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Fine-tuned Universe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The fine-tuned Universe is the idea that the conditions that allow life in the Universe can only occur when certain universal
physical constants lie within a very narrow range, so that if any of several fundamental constants were only slightly different
the universe would be unlikely to be conducive to the establishment and development of matter, astronomical structures,
elemental diversity, or life as it is presently understood. [1]
The arguments relating to the fine-tuned universe concept involve the anthropic principle, which states that any valid theory of
the universe must be consistent with our existence as human beings at this particular time and place in the universe. In other
words, even if the actual probability of our universe that supports intelligent life may be very low, the conditional probability
of supporting intelligent life, given our existence in it, is 1. Even if there could be other universes, less "fine-tuned" and so
devoid of life, there would be no one there to observe them.
Contents
1 Premise
2 Nature of the constants
3 Meaning of "universe"
4 Disputes on the existence of fine-tuning
5 Naturalistic possibilities
5.1 Multiverse
5.1.1 Bubble universe theory
5.1.2 Alien design
5.1.3 Counterarguments to Naturalistic Hypotheses
6 Religious opinions
6.1 Intelligent design
6.2 Other religious creation views
6.3 Counter argument to religious views
7 Bayesian arguments
8 In fiction and popular culture
9 Notes
10 References
11 See also
12 External links
Premise
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The premise of the fine-tuned universe assertion is that a small
change in several of the approximately 26 dimensionless
fundamental physical constants would make the universe
radically different: if, for example, the strong nuclear force were
2% stronger than it is (i.e. if the coupling constant representing its
strength were 2% larger), diprotons would be stable and hydrogen
would fuse into them instead of deuterium and helium. This
would drastically alter the physics of stars, and presumably
prevent the universe from developing life as it is currently
observed on the earth. However, many of the 26 constants
describe the properties of the unstable strange, charmed, bottom
and top quarks and mu and tau leptons which seem to play little
part in the universe or the structure of matter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fine-tuned_Universe&printable=yes
Fine-tuned Universe proponents argue that deep-space
structures such as the Eta Carinae Nebula would not form in a
universe with significantly different physical constants. Photo:
HST / NASA / ESA.
Larry Abbott wrote: "the small value of the cosmological
constant is telling us that a remarkably precise and totally unexpected relation exists among all the parameters of the Standard
Model of particle physics, the bare cosmological constant and unknown physics."[2] Victor Stenger has suggested that the
fine-tuned universe concept may be interpreted as a "claim of evidence for divine cosmic plan": "As the argument goes, the
chance that any initially random set of constants would correspond to the set of values that we find in our universe is very
small and the universe is exceedingly unlikely to be the result of mindless chance. Rather, an intelligent, purposeful Creator
must have arranged the constants to support life". Stenger is critical of this claim and provides his own explanations
highlighting the flaws in those claims and concludes: "The universe is not fine-tuned for humanity. Humanity is fine-tuned to
the universe".[3]
As modern cosmology developed, various hypotheses have been proposed. One is an oscillatory universe or a multiverse
where physical constants are postulated to resolve themselves to random values in different iterations of reality. Therefore
separate parts of reality would have wildly different characteristics. In such scenarios the issue of fine-tuning does not arise at
all, as only those "universes" with constants hospitable to life (such as what we observe) would develop life capable of asking
the question.
There are fine tuning arguments that are naturalistic,[4] however, the assertion that the universe was designed to be fine-tuned is
largely put forward by advocates of intelligent design and other forms of creationism. This apparent fine-tuning of the universe
is cited[5] by William Lane Craig as an evidence for the existence of God or some form of intelligence capable of manipulating
(or designing) the basic physics that governs the universe. Craig argues, however, "that the postulate of a divine Designer does
not settle for us the religious question."
