RE: I will prove to you that God exists
April 9, 2025 at 9:02 am
(This post was last modified: April 9, 2025 at 9:03 am by Alan V.)
To be clear, here are a few of the biofriendly properties of our universe mentioned in On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory, written by his associate Thomas Hertog:
* If the expansion of the universe hadn't slowed down early on, galaxies and stars would not have formed.
* If gravity was stronger, stars would have died out more quickly so life wouldn't have had time to evolve.
* If the cosmic microwave background radiation variations were slightly greater, only black holes would have formed, slightly less and no galaxies would have formed at all.
* One extra space dimension would have rendered atoms and planetary orbits unstable, one less would not have allowed the room for complex systems to operate.
* If the neutron-to-proton mass ratio had been reversed, protons would have decayed into neutrons soon after the big bang, with the results of no atoms and no chemistry.
* If the balance between the strong nuclear force and the electromagnetic force was slightly different, it would have compromised the fusion of carbon in stars.
* If the force of dark energy was somewhat larger, again no galaxies would have formed.
* If the Higgs field had been stronger, no life could emerge.
* If antimatter had formed in equal amounts to matter in the big bang, no matter at all would exist because of mutual annihilations. As it was, only one in a billion particles survived.
This quote is from the book: "So the riddle of design in cosmology is that the fundamental laws of physics appear to be specifically engineered to facilitate the emergence of life." Of course, this is not to say that the universe is optimal for life. It is not by a long shot, but it does not prevent life from emerging in certain highly unusual conditions. This is why such apparent design is not likely to have been the result of intelligence promoting life, but will still need an explanation from physics and cosmology.
* If the expansion of the universe hadn't slowed down early on, galaxies and stars would not have formed.
* If gravity was stronger, stars would have died out more quickly so life wouldn't have had time to evolve.
* If the cosmic microwave background radiation variations were slightly greater, only black holes would have formed, slightly less and no galaxies would have formed at all.
* One extra space dimension would have rendered atoms and planetary orbits unstable, one less would not have allowed the room for complex systems to operate.
* If the neutron-to-proton mass ratio had been reversed, protons would have decayed into neutrons soon after the big bang, with the results of no atoms and no chemistry.
* If the balance between the strong nuclear force and the electromagnetic force was slightly different, it would have compromised the fusion of carbon in stars.
* If the force of dark energy was somewhat larger, again no galaxies would have formed.
* If the Higgs field had been stronger, no life could emerge.
* If antimatter had formed in equal amounts to matter in the big bang, no matter at all would exist because of mutual annihilations. As it was, only one in a billion particles survived.
This quote is from the book: "So the riddle of design in cosmology is that the fundamental laws of physics appear to be specifically engineered to facilitate the emergence of life." Of course, this is not to say that the universe is optimal for life. It is not by a long shot, but it does not prevent life from emerging in certain highly unusual conditions. This is why such apparent design is not likely to have been the result of intelligence promoting life, but will still need an explanation from physics and cosmology.
