Quote:
Originally Posted by Actor
At its best the Anthropic Principle is a god of the gaps argument, i.e., find some question for which science does not yet have an answer then proclaim "god did it". What happens when science eventually finds the answer? You have to go look for some other gap.
"God is an ever receding pocket of scientific ignorance." -- Neil deGrasse Tyson
I think we have closed the gap embodied by the Anthropic Principle. Consider the facts.
- There are four forces in the universe: electromagnetic, gravity, strong and weak.
- Each of those forces take the form F = f(k,x)
- There is a k(constant) for each force, the x being one or more variables.
- All we know comes from our observation of the interactions of those four forces. This includes reading any text since the ink on the page, the page itself, the light by which we read it, the sensing of that light by our optic nerve are all interactions of the four forces.
- If you connect the dots then anything regarded as a physical constant leads back to those four forces and their respective constant k. This applies to even to the masses of atomic particles, Avogadro's number, absolute zero, etc.
- Thus there are only four independent physical constants, and if the unified field theory is correct (the jury is still out) there is only one. And there may be some reason that constant has a specific value. Until we know that "God did it" is not the default answer.
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And what are the odds that all those constants come together in just such a precise way as to make life possible on this planet?
See..you're ducking the issue. My airborne sandbag analogy is dead on the mark. And the reason you don't like it is because you know that it is. This is why I asked you yesterday about explosions of the specific nature I described in my 4806. Just what is the probability in the aggregate that this alleged humongous Big Bang explosion would put the earth just at exactly the right distance from the sun so that our water wouldn't boil but be warm enough so that it could condense and evaporate at lower levels in our atmosphere? Or that the orbit of our earth around the sun is almost at perfect circle, unlike many other planets that have elliptical orbits which make for extreme variances in temperatures and light? Or that our sun, unlike other stars, is just the right kind of star with minimal variance which makes it possible to put a steady amount of energy and light? Or that the rapid rotation of the earth is just right to also reduce great variations in temperature and allow photosynthesis all over the planet? Or that our moon is just at the right distance from the earth to make for the perfect gravitational interaction between them, otherwise life would be impossible on earth? Or if our gravitational force was altered by only 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent, life would be impossible on this planet because our sun would not exist? Or if Jupiter were not precisely where it is and in its exact orbit, it's gravitational orbit would not act as our cosmic " magnetic" by attracting comets and asteroids that would otherwise bombard the earth, etc., etc, etc., etc.?
And then you accuse me of appealing to the "god of the gaps" argument, when you, evidently, didn't think there were any gaps in scientific knowledge when you boldly proclaimed that the universe is an ordered system?
So...since you didn't think at that time there were any such gaps in knowledge then, Shirley, you should be able to explain to us how all this precise order in the universe could have resulted from an explosion of the nature I described yesterday. I think my comparatively tiny little airplane dumping a tiny 200 lb. sack of sand over a tiny airstrip stands an infinitely better chance that each grain of sand would drop to the ground in such a way as to form a sandcastle than would your Big Firecracker in the Sky have in forming this humongous universe in just such a precise way as to make this planet inhabitable. We know from real world experience and observation that unaided, unguided, purposeless, random explosions can only create destruction, havoc and chaos -- never order, Mr. Actor. To believe otherwise defies all reason and flies in the face of all rational thought! However, if any of us still want to cling to the Big Firecracker Theory as the beginning of all things then, Shirley, that explosion was as carefully thought out and planned and designed and purposed as the explosions in our internal combustion engines that drive our wheels that get us to and fro. I just cannot muster your brand of absurd, blind, irrational faith to believe otherwise. It is infinitely more reasonable and rational to believe what the prophet wrote:
Isa 45:18
18
For this is what the Lord says —
he who created the heavens,
he is God;
he who fashioned and made the earth,
he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty,
but formed it to be inhabited —
he says:
"I am the Lord,
and there is no other.
NIV
You see, there was purpose, design and intentionality behind the creation of the entire universe, and all that God did had the ultimate goal -- the ultimate purpose that this little planet would support human life. All that God did had aim and direction and purpose.
