable scientific observation
Biocentrism, Robert Lanza, MD, page 84
No competent scientist denies that if the laws of nature were just a little bit different in our universe, carbon-based life would never have been possible. Surely such a remarkable fact calls for an explanation. If one declines the insight of the universe as a creation endowed with potency, the rather desperate expedient of invoking an immense array of unobservable worlds [i.e., the “many worlds/multiverse/’unlimited horizons'” proposals] seems the only other recourse.”
John Polkinghorne Mathematical Physicist, one-time Dean of Queen’s College at Cambridge
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1112.4647v2.pdf
Let’s be clear on the task that Stenger has set for himself. There are a great many scientists, of varying religious persuasions, who accept that the universe is fine-tuned for
life, e.g. Barrow, Carr, Carter, Davies, Dawkins, Deutsch, Ellis, Greene, Guth, Harrison, Hawking, Linde, Page, Penrose, Polkinghorne, Rees, Sandage, Smolin, Susskind, Tegmark,
Tipler, Vilenkin, Weinberg, Wheeler, Wilczek. They differ, of course, on what conclusion we should draw from this fact. Stenger, on the other hand, claims that the universe is not
fine-tuned.
Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe by Martin Rees
Evidence of chance, physical necessity, or design?
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/jun/08/just-six-numbers-martin-rees-review
One can marvel, almost indefinitely, at the balance between the nuclear forces and the astoundingly feeble but ultimately inexorable power of gravity, giving us N, a huge number involving 36 zeroes, and nod gratefully each time one is told that were gravity not almost exactly 1036 times weaker then we wouldn't be here.
One can gasp at the implications of the density parameter Ω (omega), which one second after the big bang could not have varied from unity by more than one part in a million billion or the universe would not still be expanding, 13.7bn years on.
But who'd have thought that we also needed D for dimension to equal three, because without that value the show would never have got on the road? We go up the stairs, down the hall or across the living room so often that we tend to imagine that those are the only imaginable dimensions, but there could have been just two, for instance, or perhaps four.
Had there been four dimensions, gravitational and other forces would have varied inversely as the cube of the distance rather than the square, and the inverse cube law would be an unforgiving one. Any orbiting planet that slowed for whatever reason in its orbit would swiftly plunge into the heart of its parent star; any planet that increased its speed ever so slightly would spiral madly into the cold and the dark.
Under the inverse square law, however, a planet that speeds up ever so slightly – or slows down – simply shifts to a very slightly different orbit. That is, we owe the stability of the solar system to the fact that spacetime has, on the macro scale, only three physical dimensions.
All six values featured in this book permit something significant to happen and to go on happening. Take for instance Q, the one part in 100,000 ratios between the rest mass energy of matter and the force of gravity. Were this ratio a lot smaller, gas would never condense into galaxies. Were it only a bit smaller, star formation would be slow and the raw material for future planets would not survive to form planetary systems. Were it much bigger, stars would collapse swiftly into black holes and the surviving gas would blister the universe with gamma rays.
The measure of nuclear efficiency, ε for epsilon, has a value of 0.007. If it had a value of 0.006 there would be no other elements: hydrogen could not fuse into helium and the stars could not have cooked up carbon, iron, complex chemistry and, ultimately, us. Had it been a smidgen higher, at 0.008, protons would have fused in the big bang, leaving no hydrogen to fuel future stars or deliver the Evian water.
Einstein's supposed "biggest blunder", the cosmological constant λ for lambda, is a number not only smaller than first expected; it is a number so small that the puzzle is that it is not zero. But this weakest and most mysterious of forces – think of a value with 120 zeroes after the decimal point – seems to dictate the whole future of the universe. It seems just strong enough to push the most distant galaxies away from us at an unexpected rate. Were it much stronger, there might be no galaxies to accelerate anywhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj_fLi_K7jA
Ed Croteau
there are only 4 forces in the universe, and the first amazing revelation is we can previously define them mathematically. The next amazing thing is we can define their variation statistically.Physics is more imprecise than mathematics, because math defines the behavior, while physics MEASURES the behavior. But in the case of the universe, the behavior is almost statistically without variation. This NEVER happens in unguided processes...whenever you find an order with the precision you never find randomness...there is always a cause for this behavior, and it's always an intelligence.