Alvin Plantinga argues that random chance, applied to a single and sole universe, only raises the question as to why this
universe could be so "lucky" as to have precise conditions that support life at least at some place (the Earth) and time (within
millions of years of the present).[6]
Based upon the Anthropic principle, physicist Robert H. Dicke proposed the "Dicke coincidence" argument that the structure
(age, physical constants, etc) of the universe as seen by living observers is not random, but is constrained by biological factors
that require it to be roughly a "golden age".[7]
Critics argue that the fine-tuned universe assertion and the anthropic principle are essentially tautologies.[8] The fine-tuned
universe argument has also been criticized as an argument by lack of imagination because it assumes no other forms of life,
based upon alternative biochemistry, are possible. In addition, critics argue that humans are adapted to the universe through the
process of evolution, rather than the universe being adapted to humans. They also see it as an example of the logical flaw of
hubris or anthropocentrism in its assertion that humans are the purpose of the universe.[9]
Nature of the constants
Modern science as practiced since René Descartes is reductionist, meaning that it attempts to discover the most fundamental
objects and rules governing the observable behavior of the universe. In descriptions of the physical universe, fundamental rules
take the form of laws (usually equations relating physical quantities and properties) involving physical constants, while the
fundamental objects are elementary particles with constant mass, charge, and other physical properties. This reductionism is a
pragmatic approach that obtains results and is not a philosophical position on ontology. The nature of these constants is a much
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debated topic in physics and metaphysics (see string theory).
Meaning of "universe"
Both popular and professional research articles in cosmology often use the term "universe" to refer to the observable universe.
The reason for this usage is that only observable phenomena are scientifically relevant. Since unobservable phenomena have
no perceptible effects, physicists argue that they "causally do not exist". Since unobservable parts of the universe cannot be
measured, hypotheses about them are not testable, and thus inappropriate for a scientific theory.
In metaphysics, "universe" refers to everything that exists. This encompasses both observable and unobservable phenomena.
Metaphysics seeks to describe everything that is knowable about existence.
All the arguments that refer to the observable universe would not necessarily apply to the unobservable parts of reality
sometimes called "other universes", if such there be. Although our observable universe has the parameters necessary for
carbon based life, other parts of a larger multiverse may be sterile, or may have physical parameters conducive to different
types of life or other, possibly self-aware, systems.
Disputes on the existence of fine-tuning
There are many cases where the known physical constants are argued to suggest fine tuning. However, the validity of these
examples is sometimes questioned on the grounds that such reasoning is subjective anthropomorphism applied to natural
physical constants. For example, Victor Stenger writes that "...The fine-tuning argument and other recent intelligent design
arguments are modern versions of God-of-the-gaps reasoning, where a God is deemed necessary whenever science has not
fully explained some phenomenon." Victor Stenger furthers his critical view that "...a wide variation of constants of physics
leads to universes that are long-lived enough for life to evolve, although human life need not exist in such universes"[3]. These
ideas are supported by other work, F.C. Adams published a paper describing the formation of stars in universes with different
physical constants, which suggested that in 25% of cases it would be possible for stars to exist in some form[3] (http://arxiv.org
/abs/0807.3697) . In a more extreme case, Harnik, Kribs and Perez demonstrated the viability of a universe with no weak
interaction at all[4] (http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0604027) .
Fine-tuning, Stenger argues, comes with caveats. The fact that a universe with different physical constants might be
inhospitable to life as we know it does not necessarily mean that it is inhospitable to any form of life. Currently, there is no
way of determining if a universe allows for life or not. Further, most of this universe, especially the interstellar vacuum,
appears to be devoid of life; other physical constants may exist that allow a much greater density of life than in this universe.
Stenger suggests that there could be exotic life with "different configurations of laws and constants of physics" [5]
(http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/anthro_skintel.html) . Life could perhaps have developed based on
different chemicals. Life could be based on silicon or other carbon-like chemical elements, though carbon seems better suited.
First and foremost, and fatal to the design argument all by itself, we have the wholly unwarranted assumption that only one
type of life is possible—the particular form of carbon-based life we have here on earth.
—Victor J. Stenger, [6] (http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/anthro_skintel.html)
He has also written:
So how did our universe happen to be so "fine-tuned" as to produce these wonderful, self-important carbon structures? As I
explained above, we have no reason to assume that ours is the only possible form of life and perhaps life of some sort would
have happened whatever form the universe took—however the crystals on the arm of the snowflake happened to be arranged by
chance.
—Victor J. Stenger, The Anthropic Coincidences[10]
Naturalistic possibilities
If it is accepted that the universe is fine-tuned, there are a number of naturalistic explanations that attempt to account for it.
