Posted on 01/08/2025 9:18:04 AM PST by daniel1212
The fine-tuning of the universe for the existence of life is fascinating to me. That’s why I was so excited to find A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos, co-authored by astrophysicists Geraint Lewis and Luke Barnes,...These three particles are responsible for building the 92 naturally occurring elements, as well as the unstable elements that have been created in the laboratory. [...]
atoms are made up of subatomic particles: neutrons, protons, and electrons. Protons, which are positively charged, and neutrons, which have no charge, compose the nucleus of the atom. Negatively charged electrons orbit the nucleus[...]
scientists have discovered that protons and neutrons are made of quarks. Specifically, they are made of a combination of up quarks and down quarks.[...]
These three particles—the up quark, the down quark, and the electron—make up everything we see—molecules, mice, maple trees, and the Milky Way galaxy. And each of these particles has a distinct mass. The mass of an electron is approximately 9.1 x 10-31 kg. [...]
they are finely tuned for the existence of life. Consider how the universe would be different if the masses of the up quark and down quark were slightly different. Barnes and Lewis write, “In fact, it is rather easy to arrange for a universe to have no chemistry at all. Grab a hold of the particle mass dials and let’s create a few universes.”1
So what happens if we change the masses of the three fundamental particles—the down quark, the up quark, and the electron? Let’s see.[...]
the masses of the up quark, down quark, and electron are extremely fine-tuned for the existence of life. Not merely the existence of human life, any kind of life. These masses could have taken any number of values.4 Yet, they fell within the extremely narrow range of values that permits the existence of life.
Gee, almost looks like it was intelligently designed...
The evolution of life was pre-ordained by the fact that over time all matter in the universe tends towards ever greater complexity and organization. What is the difference between “Let there be light “and the “Big Bang?” Not one damned thing. God created the universe with an intrinsic design for life to inevitably rise wherever conditions were favorable. Who knows, there may be regions of the stars where lifeforms undreamed of thrive.
I think there is this difference: the one view says God made man on purpose; the other says rocks can turn into people if you just leave them alone for long enough.
“… These three particles—the up quark, the down quark, and the electron—make up everything we see…”
Wait! Do I detect a pattern?
We are left with the question, "Does human consciousness and conscience ultimately come from mindlessness?" - the philosophical ramifications of our response - and the worldview that follows...
The more I learned about science, the more I saw God’s hand in his creation. Up, Down and Strange. If you find another one, we would be Charmed. Then, there was Beauty (Bottom) and Truth (Top). Higgs sealed the deal (2012).
Let’s not neglect the little neutrino, needed for conservation of momentum. 10^-4 Charge/Parity (CP) violation of the K-meson (Kaon), a quark-antiquark pair. Then, there is the Muon and Tau, the heaviest electron, with associated neutrinos.
Here are a few notes from my book, if I ever finish it:
Math exists independent of human experience and represents a higher order of things. Rational thought has guided a quest to understand the universe with the idea that after careful study, the designer would reveal the truth.
Kepler did not invent the equations when he discovered that the planets travel in elliptical orbits. Circles did not fit Tycho Brahe’s precise observations so in a moment of inspiration, Kepler tried an ellipse.
Of course the universe was created out of nothing because God spoke it into existence. The heavens rejoiced when time and space where created, then shaped by the hand of God. But the universe was dense and dark. At the appointed time, known as the great recombination, the universe became transparent to light. And God said “let there be light.” This light reverberated across the universe as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). We are not a tiny, momentary speck in an indifferent universe.
Consider Intelligent Design as a theory of origins. The fine tuning required for us to be here is beyond reason. The Earth’s precise placement with a large Moon to keep the Earth in a consistent tilt of 23.5°, Earth’s magnetic field protects from harmful solar and cosmic rays. The oceans provide a natural thermostat for our climate, our Sun emits much of its energy in the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum where water is most transparent to light, an inherent property of water. The oceans stabilized our climate and set the stage for life on Earth.
Venus initially contained more water than on Earth but Venus was too close to the Sun. The water stayed in vapor form creating a runaway greenhouse effect. Eventually all of the water vapor boiled off into space leaving a thick atmosphere (100 Earth atmospheres) and a surface temperature of ~867 degrees F.
Mars was too far away, lost its magnetic field and did not have a large moon to stabilize its orbital tilt. Lakes and rivers formed but quickly froze. Exposed to a thin atmosphere, frozen water exposed to solar radiation and cosmic rays sublimated into water vapor and boiled off into space. But there may be large caches of frozen water protected under the soil, especially in the northern latitudes on Mars.
So Venus was too hot, Mars was too cold but Earth was just right, the Goldilocks planet. Nitrogen: 78%, Oxygen: 21%, CO2: 0.043%.
CO2 levels were 10-15 times higher in the past paleoclimate record and Earth did not suffer from a runaway greenhouse effect. If it did, we wouldn’t be here to talk about it.
We are stardust, we are golden
We are billion year old carbon
- Joni Mitchell
“… These three particles—the up quark, the down quark, and the electron—make up everything we see…”
Wait! Do I detect a pattern?
—
That which is seen is temporary, that which is unseen is eternal. Faith is the evidence of things not seen, the substance of things hoped for.
For if the princes of this world had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. Jesus is God, Christ in us, the hope of Glory. God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, the weak things to overpower the strong, the despised things and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are.
We are stardust, we are golden
We are billion year old carbon
- Joni Mitchell
—
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
back to the Garden.
Today, you will be with me in Paradise.
If the universe were not something in which life can exist, we would not be here commenting on it. So, discussion of this “fine tuning” is a waste of time. Supposing there are alternate universes is stupid too — there is no possible way to prove or disprove that they exist.
However, it looks like you are teaching Intelligent Design, and therefore you are banned from all public schools, since the only belief that can be conveyed to students is that the government does not have dependence upon, or owes any gratitude to, any supernatural entity.
See that universe? Government did that. Get it?
There’s nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.
Befits your handle.
Maybe I’ll get a bumper sticker out of it.
Science Quotes [on fine-tuning of the Universe]
1/7/2025, 6:35:43 PM · by daniel1212 · 49 replies
Judaism Online ^ | Nov, 2021 | Friederich, Simon,;
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4288596/posts
The Universe Really Is Fine-Tuned, And Our Existence Is The Proof [300 word excerpts of an over 2,600Ph article]
1/6/2025, 4:46:08 PM · by daniel1212 · 61 replies
Forbes.com ^ | Dec 19, 2019, | Ethan Siegel
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4288389/posts
Search function works fine.
Poor materialists have it backwards. Life creates and is senior to matter.
All true. But it keeps the grant money flowing. Abiogenesis is as lucrative as dark matter.
If it (the universe) weren't fine-tuned for life, then we would hardly be here to lament the fact.
There is no reason to "marvel" at the fine-tuning of the universe; the Anthropic Principle makes that abundantly clear.
Regards,
Absolutely correct!
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