CPBD 040: Luke Barnes – 11 Responses to Fine-Tuning

(Listen to other episodes of Conversations from the Pale Blue Dot here.)

In one of my funniest and most useful episodes yet, I interview astronomer Luke Barnes about the plausibility of 11 responses to the fine-tuning of the universe. Frankly, once you listen to this episode you will be better equipped to discuss fine-tuning than 90% of the people who discuss it on the internet. This episode will help clarify the thinking of anyone – including and perhaps especially professional philosophers – about the fine-tuning of the universe.

The 11 responses to fine-tuning we discuss are:

“It’s just a coincidence.” “We’ve only observed one universe, and it’s got life. So as far as we know, the probability that a universe will support life is one out of one!” “However the universe was configured, evolution would have eventually found a way.” “There could be other forms of life.” “It’s impossible for life to observe a universe not fine-tuned for life.” “Maybe there are deeper laws; the universe must be this way, even though it looks like it could be other ways.” “Maybe there are bajillions of universes, and we happen to be in one of the few that supports life.” “Maybe a physics student in another universe created our universe in an attempt to design a universe that would evolve intelligent life.” “This universe with intelligent life is just as unlikely as any other universe, so what’s the big deal?” “The universe doesn’t look like it was designed for life, but rather for empty space or maybe black holes.” “Fine-tuning shows there must be an intelligent designer beyond physical reality that tuned the universe so it would produce intelligent life.”

Download CPBD episode 040 with Luke Barnes. Total time is 1:16:31.

Luke Barnes links:

Links for things we discussed:

Note: in addition to the regular blog feed, there is also a podcast-only feed. You can also subscribe on iTunes.