Multiverse
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The Multiverse hypothesis assumes the existence of many universes with different physical constants, some of which are
hospitable to intelligent life. See The multiverse and the anthropic principle. Because we are intelligent beings, we are by
definition in a hospitable one. This approach has led to considerable research into the anthropic principle and has been of
particular interest to particle physicists because theories of everything do apparently generate large numbers of universes in
which the physical constants vary widely. As of yet, there is no evidence for the existence of a multiverse, but some versions of
the theory do make predictions which some researchers studying M-theory and gravity leaks hope to see some evidence of
soon.[11] The existence of additional universes in a multiverse, other than the observable universe, is not falsifiable, thus some
are reluctant to call the multiverse idea a "scientific" idea. UNC-Chapel Hill professor Laura Mersini-Houghton claims that the
WMAP cold spot may provide testable empirical evidence for a parallel universe.
Variants on this approach include the notions of Cosmological natural selection, the Ekpyrotic universe, and the Bubble
universe theory.
Bubble universe theory
See also: Multiverse#Bubble theory
The bubble universe model by physicist Andrei Linde, postulates that our universe is one of many that grew from a multiverse
consisting of vacuum that had not yet decayed to its ground state.
According to this scenario, by means of a random quantum fluctuation the universe "tunneled" from pure vacuum ("nothing")
to what is called a false vacuum, a region of space that contains no matter or radiation but is not quite "nothing." The space
inside this bubble of false vacuum was curved, or warped. A small amount of energy was contained in that curvature, somewhat
like the energy stored in a strung bow. This ostensible violation of energy conservation is allowed by the Heisenberg
uncertainty principle for sufficiently small time intervals.
The bubble then inflated exponentially and the universe grew by many orders of magnitude in a tiny fraction of a second. (For a
not-too-technical discussion, see Stenger 1990). As the bubble expanded, its curvature energy was converted into matter and
radiation, inflation stopped, and the more linear big bang expansion we now experience commenced. The universe cooled and
its structure spontaneously froze out, as formless water vapor freezes into snowflakes whose unique patterns arise from a
combination of symmetry and randomness.
—Victor J. Stenger, The Anthropic Coincidences[10]
In standard inflation, inflationary expansion occurred while the universe was in a false vacuum state, halting when the universe
decayed to a true vacuum state. The bubble universe model proposes that different parts of this inflationary universe (termed a
Multiverse) decayed at different times, with decaying regions corresponding to universes not in causal contact with each other.
It further supposes that each bubble universe may have different physical constants.
Alien design
The Universe may have been designed by an alien or by aliens. This would solve the problem of how a designer or design team
capable of fine-tuning the Universe could come to exist. Leading cosmologist, Alan Guth believes humans will in time be able
to generate new universes. By implication previous intelligent entities may have generated our universe.
I in fact have worked with several other people for some period of time on the question of whether or not it's in principle
possible to create a new universe in the laboratory. Whether or not it really works we don't know for sure. It looks like it
probably would work. It's actually safe to create a universe in your basement. It would not displace the universe around it even
though it would grow tremendously. It would actually create its own space as it grows and in fact in a very short fraction of a
second it would splice itself off completely from our Universe and evolve as an isolated closed universe growing to cosmic
proportions without displacing any of the territory that we currently lay claim to.
—Alan Guth[12]
This idea leads to the possibility that the extraterrestrial designer/designers are themselves the product of an evolutionary
process in their own universe, which must therefore itself be able to sustain life. For instance, Richard Dawkins writes:
Or maybe the elusive “crane” that cosmologists seek will be a version of Darwin’s idea itself: either Smolin’s model or
something similar. Or maybe it will be the Multiverse plus Anthropic principle espoused by Martin Rees and others. It may
even be a Superhuman designer – but if so it will most certainly not be a designer who just popped into existence, or who
always existed. If (which I don’t believe for a moment) our universe was designed, and a fortiori if the designer reads our
thoughts and hands out omniscient advice, forgiveness and redemption, the designer himself must be the end product of some
kind of cumulative escalator or crane, perhaps a version of Darwinism in another universe.
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—Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion
Dawkins maintains that an alien designer or designers are more plausible than a supernatural designer or designers because
there is a known mechanism to produce them. He calls it the “crane” of Natural selection.
The Simulation hypothesis promoted by Nick Bostrom and others have suggests that our universe may be a computer
simulation by aliens.
The Biocosm hypothesis and the Meduso-anthropic principle both suggest that natural selection has made the universe
biophilic. The universe enables intelligence because intelligent entities later create new biophilic universes. This is different
from the suggestion above that aliens from a universe which is less finely tuned than ours made our universe finely tuned.
