Universes Happen--or Do They?
Some people look at the world and exclaim, " The universe and this planet
must have been designed and created so that mankind could live!" Let's call this viewpoint the Design Hypothesis; it is the foundation of all the monotheistic religions in the world. Others contend that divine design is no more than an illusion, intended perhaps to provide comfort in a harsh world, oppress the working class, help Bush carry Ohio, or sell Kabbalah Water. Suspicions abound.
This controversy has raged on for centuries. Neither side has been able to vanquish the other, despite use of drastic methods of persuasion such as the stake and the gulag. Today, however, it is possible to use science and mathematics to gauge the plausibility of the Design Hypothesis and its opposite. I call as my expert witness Dr. Ernest J Sternglass, Professor Emeritus of Radiological Physics at the University of Pittsburgh. Most of the following information is based on his book Before the Big Bang (BBB).
1. Has the universe existed forever?
This was the prevailing view of scientists until the middle of the Twentieth Century. Observations by astronomer Edwin Hubble in the late 1920's indicated that all the observable galaxies were racing away from each other at increasing speeds. This means that the universe is rapidly expanding. Belgian astrophysicist George Lemaitre concluded that this expansion implies that the universe began as a single point in space, which suddenly exploded into the galaxies of stars that we see today. This cataclysmic blast, known as the Big Bang, would also have produced vast amounts of radiation, some of which could still be detectable. After this radiation was detected by radio telescopes in 1964, the Big Bang Theory was accepted by the scientific community.
The philosophical implications of the Big Bang were soon recognized. As astrophysicist Stephen Hawking remarked "..it would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun just in this way, except as the act of a G-d who intended to create beings like us."(BBB, p.16)
2. Has another Big Bang ever happened before, or since, the one that created our universe?
No evidence of another such event as ever been detected.
3. What characteristics of the universe determine if life could ever exist?
There are four basic forces that govern all matter and energy in the universe: gravity, electr0-magnetism, and two nuclear binding forces. The strength of each of these forces, as well as the laws of physics and chemistry, were fixed for all time at the moment of the Big Bang. For life to ever exist anywhere in the universe, these forces had to be aligned just right forever. For example, the nuclear forces had to be strong enough to hold the nucleus of an atom of oxygen together, but not so strong that oxygen could not bond with hydgrogen to form water. Gravity had to be strong enough to hold liquid water to the surface of a planet the size of Earth, but not so strong that the atmosphere would be too dense to breathe, and so forth.
4. Can the structure of all matter and energy in the universe be described mathematically?
Physicists have defined a number they call the "fine structure constant" of the universe, usually denoted by the Greek letter alpha (1). We will let V=1 divided by alpha, or the inverse of this constant (2). As Professor Sternglass writes, alpha is " a single pure number (that) seemed to determine the the nature of our world,....a design that was extremely unlikely to have come about by chance." (BBB, p. 221)
5. What values of V permit life to ever exist?
According to Sternglass, V must be between 136 and 138 for any form of life to ever have a chance. The actual value of V is 137.036. (BBB, p. 266, Note 9). Had V been only 134, say, there would have been no amoeba, no stegosaurus, no me or you, no Paris Hilton. What a world.
6. If the universe originated by chance, without any design whatsoever, what is the probability that the number V would just happen to land between 136 and 138 anyway?
Less than your chance of winning the next Multi-State Megabucks Lottery by buying one ticket.
Suppose, for a moment, that V were a positive number known to be less than some large integer N. The probability that V would be in any pre-chosen two-unit interval, such as that between 136 and 138, would be 2/N. But in a truly randomly-generated universe, there would be no upper bound on V, so the probability that V would be in that (or any other given two-unit interval) would be the limit of 2/N as N goes to infinity, which is zero.
Perhaps we should add the following verse to the Passover hymn "Echad Mi Yodea?" ("Who Knows One?"):
7. Who knows 137.036?
I know 137.036. It is the number that shows that this universe, this solar system, and this world are no accidents.
_______________________________
(1)Let e= charge of one electron, c=the speed of light, and h= angular momentum of the electron in the hydrogen atom (Planck's Constant). Then the fine structure constant alpha = e squared divided by hc. (BBB, p. 275)
(2) V= hc divided by e squared.
must have been designed and created so that mankind could live!" Let's call this viewpoint the Design Hypothesis; it is the foundation of all the monotheistic religions in the world. Others contend that divine design is no more than an illusion, intended perhaps to provide comfort in a harsh world, oppress the working class, help Bush carry Ohio, or sell Kabbalah Water. Suspicions abound.