Adam Frank, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, is the author of About Time: Cosmology and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang
As cosmologists poked around Big Bang theory on ever-finer levels of detail, it soon became clear that getting this universe, the one we happily inhabit, seemed to be more and more unlikely. In his article, Scharf gives us the famous example carbon-12 and its special resonances. If this minor detail of nuclear physics were just a wee bit different, our existence would never be possible. It’s as if nuclear physics were fine-tuned to allow life. But this issue of fine-tuning goes way beyond carbon nuclei; it infects many aspects of cosmological physics.
Change almost anything associated with the fundamental laws of physics by one part in a zillion and you end up with a sterile universe where life could never have formed. Not only that, but make tiny changes in even the initial conditions of the Big Bang and you end up with a sterile universe. Cosmologically speaking, it’s like we won every lottery every imaginable. From that vantage point, we are special—crazy special.
Fine-tuning sticks in the craw of most physicists, and rightfully so. It’s that old Copernican principle again. What set the laws and the initial conditions for the universe to be “just so,” just so we could be here? It smells too much like intelligent design. The whole point of science has been to find natural, rational reasons for why the world looks like it does. “Because a miracle happened,” just doesn’t cut it.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1704.01680.pdf
The existence of structure in our universe at all places stringent bounds on the cosmological constant. Compared to the range of values for which our theories are well defined — roughly ± the Planck scale — the range of values that permit gravitationally bound structures is no more than one part in 10^110
.
• A universe with structure also requires a fine-tuned value for the primordial density contrast Q. Too low, and no structure forms. Too high and galaxies are too dense to allow for long-lived planetary systems, as the time between disruption by a neighboring star is too short. This places the constraint 10−6. Q . 10−4 (Tegmark & Rees, 1998).
• The existence of long-lived stars, which produce and distribute chemical elements and are a stable source of energy that can power chemical reactions, requires an unnaturally small value for the “gravitational coupling constant” αG = m2 proton/m2 Planck; or, equivalently, that the proton mass be orders of magnitude smaller than the Planck mass. For stars to be stable at all, we require αG . 10−33 (Adams, 2008).
• The existence of any atomic species and chemical processes whatsoever places tight constraints on the relative masses of the fundamental particles and the strengths of the fundamental forces. For example, Barr & Khan (2007) show the effect of varying the masses of the up and down quark and find that strand-chemistry permitting universes are huddled in a small shard of parameter space which has area ∆mup∆mdown/m2 Planck ≈ 10−42
These small numbers — 10^110, 10^4, 10^33, 10^−42 — are, in the Bayesian fashion, an attempt to quantify our ignorance. We are not assuming the existence of a random universe-generating machine, nor describing the properties of a real or imagined statistical sample. The laws of nature as we know them contain arbitrary constants, which are not constrained by anything in theoretical physics.
That means any of these fine-tune constants are not set due to physical necessity. There can be any value, which would result in no universe.
As usual, we can react to small probabilities in a couple of ways. Perhaps, like the probability of a deck of cards falling on the floor in a particular order, something improbable has happened. Enough said. Alternatively, like the probability that the burglar correctly guessed the 12-digit code by chance on the first attempt, it may indicate that we have made an incorrect assumption. We should look for an alternative assumption (or theory), on which the fact in question is not so improbable. Correct. As a creation , for example?
Getting Metaphysical
At this conference, George Ellis has invited us to think about not only cosmology with a small ‘c’, defined as the the physics of the universe on large scales, but also Cosmology with a capital ‘C’, which asks the great questions of existence, meaning and purpose that are raised by physical cosmology. Nothing in our formalism assumes that T is a physical theory. Indeed, if there is a final, ultimate physical theory of nature F, then whatever we think about that theory will have to be deeper than physics, so to speak.
1. The characteristics, forces and phenomena of the universe are fine-tuned to such a degree that human life is possible. That is to say that if any characteristics were any more than slightly (and in some cases even slightly) changed, human life would be impossible.
2. The characteristics, forces, and phenomena didn’t HAVE TO be this way. There is no law governing why these characteristics, forces, and phenomena turned out the way they are. They could have been different.
