Far out cosmology: does dark energy kill galaxies? (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, March 25, 2017, 13:19 (2582 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: We may be in an area of dark energy that is different from other regions of the universe, or not:
http://nautil.us/issue/46/balance/can-dark-energy-kill-galaxies?utm_source=Nautilus&...

DAVID’s comment: Barnes is suggesting we live in a special place in the universe which supports our very special Milky Way. Is this God at work to protect life in a vast universe? Makes sense to me. Read the entire article to follow his reasoning.

dhw: “Since we do not know the extent of the universe, and there may even be an infinite number of “regions”, we have no idea how many regions are similar to/different from our own, but as ours is the only one we know that supports life, it’s fair enough to say it’s special.”Tucked away in this article, however, is a significant comment to counterbalance your own: (Dhw's bold, see below)

QUOTE: “In our region of space, the amount of vacuum energy is minuscule, requiring all these fields to cancel one another out to an incredible degree. That seems highly improbable, but in any large enough system, even the most improbable event will occur somewhere.”

DAVID: The quote can be easily interpreted as supporting my comment: life is extremely improbable and our region has it! But look at the full context of the whole quote:

"That seems highly improbable, but in any large enough system, even the most improbable event will occur somewhere. In the vast majority of cosmic regions, the excess of dark energy throws off the balance of forces that enables galaxies, stars, planets, and people to form. We see an improbably precise cancellation of known and unknown fields because we couldn’t exist otherwise." (David's bold) Please avoid cherry picking. I'm watching.

Firstly, I offered his quote as a “counterbalance” to your comment, not as a refutation. Secondly, the passage I quoted stressed the improbability and indeed the incredibility. Thirdly, I did not dispute the fact that we could not exist otherwise, and indeed I actually stated that we were special. I have put that in bold.

No cherry-picking but, quoting the same facts, I have simply pointed out that Barnes has offered a different explanation from yours. I know you are watching me. Please watch more carefully!