This controversy has raged on for centuries. Neither side has been able to vanquish the other, despite use of drastic methods of persuasion such as the stake and the gulag. Today, however, it is possible to use science and mathematics to gauge the plausibility of the Design Hypothesis and its opposite. I call as my expert witness Dr. Ernest J Sternglass, Professor Emeritus of Radiological Physics at the University of Pittsburgh. Most of the following information is based on his book Before the Big Bang (BBB).
1. Has the universe existed forever?
This was the prevailing view of scientists until the middle of the Twentieth Century. Observations by astronomer Edwin Hubble in the late 1920's indicated that all the observable galaxies were racing away from each other at increasing speeds. This means that the universe is rapidly expanding. Belgian astrophysicist George Lemaitre concluded that this expansion implies that the universe began as a single point in space, which suddenly exploded into the galaxies of stars that we see today. This cataclysmic blast, known as the Big Bang, would also have produced vast amounts of radiation, some of which could still be detectable. After this radiation was detected by radio telescopes in 1964, the Big Bang Theory was accepted by the scientific community.
The philosophical implications of the Big Bang were soon recognized. As astrophysicist Stephen Hawking remarked "..it would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun just in this way, except as the act of a G-d who intended to create beings like us."(BBB, p.16)
2. Has another Big Bang ever happened before, or since, the one that created our universe?
No evidence of another such event as ever been detected.
3. What characteristics of the universe determine if life could ever exist?
There are four basic forces that govern all matter and energy in the universe: gravity, electr0-magnetism, and two nuclear binding forces. The strength of each of these forces, as well as the laws of physics and chemistry, were fixed for all time at the moment of the Big Bang. For life to ever exist anywhere in the universe, these forces had to be aligned just right forever. For example, the nuclear forces had to be strong enough to hold the nucleus of an atom of oxygen together, but not so strong that oxygen could not bond with hydgrogen to form water. Gravity had to be strong enough to hold liquid water to the surface of a planet the size of Earth, but not so strong that the atmosphere would be too dense to breathe, and so forth.
4. Can the structure of all matter and energy in the universe be described mathematically?
Physicists have defined a number they call the "fine structure constant" of the universe, usually denoted by the Greek letter alpha (1). We will let V=1 divided by alpha, or the inverse of this constant (2). As Professor Sternglass writes, alpha is " a single pure number (that) seemed to determine the the nature of our world,....a design that was extremely unlikely to have come about by chance." (BBB, p. 221)
5. What values of V permit life to ever exist?
According to Sternglass, V must be between 136 and 138 for any form of life to ever have a chance. The actual value of V is 137.036. (BBB, p. 266, Note 9). Had V been only 134, say, there would have been no amoeba, no stegosaurus, no me or you, no Paris Hilton. What a world.
6. If the universe originated by chance, without any design whatsoever, what is the probability that the number V would just happen to land between 136 and 138 anyway?
Less than your chance of winning the next Multi-State Megabucks Lottery by buying one ticket.
Suppose, for a moment, that V were a positive number known to be less than some large integer N. The probability that V would be in any pre-chosen two-unit interval, such as that between 136 and 138, would be 2/N. But in a truly randomly-generated universe, there would be no upper bound on V, so the probability that V would be in that (or any other given two-unit interval) would be the limit of 2/N as N goes to infinity, which is zero.
Perhaps we should add the following verse to the Passover hymn "Echad Mi Yodea?" ("Who Knows One?"):
7. Who knows 137.036?
I know 137.036. It is the number that shows that this universe, this solar system, and this world are no accidents.
_______________________________
(1)Let e= charge of one electron, c=the speed of light, and h= angular momentum of the electron in the hydrogen atom (Planck's Constant). Then the fine structure constant alpha = e squared divided by hc. (BBB, p. 275)
(2) V= hc divided by e squared.
posted by Gerald S Glazer at 8:55 AM
1 Comments:
The fine structure constant, like
the other physical constants do set
limits on what exists. It is therefore circular reasoning to select an existent determined possible by the above constants, and then state that if things were a little different, the said existent
would not exist.
"V" does not stand alone.Plank's
constant, the velocity of electro-
magetic radiation in free space, and the charge on the electron are
determinate constants. This argument has been aound for at least a generation: it is the Anthropic Principle. One could just
as easily say that Jello would not
exist if "V" were < 136, or >138.
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