Counterarguments to Naturalistic Hypotheses
Critics of the multiverse-related explanations argue that there is no evidence that other universes exist, or that these universes
necessarily exhaust all possible physical properties as the anthropic principle requires. Against the specific Bubble universe
Hypothesis described above, Craig argues "Inflationary models not only face the problems of how to get the inflation started,
how to get it to end without excess turbulence, and how to get it to allow galaxy formation, but more importantly they
themselves require an extraordinary amount of fine-tuning prior to inflation, so that the appearance of design is not eluded"[5].
Religious opinions
As with theistic evolution, some individual scientists, theologians, and philosophers
as well as certain religious groups have seized on the idea that providence or
creation are responsible for fine-tuning. Intelligent design theories are not
necessarily falsifiable, and thus some are reluctant to call intelligent design theories
a "scientific" idea. Variants on this approach include:
Part of a series of articles on
Intelligent design
Intelligent design
Proponents of Intelligent design argue that certain features of the universe and of
living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process
such as natural selection. The fine-tuned universe argument is a central premise or
presented as a given in many of the published works of prominent Intelligent Design
proponents, such as William A. Dembski and Michael Behe.
Concepts
Other religious creation views
Most religions have some kind of account of the creation of the universe, although
they generally differ in detail from the ones listed above. Some of these may be fully
compatible with known scientific facts (notwithstanding their use of metaphysical
ideas which are beyond the domain of science). For example scientist-theologians
such as John Polkinghorne emphasise the implications of Anthropic Fine-Tuning
within an orthodox Christian framework whilst fully accepting the scientific findings
about Evolution and the age of the Universe. This is also the position of the Roman
Catholic Church and of most Anglican theologians, of whom Alister McGrath is
probably the most prolific in this area.[13] The Jewish physicist Gerald Schroeder
argues that the apparent discrepancy between the "days" in Genesis and the billions
of years in a scientific understanding are due to the differences in frames of
reference. Many other religious creation views are either incompatible with, or
indifferent to, scientific understandings. Other scientists with similar views are
physicist Freeman Dyson and astronomer Owen Gingerich.
Counter argument to religious views
Irreducible complexity
Specified complexity
Fine-tuned universe
Intelligent designer
Theistic realism
Creationism
Intelligent design
movement
Timeline
Discovery Institute
Center for Science and Culture
Wedge strategy
Critical Analysis of Evolution
Teach the Controversy
Intelligent design in politics
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District
Reactions
The "argument from imperfection" suggests that if the universe were designed to be
fine-tuned for life, it should be the best one possible and that evidence suggests that
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it is not.[14] In fact, most of the universe is highly hostile to life.
An implication of intelligent design may be that the designer is benevolent and, as
such, the constants and structures of the universe are "life-friendly". However such
intelligent designer may conceivably be malevolent.
Jewish · Roman Catholic
Scientific organizations
Creationism Portal
(…) it is reasonable to conclude that God does not exist, since God is omnipotent,
omniscient and perfectly good and thereby would not permit any gratuitous natural evil. But since gratuitous natural evils are
precisely what we would expect if a malevolent spirit created the universe (…). If any spirit created the universe, it is
malevolent, not benevolent.
—Quentin Smith, The Anthropic Coincidences, Evil and the Disconfirmation of Theism[15]
Bayesian arguments
A Bayesian probabilistic discussion by mathematician Michael Ikeda and astronomer William H. Jefferys in 2006 argues that
the traditional reasoning about intelligent design from the presence of fine-tuning does not properly condition on the existence
of life and is also based on an incorrect reversal of conditional probabilities.[16] They argue that it is an example of the
prosecutor's fallacy, which in this form erroneously claims that if fine-tuning is rare in naturalistic universes, then a fine-tuned
universe is unlikely to be naturalistic.
The philosopher of science Elliott Sober makes a similar argument (2004). Richard Swinburne reaches the opposite conclusion
using Bayesian probability (Swinburne 1990).
In fiction and popular culture
Stephen Baxter has written several novels and short stories in which the setting is an alternative universe with different
physical laws. The most obvious example is Raft in which the force of gravity is a billion times stronger than in our
universe. The novel, Time of the Manifold sequence includes the interesting concept that the universe itself is not
perfectly tuned for life to exist and is still in the process of evolution itself. The climax of the book involves the
destruction of the universe so that a new version, better suited to life, may replace it.
