Sunday, January 27, 2008

The God Delusion: part 3 (Creation of the Universe)

One of the arguments, most frequently raised by theists, goes something like this.
  • We, human beings, are here.
  • Therefore the conditions at the beginning of the universe must have made it possible for us to exist. I.e. the physical constants in the universe are fine-tuned in such a way as to make life possible. A small change in almost any one of those constants would have made life impossible.
  • Therefore, someone (God) must have known how difficult it would be, and must have made sure we exist by fine-tuning the physical constants this way.


Creation of the Universe
(actual footage of the moment)


Suppose it is true, that the current combination of physical constants is indeed in a very narrow band of values which ultimately makes life possible. Also suppose for my personal amusement that God exists. What does this actually imply about Him and the Universe that he's created?
  • First of all, it's a bit of a boring job for the Almighty to be sitting around turning some dials on a Tuner. Do you really think God had nothing better to do than to play around with his Physics Constant Tuner until he came up with the perfect combination?
Physical Constants Tuner (drawn to scale)

  • Secondly, couldn't God just circumvent the laws of physics to make sure that life is there despite a bad combination of physical constants? An omnipotent being shouldn't be constrained by such silliness as laws of the universe, if he could control all atoms individually.
  • Thirdly, what makes the existence of the human race so special anyway that somebody had to design the universe just for that purpose? If God wanted life, wouldn't he make sure it exists on more than just a tiny spec among millions of stars and planets? For evidence of design, I would need to see the universe boiling over with intelligent life everywhere! The way the universe looks now (our intelligent life is very much isolated, at least in this corner of the Universe), makes me wonder if maybe God didn't just intend to create the rings of Saturn!
The Rings of Saturn. God's ultimate creation.
  • I think he played around with the Physical Constants Tuner until he came up with a combination of physical constants that would make the rings of Saturn possible, and then realized "Whoops! Now I have to deal with this whole life thing, especially all those annoying humans praying to me. Why can't they just leave me alone to marvel at what I have created? I don't have time for this shit!"
  • Finally, the theists assume that God is the only possible explanation for why the universe is the way it is right now. Of course it is not. Dawkins proposes a few alternative explanations around p. 175 of The God Delusion. Most of these alternatives boil down to the following theory: our universe is just one of many, most of the other universes do not support life, but this one does. Of course this theory is just about as unprovable as the existence of God. We have almost no way to test it, but there is a fundamental difference: the theory of multiple universe doest not have the unnecessary romantic component, where we have to make the assumption that we are special. Dawkins also talks about how it is quite likely there are other biological life forms elsewhere in the universe, which makes our existence even less special or unique.

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