by jimwalton » Mon Mar 24, 2014 5:23 pm
Fine-tuning, perceived to be so natural as to be a "natural occurrence" doesn't disprove God any more than the world, perceived to be so natural, disproves God. Martin Rees and Brandon Carr endorse the fine-tuning argument with this: “The basic features of galaxies, stars, planets, and the everyday world are essentially determined by a few microphysical constants and by the effects of gravitation….several aspects of our Universe—some of which seem to be prerequisites for the evolution of any form of life—depend rather delicately on apparent ‘coincidences’ among the physical constants.” Even Stephen Hawking concedes that “reduction of the rate of expansion by one part in 1012 at the time when the temperature of the Universe was 1010 K would have resulted in the Universe starting to recollapse when its radius was only 1/3000 of the present value and the temperature was still 10,000 degrees.” How is it logically convincing or relevant to claim that this happened naturally? If I deal out four cards to myself, and they are four aces, you'd be suspicious. But if I claim this happens all by itself, that wouldn't make you any less suspicious. Now suppose I do it again, and then again. I can claim it is happening naturally, and possibly it is, but the idea that "this game is rigged" would be in the front of your mind and make more sense to you.
The basic argument is that a fine-tuned universe, admitted by astrophysicists, plays very well with the idea that the universe has been created by a person God. It's a little more awkward in the "this is all a remarkable accident" card dealing scene.
It doesn't matter if physical realities can be explained by physical explanations. In theism, that's the point. In atheism, it's the result. So what? That doesn't make fine-tuning "provably wrong". A materialist would claim we have this fine-tuning because, well, that's the remarkable way it turned out, and if the universe were not fine-tuned, we wouldn't be here. That may be true, but how is it a logical and scientific objection to the idea that maybe there was a higher power governing the tuning? It doesn't.
We observe that the universe is remarkably fine-tuned, quite nicely for life as we know it. We have two hypotheses: (1) it was designed by a powerful and intelligent being, or (2) it has come about by a process of change that doesn't involve an intelligent designer. Given the logical parameters of the situation, the first choice has more logical credence than the second.
Fine-tuning, perceived to be so natural as to be a "natural occurrence" doesn't disprove God any more than the world, perceived to be so natural, disproves God. Martin Rees and Brandon Carr endorse the fine-tuning argument with this: “The basic features of galaxies, stars, planets, and the everyday world are essentially determined by a few microphysical constants and by the effects of gravitation….several aspects of our Universe—some of which seem to be prerequisites for the evolution of any form of life—depend rather delicately on apparent ‘coincidences’ among the physical constants.” Even Stephen Hawking concedes that “reduction of the rate of expansion by one part in 1012 at the time when the temperature of the Universe was 1010 K would have resulted in the Universe starting to recollapse when its radius was only 1/3000 of the present value and the temperature was still 10,000 degrees.” How is it logically convincing or relevant to claim that this happened naturally? If I deal out four cards to myself, and they are four aces, you'd be suspicious. But if I claim this happens all by itself, that wouldn't make you any less suspicious. Now suppose I do it again, and then again. I can claim it is happening naturally, and possibly it is, but the idea that "this game is rigged" would be in the front of your mind and make more sense to you.
The basic argument is that a fine-tuned universe, admitted by astrophysicists, plays very well with the idea that the universe has been created by a person God. It's a little more awkward in the "this is all a remarkable accident" card dealing scene.
It doesn't matter if physical realities can be explained by physical explanations. In theism, that's the point. In atheism, it's the result. So what? That doesn't make fine-tuning "provably wrong". A materialist would claim we have this fine-tuning because, well, that's the remarkable way it turned out, and if the universe were not fine-tuned, we wouldn't be here. That may be true, but how is it a logical and scientific objection to the idea that maybe there was a higher power governing the tuning? It doesn't.
We observe that the universe is remarkably fine-tuned, quite nicely for life as we know it. We have two hypotheses: (1) it was designed by a powerful and intelligent being, or (2) it has come about by a process of change that doesn't involve an intelligent designer. Given the logical parameters of the situation, the first choice has more logical credence than the second.