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The characterization of the universe as finely tuned suggests that the occurrence of
life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy ...
in the
universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the univers ...
is very sensitive to the values of certain fundamental physical constants and that the observed values are, for some reason, improbable. If the values of any of certain
free parameter A free parameter is a variable in a mathematical model which cannot be predicted precisely or constrained by the model and must be estimated experimentally or theoretically. A mathematical model, theory, or conjecture In mathematics, a conje ...
s in contemporary physical theories had differed only slightly from those observed, the evolution of the universe would have proceeded very differently and life as it is understood may not have been possible.Gribbin. J and Rees. M, ''Cosmic Coincidences: Dark Matter, Mankind, and Anthropic Cosmology'' pp. 7, 269, 1989,


History

In 1913, the
chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...
Lawrence Joseph Henderson Lawrence Joseph Henderson (June 3, 1878, Lynn, Massachusetts – February 10, 1942, Cambridge, Massachusetts) was a physiologist, chemist, biologist, philosopher, and sociologist. He became one of the leading biochemists of the early 20th ...
wrote ''The Fitness of the Environment,'' one of the first books to explore fine tuning in the universe. Henderson discusses the importance of water and the environment to living things, pointing out that life depends entirely on earth's very specific environmental conditions, especially the prevalence and properties of water. In 1961, physicist
Robert H. Dicke Robert Henry Dicke (; May 6, 1916 – March 4, 1997) was an American astronomer and physicist who made important contributions to the fields of astrophysics, atomic physics, cosmology and gravity. He was the Albert Einstein Professor in Scien ...
claimed that certain forces in physics, such as
gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...
and
electromagnetism In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions o ...
, must be perfectly fine-tuned for life to exist in the universe.
Fred Hoyle Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 â€“ 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on other sci ...
also argued for a fine-tuned universe in his 1984 book ''The Intelligent Universe''. "The list of anthropic properties, apparent accidents of a non-biological nature without which carbon-based and hence human life could not exist, is large and impressive", Hoyle wrote. Belief in the fine-tuned universe led to the expectation that the
Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundr ...
would produce evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model, such as
supersymmetry In a supersymmetric theory the equations for force and the equations for matter are identical. In theoretical and mathematical physics, any theory with this property has the principle of supersymmetry (SUSY). Dozens of supersymmetric theories ...
, but by 2012 it had not produced evidence for supersymmetry at the energy scales it was able to probe.


Motivation

Physicist
Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...
has said, "There is now broad agreement among physicists and cosmologists that the Universe is in several respects ‘fine-tuned' for life". However, he continued, "the conclusion is not so much that the Universe is fine-tuned for life; rather it is fine-tuned for the building blocks and environments that life requires." He has also said that
anthropic {{Short pages monitor * * * * * *


References


Further reading

* * John D. Barrow (2003). ''The Constants of Nature'', Pantheon Books, *
Bernard Carr Bernard J. Carr is a British professor of mathematics and astronomy at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL). His research interests include the early universe, dark matter, general relativity, primordial black holes, and the anthropic princip ...
, ed. (2007)
''Universe or Multiverse?''
Cambridge University Press. * Mark Colyvan, Jay L. Garfield,
Graham Priest Graham Priest (born 1948) is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center, as well as a regular visitor at the University of Melbourne, where he was Boyce Gibson Professor of Philosophy and also at the University of St Andr ...
(2005)
"Problems with the Argument from Fine Tuning"
''Synthese ''145: 325–38. *
Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...
(1982)
''The Accidental Universe''
Cambridge University Press, *
Paul Davies Paul Charles William Davies (born 22 April 1946) is an English physicist, writer and broadcaster, a professor in Arizona State University and Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. He is affiliated with the Institute ...
(2007). '' Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, . Reprinted as
''The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is the Universe Just Right for Life?''
2008, Mariner Books, . *
Geraint F. Lewis Geraint Francis Lewis (born 14 March 1969) is a Welsh astrophysicist, who is best known for his work on dark energy, gravitational lensing and galactic cannibalism. Lewis is a Professor of Astrophysics (Teaching and Research) at the Sydne ...
and Luke A. Barnes (2016)
''A Fortunate Universe: Life in a finely tuned cosmos''
Cambridge University Press. *
Alister McGrath Alister Edgar McGrath (; born 1953) is a Northern Irish theologian, Anglican priest, intellectual historian, scientist, Christian apologist, and public intellectual. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion i ...
(2009). ''A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology'', Westminster John Knox Press, . * Timothy J. McGrew, Lydia McGrew, Eric Vestrup (2001). "Probabilities and the Fine-Tuning Argument: A Sceptical View". ''Mind'' 110: 1027–37. *
Simon Conway Morris Simon Conway Morris (born 1951) is an English palaeontologist, evolutionary biologist, and astrobiologist known for his study of the fossils of the Burgess Shale and the Cambrian explosion. The results of these discoveries were celebrated in ...
(2003). ''Life's Solution: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe''. Cambridge Univ. Press. *
Martin Rees Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 23 June 1942) is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He is the fifteenth Astronomer Royal, ...
(1999). ''Just Six Numbers'', HarperCollins Publishers, . * Victor J. Stenger (2011)
''The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning: Why the Universe Is Not Designed for Us''
Prometheus Books. . * Peter Ward and
Donald Brownlee Donald Eugene Brownlee (born December 21, 1943) is a professor of astronomy at the University of Washington at Seattle and the principal investigator for NASA's Stardust mission. In 2000, along with his co-author Peter Ward, he co-originated the ...
(2000)
''Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe''
Springer Verlag. * Jeffrey Koperski (2015)
''The Physics of Theism: God, Physics, and the Philosophy of Science''
John Wiley & Sons


External links

;Defend fine-tuning
Anil Ananthaswamy: Is the Universe Fine-tuned for Life?
* Francis Collins
Why I'm a man of science-and faith
''National Geographic'' article.

Documentary of fine-tuning with scientific experts. * * Hugh Ross
Evidence for the Fine Tuning of the Universe

Interview
with
Charles Townes Charles Hard Townes (July 28, 1915 â€“ January 27, 2015) was an American physicist. Townes worked on the theory and application of the maser, for which he obtained the fundamental patent, and other work in quantum electronics associated wit ...
discussing science and religion. ;Criticize fine tuning
Bibliography of online Links to criticisms of the Fine-Tuning Argument.
Secular Web. * Victor Stenger: **
A Case Against the Fine-Tuning of the Cosmos
**

**
Is the Universe fine-tuned for us?
*
Elliott Sober Elliott R. Sober (born 6 June 1948) is Hans Reichenbach Professor and William F. Vilas Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at University of Wisconsin–Madison. Sober is noted for his work in philosophy of biology and general phil ...
,
The Design Argument.
An earlier version appeared in the ''Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of Religion'' (2004). {{DEFAULTSORT:Fine-Tuned Universe Intelligent design Physical cosmology Philosophical arguments Fermi paradox Astronomical hypotheses Anthropic principle