Fundamental constants are finely tuned for life. A remarkable fact about our universe is that physical constants have just the right values needed to allow for complex structures, including living things. Steven Weinberg, Martin Rees, Leonard Susskind and others contend that an exotic multiverse provides a tidy explanation for this apparent coincidence: if all possible values occur in a large enough collection of universes, then viable ones for life will surely be found somewhere.
God, according to [the Stoics], "did not make the world as an artisan does his work, but it is by wholly penetrating all matter that He is the demiurge of the universe" (Galen, "De qual. incorp." in "Fr. Stoic.", ed. von Arnim, II, 6); He penetrates the world "as honey does the honeycomb" (Tertullian, "Adv. Hermogenem", 44), this God so intimately mingled with the world as fire or ignited air; inasmuch as He is the principle controlling the universe, He is called Logos; and inasmuch as He is the germ from which all else develops, He is called the seminal Logos (logos spermatikos). This Logos is at the same time a force and a law, an irresistible force which bears along the entire world and all creatures to a common end, an inevitable and holy law from which nothing can withdraw itself, and which every reasonable man should follow willingly (Cleanthus, "Hymn to Zeus" in "Fr. Stoic." I, 527-cf. 537).
If nothing governed the 'big bang', in other words, if it were a truly chaotic event - like a regular explosion - then there would be no reason to expect order to arise from the resulting chaos. — Wayfarer
Exactly. And "no reason" to expect order not to arise from chaos either. — 180 Proof
In saying that consciousness comes from a brain, — Gregory
The point is that there is far greater likelihood of the magnitude of billions to one - of order not arising; that the chance of order arising spontaneously from chaos is incalculably slight. So it’s not an equal bet. And what kind of philosophy says ‘well it just happened’? — Wayfarer
There is a certain desperation apparent in the attempts of various authors to eliminate God from an account of the origins of the universe. For, at bottom, what motivates such attempts is the desire to overcome the very incompleteness of the scientific project itself - I call it anxiety over contingency.
The point is that there is far greater likelihood of the magnitude of billions to one — Wayfarer
The point is that there is far greater likelihood of the magnitude of billions to one - of order not arising; that the chance of order arising spontaneously from chaos is incalculably slight. So it’s not an equal bet. — Wayfarer
The point is that there is far greater likelihood of the magnitude of billions to one - of order not arising; that the chance of order arising spontaneously from chaos is incalculably slight. So it’s not an equal bet. And what kind of philosophy says ‘well it just happened’? — Wayfarer
Words going into the mind turn into illusions and misunderstandings — OmniscientNihilist
Misapplied, gee-whiz statistics also are a cop-out. Name your poison. But here's what we know: there is a universe. Does not matter how unlikely that is, because here it is. What accounts for the manifest, existing thing? You can say you don't know - I sure don't. But lots of folks just cannot stick with that. so they say, "Because I do not know, I know. God did it. And of course God, being God, can't be detected. That's how we know he's real, and made the universe...". So what makes more sense to you, a conjecture presented as such? Or a supernatural-based fantasy presented as real? Which do you think is worse, is the more ignorant, the stupider?It’s a huge cop-out, the ultimate ad hoc argument. — Wayfarer
But here's what we know: there is a universe. Does not matter how unlikely that is, because here it is. — tim wood
"What changes is not real, what is real does not change." -Nisargadatta — OmniscientNihilist
"Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muss man schweigen." ~L.W. — 180 Proof
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