In this chapter, Strobel described the anthropic principle. Anthropic is Greek for man, and this principle is the idea that the "settings" of the universe are just prefect for man to exist. I was disappointed that the chapter did not go into as many details as I would have liked -- so maybe I will have to do so myself, but don't expect that in this article... :-).One of the settings mentioned was
the gravitational constant: G = 6.67300 × 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2
This determines the strenght of the attraction force between objects with mass. If this were much bigger, you would find yourself uncontrollably attracted to the desk, your laptop, your cat, and, you know -- things like the sun, and the center of the galaxy. In short, the universe would collapse upon itself in the big crunch -- or at the very least, the size of the universe would be smaller. If this value were much smaller, the stars and planets would not have formed as science suggests they would, nor would they hold together.
The other settings described went above my head, and I cannot begin to explain them here. But the overall argument is that there is too much "coincidences" in the universe for it to mathematically happen by chance. The anthropic principle is one of the most convincing and powerful suggests that a designer is at work. Imagine I propose to you a $1000 bet that I can flip a coin 25 times and it get heads every time. If you accept that bet, and then I actually perform the feat -- would you pay me $1000 -- or would you assume that I some how cheated? Imagine now, the universe is the product of a coin flipped billions of times -- and it worked out as remarkably as it has. Which requires more faith -- that it occurred by chance, or that something fishy is going on.
Science's best attempt at eliminating God from the coincidence is the multiverse (many universe) theory. They suggest that many universes exist, and we happen to be living in the one that is suitable for life. This is the idea behind the lottery. Winning the lottery is next to impossible -- but there are so many tickets bought and so many people playing, that its inevitable that SOMEONE will have the winning ticket, sometimes. Even if this is the case, though there is no evidence yet that another universe exists anywhere, let alone enough universes to cover the chances required to bring life -- science then has to explain how all those universes came to be. And, if we are truly "fortunate" to be living where we do, what does that mean for life?
I believe the hypothesis of a creator and a super mind controlling the laws of the universe is not only the simplest explanation, but He answers the "so what" question too, describing how we should live being as fortunate as we are.
Additional resources:
Large number coincidences and the anthropic principle
Evidence of Fine Tuning - contains a list of 34 measurements and explains why slight increases or decreases would make the universe impossible or inhabitable.
This is one of my favorite parts about the idea of there being a Creator. There are just too many things that have to be exactly right for Earth to support life. I've seen videos and read articles (and this book!) about distance from the sun, the tilt of the earth's axis, the exact rotation, and gravity too -- it all has to work together perfectly for us to be able to be here!
ReplyDelete