Examples of “Fine Tuning” of Creation

[This is an excerpt from the far longer list on the Real Science Radio website]

In our List of the Fine-Tuned Features of the Universe, Real Science Radio host Bob Enyart quotes leading scientists and their astounding admission of the uncanny and seemingly never-ending list of the just-perfect finely tuned parameters of the physical features of the Earth, the solar system, and the entire cosmos.

You can listen to the whole show right here:

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The Finely Tuned Parameters of the Universe

Barrow & Tipler, in their standard treatment, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, admit that

“there exist a number of unlikely coincidences between numbers of enormous magnitude that are, superficially, completely independent; moreover, these coincidences appear essential to the existence of carbon-based observers in the Universe,”

and include the wildly unlikely combination of:

• there is the same number of electrons as protons to a standard deviation of one in ten to the thirty-seventh power, that is, 1 in 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (37 zeros)
• the 1-to-1 electron to proton ratio throughout the universe yields our electrically neutral universe
• all fundamental particles of the same kind are identical (protons, electrons, photons, etc.)
• energy exactly equals mass (times the conversion factor of c²)
• the electron and the massively greater proton have exactly equivalent opposite charges
• the electron to proton mass ratio (1 to 1,836) is perfect for forming molecules
• the baryon (protons, neutrons, etc.) that decays must conserve the number of baryons
• the free neutron decays in minutes whereas it is stable within the nuclei of all the non-radioactive elements (otherwise eventually only hydrogen would exist because the strong nuclear force needs neutrons to overcome proton repulsion)
• the proton can’t decay because it is the lightest baryon (otherwise all elements would be unstable)
• the electromagnetic and gravitational forces are finely tuned for the stability of stars
• the gravitational and inertial mass equivalency
• the electromagnetic force constant perfect for holding electrons to nuclei
• the electromagnetic force in the right ratio to the nuclear force
• the strong force (which if changed by 1% would destroy all carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and heavier elements)
• all electrons in the universe are identical as are all instances of each fundamental particle
• etc., etc., etc. (including the shocking apparent alignment of the universe with the orbit of the Earth)

The Finely Tuned Parameters of the Solar System

• Our Sun is positioned far from the Milky Way’s center in a galactic Goldilocks zone of low radiation
• Our Sun placed in an arm of the Milky Way puts it where we can discover a vast swath of the entire universe
• Earth’s orbit is nearly circular (eccentricity ~ 0.02) around the Sun providing a stability in a range of vital factors
• Earth’s orbit has a low inclination keeping its temperatures within a range permitting diverse ecosystems
• Earth’s axial tilt is within a range that helps to stabilize our planet’s climate
• the Moon’s mass helps stabilize the Earth’s tilt on its axis, which provides for the diversity of alternating seasons
• the Moon’s distance from the Earth provides tides to keep life thriving in our oceans, and thus, worldwide
• the Moon’s nearly circular orbit (eccentricity ~ 0.05) makes its influence extraordinarily reliable
• the Moon is 1/400th the size of the Sun, and at 1/400th its distance, enables educational perfect eclipses
• the Earth’s distance from the Sun provides for great quantities of life and climate-sustaining liquid water
• the Sun’s extraordinary stable output of the energy
• the Sun’s mass and size are just right for Earth’s biosystem
• the Sun’s luminosity and temperature are just right to provide for Earth’s extraordinary range of ecosystems
• the color of the Sun’s light from is tuned for maximum benefit for our plant life (photosynthesis)
• the Sun’s low “metallicity” prevents the destruction of life on Earth
• etc., etc., etc.

Multiverse vs. Bible Verse:

“In the beginning God created” begins the first Bible verse. Krauss’ objections aside [see original article], here’s the multiverse alternative as described in the NY Times by Paul Davies:

Imagine you can play God and fiddle with the settings of the great cosmic machine. Turn this knob and make electrons a bit heavier; twiddle that one and make gravitation a trifle weaker. What would be the effect? …there wouldn’t be anyone around to see the result, because the existence of life depends rather critically on the actual settings that Mother Nature selected.
Scientists have long puzzled over this rather contrived state of affairs. Why is nature so ingeniously, one might even say suspiciously, friendly to life? What do the laws of physics care about life and consciousness that they should conspire to make a hospitable universe? It’s almost as if a Grand Designer had it all figured out.

The fashionable scientific response to this cosmic conundrum is to invoke the so-called multiverse theory.

Exactly.

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