Jay Richards – did physics kill God? (Stephen Hawking)
INTRO
For the materialist, the fundamental and foundational source is the universe… Carl Sagan said ‘the universe is all there is, was, or will be.’
>> But the cosmos is NOT eternal
A. Three strikes against materialism
1. A cosmic beginning
a. Edwin Hubble in the 1920s
. What were nebula?
. Discovered red shifts when measuring distant galaxies
. Discovered that the universe is not static, but expanding
b. Einsteins relativity implied expanding universe
. Visited Hubble, admitted that looking for a constant to make the universe eternal was a waste of time
c. Robert Dicke
… An infinitely old universe would relieve us of the necessity of understanding origin of matter…matter would be a fundamental given, we would not have to look for a prior source
2. A fine tuned universe
a. MJ Rees … The possibility of life as we know it depends on the values…
b. Paul Davies … The present arrangement of matter indicates a very special choice of initial conditions
c. Universe creating machine (see the privileged planet)
3. Local fine tuning … Astrobiology (habitable planets)
a. Carbon and water only create life (no silicon based life forms)
. Carbon alone forms large metastable molecules that bond to so many other elements
. Water is liquid over the range of temperatures where carbon is most reactive, forming the perfect solution for reactions
b. What makes a habitable planet?
. Carbon and water
. Solar habitable zone (not too hot or cols)
. Galactic habitable zone
. Cosmic habitable era
. Etc
Q1. Given the Size of the universe, why do we think our unlikely universe is not chance, but design?
>> Habitability correlates with measurability