The gravitational force is an unimaginable thirty-nine order of magnitude smaller than the nuclear force. If it was a mere (in comparison) trillion times larger than it is now, then the universe would be far smaller than it is now. The average star would have a mass a trillion times smaller than our sun and the lifespan of about a year. Far too short for life to develop in any meaningful way if at all. If the force of gravity had been any less powerful, the universe would not be able to hold itself together (and therefore never would have formed at all).
The other forces are no less essential and precariously positioned in their values. If the strong force had been slightly weaker, the only substance that would be stable would be hydrogen. No other atoms could exist.
As Paul Davies in his Accidental Universe summarizes it:
The numerical values that nature has assigned to the fundamental constants, such as the charge on the electron, the mass of the proton, and the Newtonian gravitational constant, may be mysterious, but they are crucially relevant to the structure of the universe that we perceive. . . . Had nature opted for a slightly different set of numbers, the world would be a very different place. Probably we would not be here to see it. .And when one goes on to study cosmology – the overall structure and evolution of the universe – incredulity mounts. Recent discoveries about the primeval cosmos oblige us to accept that the expanding universe has been set up in its motion with a cooperation of astonishing precision.
― Paul Davies
“Scientists are slowly waking up to an inconvenient truth - the universe looks suspiciously like a fix. The issue concerns the very laws of nature themselves. For 40 years, physicists and cosmologists have been quietly collecting examples of all too convenient "coincidences" and special features in the underlying laws of the universe that seem to be necessary in order for life, and hence conscious beings, to exist. Change any one of them and the consequences would be lethal. Fred Hoyle, the distinguished cosmologist, once said it was as if "a super-intellect has monkeyed with physics".
To see the problem, imagine playing God with the cosmos. Before you are a designer machine that lets you tinker with the basics of physics. Twiddle this knob and you make all electrons a bit lighter, twiddle that one and you make gravity a bit stronger, and so on. It happens that you need to set thirtysomething knobs to fully describe the world about us. The crucial point is that some of those metaphorical knobs must be tuned very precisely, or the universe would be sterile.
Example: neutrons are just a tad heavier than protons. If it were the other way around, atoms couldn't exist, because all the protons in the universe would have decayed into neutrons shortly after the big bang. No protons, then no atomic nucleuses and no atoms. No atoms, no chemistry, no life. Like Baby Bear's porridge in the story of Goldilocks, the universe seems to be just right for life.”
The Big Picture
In order for this article to be concise enough, it will suffice to say that am I excluding the names and explanations of several ratios, constants, forces, biological and chemical interactions etc. that need to be precisely the way they are to allow human life. I will gradually get into many of these fine-tuned phenomena.
Taking into account the many phenomena that need to be precisely the way they are, and considering the possible range of values they COULD HAVE, the probability of fine-tuning for human life has been conservatively estimated to be at least one part in a hundred million billion billion billion billion billion. That would be a ten followed by fifty-three zeroes. If you were to randomly throw a dart at some part of the Earth, that would be like hitting a bullseye that’s less than one trillionth of a trillionth of an inch in diameter. That’s less than the size of a single atom. It’s unbelievably precise, and the universe NEEDS this precision in order for human life to be possible. Chance cannot begin to explain this precision, it’s like throwing darts an atom. Only Intelligence explains this precision.
http://www.geraldschroeder.com/FineTuning.aspx
the laws and constants of nature are so “finely-tuned,” and so many “coincidences” have occurred to allow for the possibility of life, the universe must have come into existence through intentional planning and intelligence.
“The really amazing thing is not that life on Earth is balanced on a knife-edge, but that the entire universe is balanced on a knife-edge, and would be total chaos if any of the natural ‘constants’ were off even slightly. You see,” Davies adds, “even if you dismiss the man as a chance happening, the fact remains that the universe seems unreasonably suited to the existence of life — almost contrived — you might say a ‘put-up job’.”
Dr. Paul Davies, noted author and professor of theoretical physics at Adelaide University
If we nudge one of these constants just a few percent in one direction, stars burn out within a million years of their formation, and there is no time for evolution. If we nudge it a few percent in the other direction, then no elements heavier than helium form. No carbon, no life. Not even any chemistry. No complexity at all.
