Ruminations on multiverses; Another view (Introduction)

by dhw, Friday, September 02, 2016, 12:43 (3003 days ago) @ David Turell

David's comment: Faith in multiverses or faith in God. I don't see another choice.-dhw: Why not the one universe, infinite and eternal, constantly renewing and changing itself through interplay between energy and matter?-DAVID: That requires multiple Big Bangs, for which there is no evidence. we have a spatially flat universe from all evidence which means it expands until a heat death.-Leaving aside the fact that the Big Bang theory remains a theory, we have no idea what preceded it, and there is no evidence for ANY theory, including that of an eternal form of conscious energy which you call God and which you think caused the Big Bang and therefore must have preceded the Big Bang. There is no objection you can raise to my hypothesis that cannot be raised against every other hypothesis. -QUOTE: "The first option is to grant Koonin's theory that we won a lottery against mind-staggering odds, requiring a near infinite number of unseen, untestable universes. -Another option is ONE universe going back through eternity, as above, and that too offers an infinite number of combinations, making the odds irrelevant.-QUOTE: The second option arises out of our observation that the universe and this particular planet seem to be incredibly fine-tuned to support life. It may be more rational, therefore, to conclude that there is, in fact, just one Creator who is greatly interested in Earth and its inhabitants. -That is a colossal leap of reasoning, and totally ignores the equal mystery of the origin of a ”Creator”. And why only one anyway? Our distant ancestors believed in multiple gods, as do many people today. 
 
QUOTE: So the choice is between an infinite number of universes to explain our monstrous stroke of luck, or a Creator of the cosmos who has a purpose in mind for humanity. I suggest we go with Ockham's Razor and opt for the latter.-If we go with Ockham's Razor, we have an infinite, eternal universe which eventually was bound to come up with a combination for life. (But see my final comment.) One mighty stroke of luck, as opposed to the complexities of an unsourced, unknown, unknowable mind so vast that it can create and encompass billions of solar systems that come and go for no apparent reason...etc. etc. -David's comment: Since the multiverse is unprovable and a cop-out, I'll stick with Ockham and God. I've offered Koonin's odds before.-Since every explanation (including the one I have offered above) is an unprovable cop-out, I'll stay on my fence.