{"id":85702,"date":"2020-06-07T13:50:07","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T19:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=85702"},"modified":"2020-06-10T14:29:31","modified_gmt":"2020-06-10T20:29:31","slug":"a-brief-note-on-the-suggestion-of-multiple-universes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2020\/06\/a-brief-note-on-the-suggestion-of-multiple-universes.html","title":{"rendered":"A brief note on the suggestion of multiple universes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Nobody<\/a>
A very close 2005 NASA public domain look at the nucleus of the galaxy NGC 5033.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

One explanation of the apparent fine tuning of the universe is to suggest that ours is just one of a virtually (or actually) infinite number of universes, and that we just happen to live in this one. \u00a0Most such universes would probably be barren of life. \u00a0Perhaps most were actually still born; gravity pulled them back into themselves almost instantly after their \u201cBig Bang.\u201d \u00a0Others never formed galaxies or stars, let alone habitable planets. \u00a0Fortunately, ours was life-friendly \u2014 and that is the only reason that we exist and are able to consider the seeming miracle of the emergence of intelligent life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The English Methodist theology professor and cosmologist David Wilkinson offers some brief thoughts on this idea in David Wilkinson, God, Time and Stephen Hawking: An Exploration into Origins<\/em> (London and Grand Rapids: Monarch Books, 2001):<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, this coupling of the anthropic principle with a theory of many universes is more of a metaphysical suggestion than a physical theory. \u00a0The question must be asked in what sense do other universes exist if they have no observable consequences? \u00a0The trouble with these theories of many universes is just how do you pass information from one universe to another in order to know that it is there? \u00a0There are many who argue with some justification that talk of many universes goes beyond physics, to the extent that it becomes an explanation of the way the world is on the same level as religious explanations.<\/span><\/p>\n

How do we assess the anthropic principle? \u00a0It sounds a necessary cautious word that our observation of the universe is dependent on the fact that we are here. \u00a0However, as an explanation of fine-tuning it has the difficulty of being potentially too successful. \u00a0If you have so many universes then you can explain literally everything without recourse to understanding the physics. \u00a0You simply say in the case of any phenomenon that it is just like that because we are here. \u00a0(93, 95)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps you should step out of your house in the next day or two, look skyward, and wave toward the heavens:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re Very Close to Finding a Solar System like Our Own:\u00a0A newly discovered exoplanet is in a 378-day orbit around a G dwarf star like our own Sun.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, here\u2019s some potentially good news for those readers of Sic et Non<\/em> who live on Planet Earth. \u00a0(Judging from the comments of some of my most fevered critics, some may not<\/em>.) \u00a0It\u2019s also positive news for real estate developers in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDiscovery of Ancient Super-Eruptions Indicates the Yellowstone Hotspot May Be Waning\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 One explanation of the apparent fine tuning of the universe is to suggest that ours is just one of a virtually (or actually) infinite number of universes, and that we just happen to live in this one. \u00a0Most such universes would probably be barren of life. \u00a0Perhaps most were actually still born; gravity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10121,548,71,10127,545,12451,602,1362],"class_list":["post-85702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anthropic","tag-anthropic-principle","tag-cosmology","tag-fine-tuned","tag-fine-tuning","tag-life-friendly","tag-multiple-universes","tag-multiverse"],"yoast_head":"\nA brief note on the suggestion of multiple universes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    One explanation of the apparent 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