The fine-tuning of the universe is the reflection of the improbability of our universe being physically tuned for life. The miracle of the fine-tuning of the universe cannot be taken lightly. Why are so many cosmological constants set at incredibly precise levels to support our universe? Is this intelligent design? So many factors, when weighed together, belie the chance of our cosmos being random in formation. One common theory is the multi-verse in which an infinite number of universes exist and we just live in the right one, otherwise we wouldn’t be here to know any difference. There is nothing to show the existence of the multi-verse. It’s as if a supernatural (outside of nature) being or intelligence set all these parameters for conscious life to develop.
Fine-Tuning Arguments
Fundamental constants and laws of the universe:
● Fine structure constant ● Electromagnetic interaction α ● Gravitation αG ● Weak nuclear force αW ● Proton-to-electron mass ratio mp/me ● Density Ω0 and speed H0 of expansion of the universe
Examples of fine-tuning:
● Changes in either αG or electromagnetism by one part in 10^40 would have precluded the existence of stars like the sun, and, as a consequence, planets, and ultimately embodied conscious agents (ECAs). ● Changes in either αG or αW by only one part in 10^100 would have prevented our existence. ● If mp increased by just 0.2%, hydrogen would be unstable, preventing our existence. ● If mp were slightly weaker, they have synthesized nothing but helium in the universe, preventing our existence. ● 10^-43 seconds after the Big Bang (Planck Time), Ω0 had to be within about 10^60 of critical density to “flatten” space (known as the “flatness problem”), a prerequisite for our existence. ● Roger Penrose famously calculated that the exact entropy condition suitable for the formation of life (including us) by chance alone, to be 10^10^123 (one whopping number)
The Fine-Tuning Argument By Elimination
1) The fine-tuning of the universe is due either to chance, physical necessity, or design. 2) Fine-tuning is not because of either chance or physical necessity. 3) So, the fine-tuning is due to design.
● William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith (Corssway, 2008), pp. 157-172. ● William Dembski, The Design Inference (Cambridge, 1998).
Fine-Tuning Argument for Discoverability
1) The values of certain physical constants fall within the discoverability-optimality range within the anthropic range. 2) If naturalism is true, it is enormously improbable that the values of certain physical constants would fall within the discoverability-optimality range within the anthropic range. 3) If theism is true, it is not improbable that the values of certain physical constants would fall within the discoverability-optimality range within the anthropic range. 4) So, that the values of certain physical constants would fall within the discoverability-optimality range within the anthropic range strongly confirms theism over naturalism.
● Robin Collins, “Fine-Tuning for Discoverability,” in Walls and Dougherty (eds.), Two Dozen (or so) Arguments for God (Oxford, 2018), pp. 89-107.
see also Why Does Reality Exist?
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