Cosmic Creationism

Vic Stenger
1
What does science
say (tentatively)
about the origin of
the universe?
2
time
space
Did the universe have a beginning?
Hawking and
Penrose 1970
General Relativity
Singularity
Beginning of time?
Universe at
time t
3
time
space
Quantum mechanics says
there was no singularity
Hawking 1988
Earliest moment:
Planck time
= 10
-44
second
4
What about the big bang?
our time
prior time
space
"nothing"
time imaginary
Our universe could
have tunneled from a
previous universe.
Scenario worked
out mathematically.
5
Multiple universes suggested
by modern cosmology
6
time
now
-!
innite
time
Is the universe eternal?
time
now
-10
100
nite
time
years
The eternal universe had no beginning.
Not a beginning an infinite time ago.
How is that possible?
7
Is The Uni verse Fine-tuned For Us?
Anthropic principle.
If the constants of physics had been
slightly different, life as we know it
would not have evolved.
8
9
Here is the cosmological proof of the existence of Godthe
design argument of Paleyupdated and refurbished. The
ne-tuning of the universe provides prima facie evidence of
deistic design. Take your choice: blind chance that requires
multitudes of universes, or design that requires only one.
Astronomer Edward Harrison
9
Dinesh DSouza quotes Stephen Hawking:
If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had
been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand
million million, the universe would have collapsed before
it ever reached its present size.
A Brief History of Time p. 121
Also used in debates by apologist William Lane Craig
10

The galactic space around Earth is not teeming

with complex life

Earth is only known planet with life

11
Wasted Space
Distances are immense

Nearest star: 4.22 light-years

Nearest galaxy: 2.44 million light-

years

Galaxies within our horizon are up

to 40 billion light-years away

Universe beyond horizon: 10 to the

10 to the 100 times bigger
12
Wasted time

Universe 13.7 billion years old

Earth 4.5 billion years old

Modern humans 150 thousand years old

0.001 %
13
Wasted Matter

Most of the matter of the universe is not

atomicthe component of life

Visible atomic matter in galaxies: 0.5% of

mass of universe.

Total carbon: 0.02%

Dark matter: 26%

Dark energy: 74%

14
Wasted energy
Only two photons of
every billion emitted by
sun are used to warm
Earth
15
Text
The world around us is so
beautiful and complex
16
Yet, most of universe is in random motion
Cosmic microwave background
Photons are a billion times more numerous than atoms
Random to one part in 100,000
17
A tiny pocket of
complexity
18
The underpri vileged planet
Earth is not all that well
suited for human life

! ocean

We are restricted to
surface

Atmosphere does not

block UV

Natural disasters, disease,

famine kill thousands
yearly
19
Humans in space
Humans cannot live in space
or on any known planet or
moon without extensive life
support.
Cosmic radiation prevents humans from
spending years in space.
Even so-called earth-like
planets are not likely to be able
to support human life.
Humanity will never expand to the stars
20
An intelligent
designer with
special regard for
humanity would
have done a much
better job.
21
Some other form
of life might be
possible with many
other variations of
physical constants.
22
22
Recall DSouza and Craig quote from
Stephen Hawking:
If the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had
been smaller by even one part in a hundred thousand
million million, the universe would have collapsed before
it ever reached its present size.
A Brief History of Time p. 121
Claim:
Fine-tuned to 1/100,000,000,000,000,000,000
23
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The rate of expansion of the universe [in the inationary
model] would automatically become very close to the critical
rate determined by the energy density of the universe. This
could then explain why the rate of expansion is still so close to
the critical rate, without having to assume that the initial rate
of expansion of the universe was very carefully chosen.
Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, p. 128:
But they ignore the rest of the
story (7 pages later)
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Fine-Tuning Summary

Some parameters have values they do by denition (c, h, G).

Some parameters have exactly the values they have based

on standard models in physics and cosmology.

Remaining parameters not xed by standard models have

values within ranges expected by those models.

Only the cosmological constant remains arguable, but

plausible explanations are available.
25
The universe shows no evidence of
being designed with humans in mind
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Out in April
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