Anthony Flew ends chapter six of his
book by stating, “So multiverse or not, we still have to come to terms with the
origin of the laws of nature. And the
only viable explanation here is the divine Mind.”[1] To Dr. Flew, the fine-tuning of the laws of
nature was one of the main reasons he switched from being an atheist to believing
that there is a God. From the moment the
universe began, physical laws and the structure of the universe have been
perfectly set up for life to exist now on earth. There are too many “coincidences” for this to
have happened by accident; the only explanation is that “a super-intellect
monkeyed with physics.”[2] The more we study the
universe, the Milky Way galaxy, our solar system, and our planet from plate
tectonics all the way down to the building blocks of life, the more it appears
as if someone or something designed and perfectly arranged everything for life
to exist on Earth. It is a reasonable
conclusion from all this fine-tuning to conclude that God designed the whole
thing. Here is a good 6 minute introduction
video from Reasonable Faith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3jvfvho3CE
An example of this fine
tuning is found in the most basic of fundamental forces and constants. If the
ratio of the nuclear strong force compared to the electromagnetic force had
been different by one part in 1016, no stars could have formed. The ratio of the electromagnetic force
constant compared to the gravitational force constant must not vary more than 1
part in 1040 while the energy density of empty space could not vary
by more than one part in 1054 for life to have been possible in the
universe. When the universe was 10-43 seconds old, the total mass
density of the universe could not have varied by 1 part in 1060. This means that if the entire mass of the
universe had been heavier by about the mass of 1 dime, the universe “would have
expanded too slowly, resulting in unstable orbits and too much radiation.”[3]
Had the mass of the universe been 1 dime lighter, it would have expanded too
quickly for any stars like our sun to form.
One objection to these
fine-tuned constants is that they have to be the way they are because they are
actual different manifestations of the same force. A Grand Unified Theory may solve the
fine-tuning “problem.” There is some
justification for this as we have found that as we go back in time and the
universe gets hotter, we have been able to unify electromagnetism, the strong
force, and the weak force. However, if
we do ever find a theory of everything, it will just move the fine tuning up
one level and be even a better example of fine tuning requiring a mind to
perfect the initial value.
“As difficult as it would be to fine-tune the universe
by adjusting all of the individual dials, it would be even more difficult to
create an underlying law of nature that then forced all the dials into those
specific positions. All that would do would be to make me even more in awe of
the Creator.”[4]
The fine tuning doesn’t
end with the laws and physical constants!
Once the dials for our universal laws are perfectly set, there are still
many conditions that must be met perfectly for a planet like earth to form
where advanced life can exist. These
include a just right galaxy, a just right placement in the galaxy, a just right
solar system, and a just right sun – to name only a few of the over 90
restrictions required for life to exist on a planet in our universe.[5] In fact, there are so many parameters that
have to be perfect for advanced life to exist that physicist Hugh Ross has
calculated that the chance of even one planet like ours existing in our universe is less than 1 in 10144. This would be equivalent to winning the
Powerball lottery jackpot 18 times in row, purchasing just one ticket each
time. These parameters are in addition to the fine-tuning necessary
for our universe to even exist in the first place with life permitting laws and
constants!
One escape from this
fine-tuning for the naturalist is Multiverse Theory. This can be stated one of two ways. Either there is some kind of universe
generator that controls the parameters that each universe can have, thus
restricting the values of the constants to life-permitting ones, or there are
infinite universes – meaning that every possible universe exists and we happen
to be in one that permits life. Both of
these naturalistic solutions have problems.
The “restricted universe hypothesis” still requires that the universe
generator be fine-tuned, while the “infinite number of universes hypothesis”
explains too much. In fact, if every
possible universe exists, then there exists a universe where anything you can
imagine is possible and everything is just a product of chance; including
multiverse theories!
Most scientists agree that there is
overwhelming scientific evidence for the design of the universe and this
design’s benefit for life and humans. A
prominent atheist reminds us that since the evidence for design is so prevalent,
we must keep telling ourselves that the universe is not designed! The only debate now is over who or what does
the designing! At this point, the
Christian answer to this question (God) and the secular answer to this question
(Multiverse) are pretty much equivalent in terms of “scientific” evidence. It is a reasonable conclusion that a mind designed
and created the universe, fine-tuning all the constants, laws, and conditions
so that humans would be possible on planet earth.
[1] Anthony
Flew, There Is A God, page 121,
HarperOne, 2007
[2]
quote attributed to Frederick Hoyle
[3]
Hugh Ross, The Creator and Cosmos, NavPress,
2001.
[4] Attributed
to Robin Collins, PHD in physics. Quoted
in The Case for the Creator by Lee
Strobel, on page 137
[5] http://www.reasons.org/articles/fine-tuning-for-life-in-the-universe
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