(February 9, 2014 at 5:29 pm)FreeTony Wrote: All we know is that the probability of a life-permitting universe is not zero.
For a life-prohibiting universe we no not even know that.
So how can we possibly infer one is more likely that the other?
You are technically correct.
But according to what we do know about the physical properties necessary for life, whether or not a universe allows life to exist is determined by the specific values of the physical constants in that universe, and physicists have discovered that altering any of the constants in our universe even just by 1% would physically prohibit the emergence of life. So maybe that's why the author of that article said that a life-prohibiting universe is vastly more probable than a life-permitting one.
(February 9, 2014 at 6:08 pm)max-greece Wrote: A 5 dimensional universe with no mass, different rules of physics and so on could support an intelligent life form capable of asking the question "Why does my universe exist?"
Yeah, that is quite possible, I guess ...
But since you're going down that gallery of infinite possibilities route, now you'll also have to concede that the existence of beings like angels, devils, and places like Heaven and Hell and talking snakes in a garden are all just as likely to exist as intelligent life forms living in a 5-dimensional universe with no mass and different rules of physics, right?