Dr. David D. Deutsch, Institute of Mathematics, Oxford University
Hoyle :
A common sense interpretation of the facts suggests that a superintendent has monkeyed with the physics, as well as chemistry and biology and that there are no blind forces worth speaking about in nature. I do not believe that any physicist who examined the evidence could fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce within stars. Adds Dr. David D. Deutch: If anyone claims not to be surprised by the special features that the universe has, he is hiding his head in the sand. These special features ARE surprising and unlikely.
Although Weinberg is a self-described agnostic, he cannot but be astounded by the extent of the fine-tuning. He goes on to describe how a beryllium isotope having the minuscule half-life of 0.0000000000000001 seconds must find and absorb a helium nucleus in that split of time before decaying. This occurs only because of a totally unexpected, exquisitely precise, energy match between the two nuclei. If this did not occur there would be none of the heavier elements. No carbon, no nitrogen, no life. Our universe would be composed of hydrogen and helium. But this is not the end of Professor Weinberg’s wonder at our well-tuned universe. He continues:
One constant does seem to require an incredible fine-tuning — The existence of life of any kind seems to require a cancellation between different contributions to the vacuum energy, accurate to about 120 decimal places.
This means that if the energies of the Big Bang were, in arbitrary units, not:
100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000,
but instead:
100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000001,
there would be no life of any sort in the entire universe because as Weinberg states:
the universe either would go through a complete cycle of expansion and contraction before life could arise or would expand so rapidly that no galaxies or stars could form.
http://www.saintsandsceptics.org/evidence-for-god-design-part-2-fine-tuning-of-the-cosmos/
These are the facts relating to fine-tuning; how are they to be explained?[1] According to the design argument, the best explanation is that the universe is the product of a rational mind. The basic motivation for design can be expressed as follows. We consider a range of possible values for these features of the universe and then ask why they happen to have values lying in the very precise region suitable for life. From an atheistic perspective, there seems to be no reason for this whatsoever. That is, given only atheism and our current scientific knowledge we would have no reason to expect the values of these features to be in the life-permitting range.
By contrast, theism provides a very neat explanation. Fine-tuning is a very precise example of the sort of order we’d expect to find in a universe created by God. We pointed out in Part 1 that God would have reason to bring about valuable things, like a community of embodied moral agents. In light of this, we’d have reason to expect God to create a universe that is fine-tuned with values in the life-permitting range. In other words, fine-tuning is the sort of thing we’d expect in a theistic universe, but not at all what we’d expect in an atheistic universe. As such, it provides strong evidence in favor of the existence of God.
The Precise Nuclear Resonances of Carbon and Oxygen:
Someone "Monkeyed with the Physics"
Helium burning in stars is a critical part of the production of all elements other than helium and primordial hydrogen. Helium burning is the first step in the creation of all of the other elements, and so their existence depends vitally on helium burning. As Fred Hoyle pointed out before it was discovered, helium burning in the stars is only possible because a precise resonance (excited energy level) in the carbon nucleus exists. Furthermore, a second precise resonance must exist in the oxygen nucleus (the next step in nucleosynthesis: C + He -> O) -- in this case a resonance that slightly retards the production of oxygen so that not all of the carbon converts to oxygen. This is what led Fred Hoyle to make several remarkable statements, including that cited above.
The position of a nuclear resonance in Oxygen is the second "coincidence" that makes it possible to have carbon/oxygen based life. In the case of carbon, the resonance was slightly above the combined mass-energy of Beryllium and Helium. In the case of Oxygen, a similar resonance is slightly above the combined mass-energy of Carbon and Helium (7.68 MeV resonance vs. 7.65 MeV mass-energy). These two "accidents" determined that the stars would produce similar amounts of Carbon and Oxygen. If the Oxygen resonance had been slightly lower, essentially all Carbon would have fused into Oxygen; if the resonance had been slightly higher, then only small amounts of Carbon would have fused into oxygen, which would have blocked not only oxygen production but also the production of the higher elements. The remarks of Hoyle refer to the combined effect of these two carefully chosen resonances
http://www.ps-19.org/Crea04SettingForLife/index.html
the ratio of the electromagnetic force constant to the gravitational force constant must be equally delicately balanced. Increase it by only one part in 1040 and only small stars can exist; decrease it by the same amount and there will only be large stars. You must have both large and small stars in the universe: the large ones produce elements in their thermonuclear furnaces, and it is only the small ones that burn long enough to sustain a planet with life.