Robert J. Sawyer discusses the fine-tuned universe novel at length in his Hugo Award-nominated novel Calculating God
(2000), which features an alien race that has developed a grand unified theory that includes these conclusions (presented
in dialog):
"First, that this universe is not flat, but rather that it is closed: it did indeed start with a big bang and will expand for billions of
years more -- but it will eventually collapse back down to a singularity in a big crunch.
"Second, that this current cycle of creation follows no more than eight previous big-bang/big-crunch oscillations -- we are not
one in an infinitely long string of universes but, rather, are one of the very few that have ever existed."
"And the third provision of the grand unified theory is this: no parallel universes exist simultaneously with ours or any of the
previous or subsequent ones, save virtually identical universes with exactly the same physical constants that split briefly from
the current one then almost immediately reintegrate with it, thus accounting for certain quantum phenomenons.
"The math to prove all the foregoing is admittedly abstruse, although, ironically, the Wreeds intuitively came to an identical
model. But the theory of everything made numerous predictions that have subsequently been confirmed experimentally; it has
withstood every test it has been put to. And when we found that we could not retreat into the notion that this universe is one of
a vast number, the argument for intelligent design became central to Forhilnor thought. Since this is one of a maximum of just
nine universes that have ever existed, for it to have these highly improbable design parameters implies they were indeed chosen
by an intelligence."[17]
Sawyer also explores the fine-tuned universe argument in his short story The Abdication of Pope Mary III, first published in
Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science, July 6, 2000.
The Sphere Builders of Star Trek: Enterprise created the Delphic Expanse in an attempt to alter the physical laws of our
universe to match those of their own parallel universe. Their form of life was not compatible with the current physical
laws of our universe (as evidenced by their quickly decaying bodies), and thus needed to make said changes in order to
conquer and live in our universe.
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Author Neal Stephenson discussed the issue of fine-tuning in the conclusion to his essay In The Beginning Was The
Command Line, speculating on what might happen if an all-powerful entity had access to a computer program that could
generate universes with any desired set of properties.
“
The demiurge sits at his teletype, pounding out one command line after another, specifying the values of
fundamental constants of physics:
universe -G 6.672e-11 -e 1.602e-19 -h 6.626e-34 -protonmass 1.673e-27....
and when he's finished typing out the command line, his right pinky hesitates above the ENTER key for an
aeon or two, wondering what's going to happen; then down it comes--and the WHACK you hear is another Big
Bang.[18]
”
Notes
1. ^ Mark Isaak (ed.) (2005). "CI301: The Anthropic Principle". Index to Creationist Claims. TalkOrigins Archive.
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CI/CI301.html. Retrieved on 2007-10-31.
2. ^ Larry Abbott, "The Mystery of the Cosmological Constant," Scientific American, vol. 3, no. 1 (1991): 78; quoted in Michael A
Corey, The God Hypothesis: Discovering Divine Design in Our Goldilocks Universe Rowman and Littlefield, 2001.online
(http://books.google.com/books?id=-4lMfNGivg0C&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&vq=remarkably&dq=fine-tuned-universe+remarkablyprecise&sig=vrfl2W1u2Eivpeh7k54uSNBdp4Q)
3. ^ a b Is The Universe Fine-Tuned For Us? (http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo
/FineTune.pdf#search=%22Fine%20tuned%20universe%22) Victor J. Stenger, University of Colorado.
4. ^ L. Susskind, The cosmic landscape: string theory and the illusion of intelligent design. (Little, Brown, 2005).
5. ^ a b William Lane Craig, "The Teleological Argument and the Anthropic Principle," [1] (http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig
/docs/teleo.html)
6. ^ Alvin Plantinga, Books & Culture, March/April 2007 Issue [2] (http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/002/1.21.html)
7. ^ Dicke, R. H. (1961). "Dirac's Cosmology and Mach's Principle". Nature 192: 440–441. doi:10.1038/192440a0.
8. ^ See, e.g., Our place in the Multiverse (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7108/full/443145a.html) Joseph Silk. Nature,
Volume 443 Number 7108, September 14 2006.
9. ^ See, e.g., Gerald Feinberg and Robert Shapiro, "A Puddlian Fable" in Huchingson, Religion and the Natural Sciences (1993), pp.
