Was the Universe Designed?

We have seen several examples of fine-tuning:

chemistry (h, m_e, e)

formation of the elements (0.7%)

rate of expansion of the universe (not too fast or too slow, to 15 decimal places)

rate of mutations in DNA (not too fast or too slow)

quantum physics and free will

So ... was the universe designed?

There are three possibilities
for the origin of our physical laws and constants:

1.  Our universe is logically and uniquely inevitible; it is the only universe that can exist in a self-consistent manner. 

2.  Our universe is one of an infinite number of disjoint universes that were, and are still being, formed with all possible physical laws and constants.  (This is called the self-reproducing universe, or "eternal inflation.")  We happen to --- must! --- live in one where the laws and constants are consistent with our existence.

3.  The physical laws and constants were determined in a non-random manner by an external intelligence (a Creator) not bound by physical law.

One of these possibilities is wrong:  #1!

Nothing ("no thing," not even emptiness) is logically self-consistent.

Steven Weinberg:  "Even when physicists have gone as far as they can go, when we have a final theory, we will not have a completely satisfying picture of the world, because we will still be left with the question 'why?'  Why this theory, rather than some other theory?"

Either Possibility #1 or #3 must be correct ...
but both are unsatisfactory from a scientific viewpoint,
and for the same reason:

Both eternal inflation and a Creator have no explanatory power!  They bring our curiosity to a halt by eliminating the question "Why?"

For eternal inflation, the answer is always:   "It is a matter of luck."

For a Creator, the answer is always:   "It is the Creator's will."

So we are back to the age-old philosophical quandry:

"Why is there something
(eternal inflation / a Creator)
rather than nothing?"

Whatever the answer, it is surely a cause for

WONDER

index | back | next