To use Davies’ illustration, that is the kind of accuracy a marksman would need to hit a coin at the far side of the observable universe, twenty billion light years away. If we find that difficult to imagine, a further illustration suggested by astrophysicist Hugh Ross may help. Cover America with coins in a column reaching to the moon (380,000 km or 236,000 miles away), then does the same for a billion other continents of the same size. Paint one coin red and put it somewhere in one of the billion piles. Blindfold a friend and ask her to pick it out. The odds are about 1 in 10^40 that she will.
http://www.focus.org.uk/lennox.php
The argument of the fine-tuning of the Universe Constants of the Big Bang, the Universe, the fundamental forces, the solar system, and the earth
1. Parameter Ratio
Ratio of Electrons: Protons 1:10^37
Ratio of Electromagnetic Force: Gravity 1:10^40
Expansion Rate of Universe 1:10^55
Mass Density of Universe1 1:10^59
Cosmological Constant 1:10^120
2. These numbers represent the maximum deviation from the accepted values, that would either prevent the universe from existing now, not having matter or be unsuitable for any form of life.
3. One part in 10^37 is such an incredibly sensitive balance that it is hard to visualize. The following analogy might help: Cover the entire North American continent in dimes all the way up to the moon, a height of about 239,000 miles (In comparison, the money to pay for the U.S. federal government debt would cover one square mile less than two feet deep with dimes.). Next, pile dimes from here to the moon on a billion other continents the same size as North America. Paint one dime red and mix it into the billions of piles of dimes. Blindfold a friend and ask him to pick out one dime. The odds that he will pick the red dime are one in 10^37. (Dr. Hugh Ross)
4. “If we modify the value of one of the fundamental constants, something invariably goes wrong, leading to a universe that is inhospitable to life as we know it. When we adjust the second constant in an attempt to fix the problem(s), the result, generally, is to create three new problems for everyone that we “solve.” The conditions in our universe really do seem to be uniquely suitable for life forms like ourselves, and perhaps even for any form of organic complexity." Gribbin and Rees, “Cosmic Coincidences”, p. 146
5. The 90 (registered) constants prove an intelligent designer. Without such finely tuned constants, the universe would not exist.
6. This Supreme Designer of these constants and of the universe must be God, the most intelligent person.
7. God exists.
The argument of mathematical precision
1. Einstein once wondered: "How is it possible that mathematics, a product of human thought that is independent of experience, fits so excellently the objects of physical reality?" And similarly his book 'The Mysterious Universe,' the English physicist Sir James Jeans describes the flawless order in the cosmos: "A scientific study of the universe has suggested a conclusion, which may be summed up ... in the statement that the universe appears to have been designed by a pure mathematician."
Laws reflect mathematical symmetries found in Nature. For example,
a. Pauli’s exclusion principle describes the identity of electrons.
b. Noether's theorem connects some conservation laws to certain symmetries.
c. Lorentz transformations correspond to the rotational symmetry of space-time.
2. Every planet in the universe, large and small, is the critically important part of a larger order. Not one of their positions in space or any of their movements is random eg to keep everything circling at particular distances.
3. The distance between the Earth and our moon ensures many important balances and is extremely vital for the continuation of life on Earth, eg the tides flowing, the growth of the flora.
If the moon were much closer [to the Earth], it would crash into our planet, if much farther away, it would move off into space. If it were much closer, the tides that the moon causes on the earth would become dangerously larger. Ocean waves would sweep across low-lying sections of the continents.
