Modern Proofs for God
Reading: Psalm 8.
When modern physics meets modern philosophy, God becomes necessary
- this sounds too strange to be true, but it is an inescapable conclusion
- modern physics doesn’t need God. It can explain everything without him
- and modern philosophy doesn’t need God either. But put them together…
and there is no possible conclusion except the existence of God.
- in technical terms, we could say: Fine Tuning + Multiverse = God or God
- (don’t worry if you don’t understand that – you soon will)
We have to start with man, who according to this Psalm is central to the universe
- I’m sorry that this sermon doesn’t include much Bible in it
- I want to prove the existence of God using modern physics,
- so adding Bible texts doesn’t serve much purpose,
- except to show the Bible taught these same conclusions long ago
Most people think it is it seems silly nowadays to conclude that man is the center of the universeanything
- when you look up at all the stars on a dark night and see the vast heaven
- when you think of all the other planets which might be inhabited
- why should humans be special? Why should even , or even living things be special?
- when the vast hugely vast majority of the universe is nothing but lifeless emptynessemptiness
- what is so special about life – which is such a tiny portion of the universe?
-
The Bible appears to have a pathetically parochial view, blinkered by ignorance
- like a chief in a jungle village who thinks he’s the mostimportantperson alive
- but he doesn't realise there are cities out there, and countries, and the internet
- can we stand on this little planet and claim to be the purpose of creation?
- it becomes harder and harder, the more we realise how big the universe is
And yet, it may be true after all, it turns out that man IS central, according to modern theories of physicists
- we now know so much more about the universe and about matter itself
- we can look back in time to billions of years ago by following starlight
- the complex mathematical models of how the atom works,are being confirmed
- there are many mysteries left, but nothing as mysterious as what we’ve found
- because we have found that the universe is indeed tailored precisely for us
- and possibly for other creatures on very similar planets who are just like us
- we and our kin appear to be the final purpose of the whole universe
Physicists have The reason for concludeding this is that the universe is finely-tuned for life
- we now know that if the universe was even very slightly different, we’d be dead
- if gravity was just very slightly less, or there was just very slightly more matter
- if any of twenty different constants were just a tiny different, there’d be no life
- the universe is fine-tuned in exactly the right way measures to support our existence
Dr John Polkinghorne pointed out that the universe has to be as big as it is
- the universe is expanding, though gravity is slowing down that expansion
- one day, if it slows down enough, gravity will pull it all back together again
- in the mean time, stars can shine, and planets round them can develop life
- but all this takes a lot of time, because planets come from exploding stars
- so for life, we need requires at least one generation of stars to burn and die and explode
- then we need their debris to collect together and form planets round other stars
- and then starts the slow process of producing life and finally intelligent life
If the Universe was too big, the expansion would slow and reverse too soon
- the extra gravity would collapse the universe before life had time to develop
- and if the Universe was too small, the expansion would be too fast
- matter would be spread apart so widely that dust wouldn’t ever form planets
- we need a Universe made for Goldilocks:, not too big, not too small. Just right
Of course, many Christians believe that God created the universe instantly,
- he created a universe and planets with the appearance of age and development
- and then took a leisurely 6 days of tinkering time to put in the final details
- That may be so, but this still leaves the question: why is the universe so big?
- and instant-creationists need the same answer: God created apparent age
- and this old-looking universe has to be big enough to develop planets and life
It isn’t only gravity which has to be ‘just right’ in this Goldilocks universe
- several other factors have to be exactly correct before even matter can exist
- and for all factors to be exactly correct for life to exist seems almost impossible
- this principle of the fine-tuned universe” and is now very widely accepted
- it is acknowledged by virtually all physicists whether or not they believe in God
Stephen Hawking said: “The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron. ... The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life."[Brief History of Time 1988:125].
Calculating exactly how fine-tuned the universe is, is beyond us
- it is certainly beyond me, because of the horrendous mathematics involved
- and we don’t yet know how many no-one yet knows enough about how the universe works
- are there 26 separate fundamental properties there are
- perhaps there are 26 or a ? or will a Theory of Everything may whittle them down to just one
- and we don’t know exactly how exact each of them ? And when it does, now exact need it be?needs to be
- present calculations suggest it is in the at present, all we can say, is that it has to be “extremely” exactly tuned
- perhaps in the realms of billions to one or more.
