OPTIONS FOR ORIGINS

Is the Universe a Product of Design or Chance?

The choices in accounting for our universe boil down to three: Chance, multiple universes, or design.

Scientists are looking at the extreme rarity of life in our universe and asking, “why are we so lucky?” At some point you’ve got to step back from the facts and ask the question “So what does all this fine-tuning add up to?”

Example:

A university student who’s just trying to get a passing grade might be satisfied with loading up his short-term memory with the data he’s received. But a student who is actually planning to use this information in a career, or for personal enrichment, has to spend some time thinking about the subject’s actual meaning.

Same thing with the question of how quasars, Pluto, and you got here.

The evidences for the fine-tuning of the universe to permit life to exist on one medium-sized planet, third from the left, are mounting. Many scientists are speaking in theological terms about what they see as clear evidence for design.

If you were to survey the writings of leading scientists such as Hawking, Penrose, Davies, and Greene, you would find that there are three options being offered for our origins.

• The fine-tuning of the universe is merely a coincidence.

• There are other universes, improving the odds of life.

• The universe has been designed.

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