4. There are 93 constants in the fine-tuning of the Universe, Martin Rees discusses six dimensionless constants.[1]
5. N, the ratio of the strengths of gravity to that of electromagnetism, is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. According to Rees, if it were smaller, only a small and short-lived universe could exist.[1]
5b. Epsilon, the strength of the force binding nucleons into nuclei, is 0.07. If it were 0.06, the only hydrogen could exist, and complex chemistry would be impossible. If it were 0.08, no hydrogen would exist, as all the hydrogen would have been fused shortly after the big bang.[1]
5c. Omega, also known as the Density parameter, is the relative importance of gravity and expansion energy in the Universe. If gravity were too strong compared with dark energy and the initial metric expansion, the universe would have collapsed before life could have evolved. On the other side, if gravity were too weak, no stars would have formed.[1]
5d. Lambda is the cosmological constant. It describes the ratio of the density of dark energy to the critical energy density of the universe, given certain reasonable assumptions such as positing that dark energy density is constant. Lambda is around 0.7. This is so small that it has no significant effect on cosmic structures that are smaller than a billion light-years across. If it were extremely large, stars would not be able to form. [1]
5e. Q, the ratio of the gravitational energy required to pull a large galaxy apart to the energy equivalent of its mass, is around 1/100,000. If it is too small, no stars can form. If it is too large, no stars can survive because the universe is too violent, according to Rees. [1]
5f. D, the number of spatial dimensions in spacetime, is three. Rees claims that life could not exist if there were two or four. [1]
6. a. Thus, scientific discoveries of innumerable patterns and many inter-related complexities of the universe cannot be explained as an appearance after mere accidents just as your computer hasn’t appeared by accident. Mathematical and rational symmetries are wonderful designs indicate a designer.
That wonderful designer that designed symmetries in the whole universe can be only God.
6. b. The universe can’t have come into existence without an all-powerful, super-knowledgeable great person the dictionary meaning of the term God.
7. God exists.
Professor Ulf-G Meißner, in explaining his new groundbreaking study, states: “The Universe we live in is characterized by certain parameters that take specific values that appear to be remarkably fine-tuned to make life, including on Earth, possible. “
“certain fundamental parameters of the Standard Model of light quark masses or the electromagnetic fine structure constant must take values that allow for the formation of neutrons, protons and atomic nuclei.”
“the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis sets indeed very tight limits on the variations of the light quark mass.” “Such extreme fine-tuning supports the anthropic view of our Universe,
http://crev.info/2015/01/more-cosmic-fine-tuning-found/
The fine-tuning argument per se, when it just comes to pointing out the extraordinary special character of the laws of nature which appear to be balanced on the knife’s edge, is not a religious argument, contrary to what many atheists claim. No, the fine-tuning of the laws of nature is pointed out with broad consensus by leading cosmologists, many of them agnostics or atheists. I would think that everyone should take experts in the field of physics and cosmology seriously and be informed about what they have to say. It is remarkable and rather curious how many atheists conveniently ignore or even dismiss mainstream science when it comes to cosmological fine-tuning, thus committing the same mistake they rightfully accuse creationists of when it comes to evolution. Certainly, the further extension as a design argument is theistic, while atheistic scientists often see no other choice than to posit the multiverse (see below) as a non-design explanation.
http://home.earthlink.net/~almoritz/cosmological-arguments-god.htm
1. http://antiochapologetics.blogspot.com/2011/04/electron-to-proton-ratio.html
Further readings :
http://treesearch.org/god-exists#the-universe-is-fine-tuned-to-permit-life
2015-01-evidence-anthropic-theory-fundamental-physics.html
New evidence for the extreme fine-tuning of the universe:
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1409.2959v2.pdf
http://treesearch.org/god-exists#the-universe-is-fine-tuned-to-permit-life
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/new-evidence-anthropic-theory-fundamental-physics-constants-underlie-life-enabling-universe/
http://winteryknight.wordpress.com/2009/04/09/how-to-defend-the-fine-tuning-argument-just-like-william-lane-craig/
Fine-Tuning For Life On Earth (Updated June 2004)
Quotes of famous scientists on fine-tuning of the universe
http://kgov.com/fine-tuning-of-the-universe
http://www.angelfire.com/pro/kairosfocus/resources/Info_design_and_science.htm
http://www.reasons.org/articles/fine-tuning-for-life-in-the-universe
http://intelligentscience.wordpress.com/2008/09/18/the-basic-fine-tuning-argument-for-gods-existence/
1. http://sci-hub.tw/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/how-biofriendly-is-the-universe/348B0E86A89D1A92A83BD97AFEE0A136
Last edited by Admin on Mon Aug 03, 2020 4:29 am; edited 89 times in total
