Far out cosmology; multiverse (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, January 25, 2014, 18:40 (3953 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: But beyond this wildly successful level of explanation seems to lie an impasse. The problem arises when you try to explain one of the most profound facts of nature, the fact that the fundamental constants of nature are fine-tuned to a fault, that the universe as we know it would not exist if these constants had even slightly different values. -BBella: This quote reminds me of what I concluded while contemplating God and reality when "frozen in time" while ill. That if there is a God, it would be found in the changeless constant of the fabric of our universe which is itself [created by] change. Even the scripture's conclude, God never changes - which has really allowed fundamentalist to drag their feet evolving with time. Yet, the only thing that doesn't change is change itself. So, for me, this scripture is saying, God IS the changelessness of change [edited: in other words: It is what It is. And the thing about "IT" (change), it is so momentarily fleeting, it is impossible to nail down or to give IT expression. And so = God.]-DAVID: This is why I think God is the consciousness or mind of the universe, unchanging but guiding change.-This exchange brings me back into the fray, which may or may not be a good thing. Firstly, if the ingredients of a substance change, it will be a different substance. Our universe is fine-tuned to support life as we know it. A different universe might be fine-tuned to support a different form of life. The quote is not proof of deliberate creation ... it merely states tautologically that things are as they are, and if they were not as they are, they would be different. Secondly, I suspect that David has misunderstood BBella (but she will correct me if I'm wrong). Nothing ever stays the same, and so the only constant is change. If there is a god, it is a form of energy that transmutes itself into ever changing combinations of matter. When eventually our own solar system dies, and we die with it, the history of our universe will be the blink of an eye, since "first cause" energy is eternal, and this energy (whether conscious or not) will continue to change itself for ever and ever.-This should not be taken as an argument either for or against design. I am simply questioning the validity of any conclusion drawn from examining the universe "as we know it". Of course we can't examine universes we don't know, but the suggestion that they exist, existed or will exist is no more and no less fanciful than the suggestion that there exists a form of "divine" consciousness we don't know and can't examine.