Replies

Interesting stuff. My first exposure to these ideas was in this book, which IMHO is still the best thing available on the subject:

The Anthropic Cosmological Principle

Here's a webpage with a bunch of related links:

The Anthropic Cosmological Principle and Related Issues

There are over 200 parameters like that which must be fine-tuned simultaneously for life to exist on even one planet anywhere in the universe--yet here we are! These factors work on the extra-galactic level, the galactic level, the solar-system level, and the planetary level.

I'll mention just two down-to-earth examples:

* If earth were just 1% closer to or farther from the sun, the water cycle would break down--runaway freezing if farther from the Sun, runaway boiling if closer--and life could not exist on earth. (Actually, this is two parameters: not only must earth's orbit be the right distance, but it also must be nearly circular.)

* If earth's mass (i.e., its gravity) were 2% larger or smaller, life could not exist on earth. You've noticed that water vapor (H2O, atomic weight 18) rises as clouds. If the earth were slightly smaller, those clouds would simply keep on going, higher and higher, until they escaped into space and earth became waterless. However, if the earth were slightly larger, then methane gas (CH5, atomic weight 17) would not escape into space as it does, and we would all suffocate. Methane gas is the technical term for flatulence--not a pretty picture, is it?

Don't take my word for it--see the list of 200+, with references, for yourself:
http://www.reasons.org/resources/apologetics/index.shtml#design_in_the_universe