220-221
10. ^ a b The Anthropic Coincidences (http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/anthro_skintel.html)
11. ^ Parallel Worlds,2005, Michio Kaku, pp. 220-221
12. ^ BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon - Parallel Universes - Transcript (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon
/2001/parallelunitrans.shtml)
13. ^ see eg his 3-volume Scientific Theology and his shorter book The Science of God
14. ^ Avitel Pilpel, SKEPTIC, November 2007 Issue, p.18
15. ^ The Anthropic Coincidences, Evil and the Disconfirmation of Theism (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/quentin_smith
/anthropic.html)
16. ^ Jefferys The Anthropic Principle Does Not Support Supernaturalism (http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/anthropic.html) , Michael Ikeda,
Bill Jefferys
17. ^ Robert J. Sawyer, Calculating God, Tor Books, New York 2000 (http://www.sfwriter.com/excg.htm)
18. ^ In The Beginning Was The Command Line (http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html)
References
John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler, 1986. The Anthropic Cosmological Principle. Oxford Univ. Press. ISBN
0-19-282147-4
John D. Barrow, 2003. The Constants of Nature, Pantheon Books, ISBN 0-375-42221-8
Nick Bostrom, 2002. Anthropic Bias: Observation Selection Effects in Science and Philosophy, Routledge, New York,
ISBN 0-415-93858-9
Paul Davies, 1982. The Accidental Universe, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-24212-6
Michael Ikeda and William H. Jefferys, "The Anthropic Principle Does Not Support Supernaturalism," in The
Improbability of God, Michael Martin and Ricki Monnier, Editors, pp. 150-166. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Press. ISBN
1-59102-381-5
Simon Conway Morris, 2003. Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe. Cambridge Univ. Press.
Martin Rees, 1999. Just Six Numbers, HarperCollins Publishers, ISBN 0-465-03672-4
Elliott Sober, 2004. The Design Argument, in The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Religion, W. E. Mann, Editor.
Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 0-631-22129-8
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Richard Swinburne, 1990. Argument from the fine-tuning of the universe, in Physical cosmology and philosophy, J.
Leslie, Editor. Collier Macmillan: New York. pp. 154-73.
Ward, P. D., and Brownlee, D., 2000. Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe. Springer Verlag.
The Anthropic Coincidences, Evil and the Disconfirmation of Theism (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern
/quentin_smith/anthropic.html)
Parallel Universes,BBC Two 9.00pm Thursday 14 February 2002 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon
/2001/parallelunitrans.shtml)
See also
Fine-tuning
Origin of life
Rare Earth hypothesis
Ultimate fate of the universe
Teleology
The Parable of the Solar System Model
External links
Robin Collins's Fine-Tuning Website (http://home.messiah.edu/~rcollins/ft.htm)
Does the Cosmos Show Evidence of Purpose? (http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/anthro.skinq.html)
Fine-Tuning Argument links to online references (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/design.html#fine) , at
the Secular Web
Cosmological fine-tuning (http://academic.udayton.edu/WilliamRichards/Intro%20essays/Collins,%20Fine-tuning.htm) ,
by Robin Collins
Design and the Anthropic Principle (http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/design.shtml?main) by Hugh Ross
The Anthropic Principle Does Not Support Supernaturalism (http://quasar.as.utexas.edu/anthropic.html) by Michael
Ikeda and Bill Jefferys
Overview of the Cosmological Intelligent Design argument (http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0106/articles
/barr.html) Stephen M. Barr. July 2001. First Things, the Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life.
The Design Argument (http://philosophy.wisc.edu/sober/design%20argument%2011%202004.pdf) by Elliott Sober
(Adobe PDF format)
Home page of Templeton Foundation project on fine-tuning (http://www.templeton.org/biochem-finetuning
/purpose.html)
Sharpening Ockham's razor on a Bayesian strop (http://bayesrules.net/papers/ockham.pdf) by William H. Jefferys and
James O. Berger (Adobe PDF format)
The cosmos is fine-tuned to permit human life (http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CI/CI301.html) at the talk.origins
index to creationist claims.
Is the Universe fine-tuned for us? (http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/vstenger/Cosmo/FineTune.pdf) (Adobe PDF
format)
Interview (http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/06/17_townes.shtml) with Charles Townes discussing
science and religion.
Evidence For Design In The Universe (http://doesgodexist.com/Charts/EvidenceForDesignInTheUniverse.html)
Gerald Schroeder's Fine-turned universe page (http://www.geraldschroeder.com/tuning.html)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-tuned_Universe"
Categories: Intelligent design | Pseudophysics | Creation science
This page was last modified on 25 December 2008, at 22:44.
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