THE ANTHROPIC COINCIDENCES—A FINELY TUNED UNIVERSE






These coincidences are highly improbable--the probability that they would occur by chance is less than 1 divided by a number greater than all the numbers in the universe. This is illustrated by the "God-pin" picture (from Penrose "The Emperor's New Mind")--God hitting the extremely small "sweet spot" in a universe sized canvas

ANTHROPIC COINCIDENCES

BARR

POLKINGHORNE

BEHE (Chemical/Astronomical)

1. Strong nuclear force strength

1. N: ratio of electromagnetic force holding atoms together to force of gravity; ratio is about 10^36

1. properties of water; hydrogen bonding, lower density of ice, solublization

2. Carbon-12 Nucleosynthesis

2. Epsilon: tells how firmly nucleons (protons, neutrons) bind to form nuclei; value is about 0.007

2. properties of carbon; ability to form polymeric, complex molecules (to contain information)

3. Proton stability (weak nuclear force)

3. Omega: relative importance of gravity (matter) and expansion energy (related to flatness property)

3. Position of earth in solar system—Goldilock's temperature just right for chemistry

4. Electromagnetic force strength

4. Lambda: (as for Barr); has to be less than about 1/10 ^120

4. Presence of Moon—shield from meteoric collisions

5. Biggs constant value (what's “nu”)

5. Q: ratio of gravitational energy to pull apart a galaxy and relativistic rest mass; value is about 1/10^5


6. Lambda (cosmological constant)

6. D: number of space dimensions; three (other than string theories)


7. Space flatness



8. Three space dimensions





Possible Reasons for Improbable Anthropic Coincidences:

  1. That's just the way it is—we wouldn't be here if the coincidences weren't there; not a satisfying explanation.

  2. An infinity of universes—if there are an infinite number of universes, even a highly improbable universe will occur (including duplicates; this is an act of faith even more demanding than a belief in God.

  3. A basic “Theory of Everything” requires the values of the constants and force laws to be as they are—the universe is not a contingent entity but a necessary entity; and Who created such a “Theory of Everything”?

  4. The Fine Tuning set by a loving, all-powerful Creator.