- But no-one knows yet knows exactly how fine-tuned the universe is
- there may be other possible life forms, .but his only reduces the odds a little
- even if life forms can be other than carbon-based, this only helps a little
- most possible universes don’t even contain heavy atoms or planets
- so, the principle stands firm: our universe is extremely fine tuned for life
This raises the question: Who or what made sure the Universe was Fine Tuned?
- this fine tuning This doesn’t mean that all physicists and philosophers now believe in God
- there are a couple of ways to explain this without concluding escape the conclusion that God is behind it
- this is where physics finishes and philosophy steps in to fill the gap
- First, virtually everyone agrees that this universe is fine-tuned, but did God do it?
- many philosophers point out: “If we exist, of course it’s fine-tuned for us”
- that is, that is, if life develops by chance in a universe, it will can only develop in a universe which is a universe fine-tuned for life
- – so any the universe containing life will appear to be designed for life. appears to be designed for us.
- therefore the fact that the universe is just right for us would always be true.
(this explanation is called the Anthropic Principle)
But this doesn’t explain why the universe does exist like this, and not differently
- even if it is no more than a billion to one chance, this is still extremely unlikely.
- it is less likely than reading in the paper that all 650 MPs in the country were hit by lightning during the previous day – and no-one else
- now, if that happened, wouldn’t we conclude God was trying to say something?
- we need an explanation for how something so unlikely would happen
- to explain this, philosophers have a second theory: The Multiverse
- it’s like being daily struck by lightning 1000 days in a row. It doesn’t happen!
- if that happened to an individual, you’d conclude that God was after them!
- so surely God must exist to load the dice to make this unlikely universe exist
A multiverse is You won’t be surprised to know there is another possible explanation
- Perhaps an infinite series of possible universes have existed or do existwhich all exist together
- that is, every possible form of universe which could exist, does exist
- this is popularly called a Multiverse – a multitude of different universes
- they can all exist simultaneously because they are all self-contained
- they are not “next” to each other because space is an artefact of matter
- they exist in their own “space”, completely separate and independent of ours
These aren’t parallel universes like in popular fiction, with people just like us
- the vast majority of them universes have physical laws completely different to ours
- all the physical constants like gravity, electromagnetic forces etc are changed different
- each has a randomly different setup, and only a few of them small proportion contain matter
- in a tiny number the constants allow for matter to coalesce, perhaps into stars
- a vanishingly small number survive long enough to produce planets and life
- and in at least one there is intelligent life, because if it is possible, it will happen
- because in an infinite Multiverse, anything theoretically possible must MUST happen
- otherwise it wouldn’t be an infinite series, and wouldn’t explain Fine Tuning
A Multiverse may explains how our an improbable universeexists without God fixing the odds
- if life can occur only in one universe in a billion, we need billions of universes so that life will happen without God’s special intervention in the fine tuning
So physics says that Fine Tuning of the universe look like it was specially designed
- in which case we would reasonable conclude that someone did the designing.
But philosophy says that if we are in a Multiverse, we’d expect a Fine Tuned universe to turn up simply by chance, alongside all the others without any life
- but However, paradoxically, the in a true idea of a multiverse necessitates there MUST be the existence of a God
- because everything which can theoretically exist, must exist in an infinite series
- and this is where the headaches now lies for the new atheists like Dawkins.
