(November 18, 2012 at 12:50 am)Darkstar Wrote: I think he is using a slightly lax definition for 'perfect'. Not as lax as the definition of a 'perfect' god, though.
More like an appeal to the anthropic principle, with a god smokescreen thrown in. We can account for the Moon's recession through tidal influences; at one time the Earth-Moon system was a great deal closer together than it is today, such that the days were on the order of a few hours and the tidal stress on our oceans would have been enormous. Over time the system transferred angular momentum from the Earth to the Moon, slowing our planet's rotation and causing the Moon to recede. Eventually it will reach a point of maximum recession, after which the system will reverse and the Moon will begin to approach. Once it enters the zone known as the Roche Limit, about nine and a half thousand kilometres from the surface of the Earth for a body of the Moon's mass, the satellite will disintegrate due to tidal stress and our Earth will have a lovely ring system - not as grand or as complex as Saturn's, but pretty all the same. Think of it as an IKEA version of what a ring system should be.
The scenario presented in recent exchnages, wherein the Moon's position is perfectly placed for life on Earth and for us in particular, only works if the setup is static; that the Moon is receding at a measurable rate throws a rather hefty spanner smack in the middle of it. Unless we're to be treated to some appeal to mystery or similar?
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
