The Fine Tuning of the Universe
(Pt 4) This is one of the most astonishing discoveries of modern cosmology and astrophysics – the universe is incomprehensibly “fine-tuned” for the existence of complex biological life.
This can be seen by looking at the initial conditions for the Big Bang, the mathematical value of the constants of physics, and many other areas as well.
The question becomes: How do we account for this level of fine-tuning? What is the best explanation for the scientific phenomenon?
In this video, part 4 of our series “GOD: The Best Explanation?” we suggest that a personal Creator is the best explanation of the know scientific data.
Watch the video here
Ahhh, the christians are talking about their mythical sky fairy again. Bless!
I have viewed a number of videos created by Christians. Some are very believable. God: The best explanation is of that ilk. Some, it has to be said, are woeful. The one relating to ATP synthase is of that ilk. Indeed, it is mentioned in the God: The best explanation video. There’s so much that is scientifically incorrect in the ATP Synthase video that it is beyond a joke. IMHO, it needs to be withdrawn for it does the Christian cause no good whatsoever. The video shows ATP synthase revolving ‘like a dynamo’. Any Chemist or Biologist will confirm that it does not ‘revolve’. ATP Synthase is a molecule which exhibits 3 conformational isomers. The ‘revolving’ that is shown in the video most certainly does not happen. What does happen is that the ATP Synthase flips between its 3 conformational isomeric states. Conformational isomerisms occurs quite widely in nature. ATP Synthase is just one example. This puts the molecule in a totally different light to the one shown in the video.
Now to the God: The best explanation video. There are three very basic issues with man.
1. Consideration of options/explanations.
There’s a lot of research relating to the processes that Man goes through when considering options/explanations. That research shows that Man very rarely considers ‘all’ options. In fact, the research shows that, in general, Man considers only a small proportion of the available options. In fact, all too often, Man determines the outcome before considering the options and then seeks evidence to support the pre-determined outcome. In other words, all to often, investigations are biased. The title of the video gives a hint that this may have happened in this case because the first word is God. Therefore, they may have started with this explanation and then looked for evidence which supports this biased view.
2. Probabilities
Man, in general, is not good when it comes to probabilities. Research shows that when Man determines that a given outcome has an extremely low probability, it is translated into a zero probability. Well, that’s simply untrue. Do something enough times and, sooner or later, a given outcome will be observed, regardless how improbable that outcome is.
Further, if, for example, we are told that an outcome will be observed once in 10,000 years, Man interprets that as ‘it will occur in 10,000 years time’. In fact, statistically, it could happen today and again tomorrow. This is unlikely but, not statistically impossible.
So, even though it is improbably that the Universe that we observe could have come about by pure chance, it is not impossible. This fact is too readily dismissed by the creators of the video.
3. Time.
Man, as they say, lives for 3 score years and 10. Man’s mind therefore works on this time scale. The Universe that we know has existed for 13.8 billion years. We can say this figure but can we truly comprehend this time scale and really understand its implications? My feeling is no. This explains why Christians don’t really accept evolution. They can’t truly comprehend 13.8 billion years and what random chance can achieve in this time-frame.
Moving on ……
Suppose the Universe came into being and the ‘Constants’ that the video discusses were not set to the values that they are now. Therefore, planets, stars etc. didn’t form. Therefore, life could not form. Let’s suppose that that particular universe collapsed into nothing and then sprang into existence again. Suppose, this was repeated trillions of times until the Universe that we observe formed because the ‘Constants’ had the correct values. As I said in item 2 above, do something often enough and, eventually, something improbable (but not impossible) will eventually happen.
The video, in my opinion, does not take sufficient account of any of the above. When you do, we see that God is still an explanation but NOT the best explanation.