Let’s use our imagination about the types of life which could theoretically exist
- in the film Avatar, the planet Pandora has a god which turns out to be real
- people who die go to join this god and survive, and are able to talk to the living
- it turns out that this god is actually the planet’s plantlife which is all connected
- all the roots underground form a single neural network, like a planet-sized brain
- this single mind is vastly larger and more complex than a human brain
- so, to the people of that planet, and to humans, that huge mind is like a god
Now think imagineof a universe which is significantly different from ours
- where a single individual spans not just the surface of a planet, but all matter
- where the whole universe in all its forms is linked together into a single mind
- not just one planet, but all the planets, and they aren’t scattered, but joined
- and mental thought isn’t limited to the speed of neurones, but the speed of light
- this mind encompasses and controls all the matter in this that universe
- so that moving matter or making things is just a process of extended thinking
- there would be no death for this being, and no limit to what he could do
An individual like that would discover the Multiverse much quicker than we did
- and before long, he’d work out how to make new universes in the Mmultiverse
- or how to make extensions of his own universe which appear to be separate
- just by thinking, he could make things exactly as he wanted them to be
- he’d make a complex universe with less effort than we make ripples in a pond
- and if he didn’t like the patterns, he could change it them with effortless will
- and what would he want to make? Perhaps he’d make beings who think like him
- so that they could communicate with him, and he’d develop them further still
- rather like we love the idea of making computers which think for themselves
- and we like to imagine one day they will talk back and interact with us
- in other words, if hecreated a universe, he’d want to interact with it
We have imagined someone very similar to the God revealed in the Bible
- I’m not saying we can describe God by a thought experiment like this
- and I’m not saying that this description is what God is actually like
- but if we can even get close to describing him, then he can theoretically exist
- and in an infinite multiverse, anything which can theoretically exist, does exist
Therefore, if our universe exists as part of a Multiverse, God must also exist
- even something as improbable as a universe so finely tuned as to develop life
- that is, or someone who encompasses encompassing a totally connected infinite universe, like God
- ie someone with infinite power and thought and the ability to create universes
- someone who could create a universe with life, and then communicate with it.
I’m not saying that this describes what God is, or that the Multiverse exists.
- but IF an infinite multiverse exists, then God exists, because all possibilities exist
What if a multiverse doesn’t exist? Then we are struck with a Finely Tuned universe
- and if this is the only universe, this fine tuning, needs an explanation – a designer.
- and if an infinite multiverse doesn’t exist, then God is also necessary
- because without a multiverse we need God to create our finely-tuned universe
So either way, we are forced to conclude that a God exists to create the universe
- either the universe is Fine Tuned by someone or something,
- or it is part of an infinite Multiverse which must also include a God-like being
- ie Fine Tuning + Multiverse = God or God.
This is a big problem for the atheists.
- I’m not saying that believers in God know the answers any better than they do
- we don’t know if whether there is a multiverse or a singe finely-tuned universe
- but the point is, either way, God’s existence is a necessary part of the equation
So what do atheists actually say about this? What does Richard Dawkins think?
- well, surprisingly, he agrees with all of the above, up to a pointeven the conclusion (mostly)
- see his nice summary of The God Delusionat
- he agrees that the universe is finely-tuned in an extraordinary way
“Physicists have suggested that the laws and constants of physics are too good — as if the universe were set up to favour our eventual evolution. It is as though there were, say, half a dozen dials representing the major constants of physics. Each of the dials could in principle be tuned to any of a wide range of values. Almost all of these knob-twiddlings would yield a universe in which life would be impossible…. You can estimate the very low odds against the six knobs all just happening to be correctly tuned, and conclude that a divine knob-twiddler must have been at work. But… that explanation … begs the biggest question of all. The divine knob twiddler would himself have to have been at least as improbable as the settings of his knobs”
- and he agrees a multiverse may explain how this improbable universe exists
“Some theorists postulate a multiverse of foam, where the universe we know is just one bubble. Each bubble has its own laws and constants. Our familiar laws of physics are parochial bylaws. Of all the universes in the foam, only a minority has what it takes to generate life. ”
[both quotes from - near the end]
- and he believes there are likely to superior beings who appear to be like God:
“It is easy to believe that the universe houses creatures so far superior to us as to seem like gods. I believe it. But those godlike beings must themselves have been lifted into existence by natural selection or some equivalent crane.”[ – near the end]
His conclusion doesn’t say that God exists, but there are
Of course, he demeans the possibility of God by saying “godlike beings”
- and we would agree with him that this is not what we believe in
- but it is interesting to see how far he is pushed by what we know of physics
- in the end he says that the existence of God isn’t impossible, but improbable,
- just as and that the the existence of a universe fine-tuned for life is also improbable
- then he but he fails acknowledge to see that the a Multiverse would which makes the fine-tuning possible,
without acknowledging that this changes the existence of also solves the improbability of God ’s existence, making them both into a certaintyies
The philosophers will continue to do what they do best: argue and theorise