multiverse 4

7/27/2019 Multiverse 4

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God and the Multiverse

November 25, 2012. An Orderly, Rational, Comprehensible,

Beautiful Universe. Conclusions


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IntroductionSessions

n Nov 4: Introduction. A

Universe with a Beginning

n Nov 11: A Multiverse with

a Beginning

n Nov 18: A Universe Finely

Tuned for Life

n Nov 25: An Orderly,Rational, Comprehensible,

Beautiful Universe.

Conclusions.

PowerPoints available on-line at:

www.stjohnadulted.org/multiverse-home.htm
http://www.stjohnadulted.org/multiverse-home.htmhttp://www.stjohnadulted.org/multiverse-home.htm


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Primary References4. An Orderly, Rational, Comprehensible,

Beautiful Universe. Conclusions.n Stephen M Barr,Modern Physics and Ancient Faith.

University of Notre Dame Press, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-0268021986.

n Robert J Spitzer,New Proofs for the Existence of God:Contributions of Contemporary Physics andPhilosophy. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2010.ISBN-13: 978-0802863836

n Paul Davies, The Goldilocks Enigma: Why Is theUniverse Just Right for Life? Mariner Books, 2008.ISBN-13: 978-0547053585.

n Paul Davies, The Mind of God. The Scientific Basis fora Rational World. Touchstone, 1993. ISBN-13: 978-

0671797188.


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Almighty and everlasting God, you made

the universe with all its marvelous order, its

atoms, worlds, and galaxies, and theinfinite complexity of living creatures:

Grant that, as we probe the mysteries of

your creation, we may come to know you

more truly, and more surely fulfill our role

in your eternal purpose; in the name of

Jesus Christ our Lord.

Book of Common Prayer, page 827. For Knowledge of Gods Creation


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Introduction


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IntroductionGoals

n To show how discoveries in modern

astronomy and cosmology are:

n compatible with a belief in a creator God,

n can be most rationally explained by a creator God

who deliberately created a universe or

multiverse that would be fruitful of life.


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IntroductionWeek 1: A Universe with a Beginning

n Observationalcosmology hasfirmlyestablished, from

multiple lines ofevidence, thatour universe

began 13.7billion year ago

in an event calledThe Big Bang.n The past is

finite; there is apast limit to

physical reality


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IntroductionWeek 1: A Universe with a Beginning

n This scientific confirmation of a beginning tothe universe empowers the CosmologicalArgument for the existence of God (Thesecond way of St. Thomas Aquinas, 1224-1274, based on the idea of causation):

n 1. Everything we see in this world is caused.n 2. Nothing can be the cause of itself.

n 3. There cannot be an infinite regress of causesbecause the universe has a beginning. The pastis finite.

Therefore:

n 4. There must exist an uncaused first cause notof this world

n 5. The word God means uncaused first causenot of this world.

n 6. Therefore, God exists.

St. Thomas Aquinas


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IntroductionWeek 2: A Multiverse with a Beginning

n There is not a shred ofobservational evidence for anyphysical reality beyond theuniverse we see, the universe thatbegan with the Big Bang.

n There are however some physicaltheories that allow for (although donot require) other universes oralternative universes, not directlyobservable from our own otheruniverses:n that could have given rise to our own

universe,

n whose existence would mean theBig Bang was not truly the

beginning of all of physical reality.


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Our observable Universe

+

these unobservable otheror alternative universes

=

The Multiverse


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n We considered all the serious Multiverse scenarios:n Level I Multiverse = Quilted Multiverse

n Bouncing Multiverse

n The Eternal or Chaotic Inflation Multiverse

n

The String / M-Theory Landscape Multiversen Braneworld Cyclic Multiverse = Ekpyrotic Multiverse

n We found all these multiverses require a beginningbecause ofconsiderations of thermodynamics (the buildup ofentropy) and/or the Borde-Vilenkin-Guth Theorem.

n There is no such thing as a perpetual motion machine including thegiant machine we call the universe or multiverse.

n This requirement for a beginning means a Multiverse alsoempowers the Cosmological Argument for the existence ofGod.


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IntroductionWeek 3: A Universe Finely Tuned for Life

n We looked at the Teleological Argument forthe existence of God: the world looks like it wasdeliberately designed for a purpose.

n Formally:n 1. Human artifacts (for example, a watch) are products

of intelligent design.

n 2. The universe resembles these human artifacts.

n 3. Therefore: the universe is (probably) a product of

intelligent design.n 4. But the universe is vastly more complex and

gigantic than a human artifact.

n 5. Therefore: there probably is a powerful and vastly

intelligent designer who designed the universe.


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n Results from modern cosmology empower theTeleological Argument for the Gods existence, for thelaws of physics seemed incredibly fine tuned oradjusted to give rise to a universe that would be

fruitful of life (= the so-called anthropiccoincidences)

n One example of an anthropic coincidence we lookedat: the natural modes of vibration in a carbon atomnucleus seemed deliberately designed to make it

possible for helium to be fused into carbon, oxygenand heavier elements elements critical for life as weknow it.n Fusion of three helium nuclei into a carbon nucleus =

Triple Alpha Process.


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n The man who discovered this, the atheist FredHoyle who derisively had coined the term BigBangbecause the idea of a beginning to theuniverse seemed to smack of religion was sostunned by this apparent fine-tuning of themodes of vibration of the carbon nucleus that he

lost his atheism. He later wrote:n Would you not say to yourself, Some super-

calculating intellect must have designed theproperties of the carbon atom, otherwise thechance of my finding such an atom through the

blind forces of nature would be utterly minuscule.

A common sense interpretation of the factssuggests that a superintellect has monkeyed withphysics, as well as with chemistry and biology,and that there are no blind forces worth speakingabout in nature. The numbers one calculates fromthe facts seem to me so overwhelming as to putthis conclusion almost beyond question.

Fred Hoyle, 1915-2001


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n We looked at the only otherexplanation for the apparent fine-tuning and signs of design inthe laws of physics a multiverseconsisting of an unimaginably

enormous array of universes, eachgoverned by a variation in thelaws of physics, causing most tobe abortive, sterile places andinvoking Ockhams razor,

suggested the most rational, mostsatisfying explanation for thefine-tuning is the existence ofan unimaginably powerful andintelligent designer, consistent

with God.


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IntroductionThis Week: An Orderly, Rational,

Comprehensible, Beautiful Universen This week we will look at some additional questions,

questions science is unlikely ever to be able to answeror explain:n

Where do the laws of physics come from? [or] Where dothe meta-laws of the Multiverse come from?n Why is there any order at all, why not just chaos?

n Why should the laws of physics that lead to a universefruitful of life and of conscious, intelligent beings

(ourselves) also be laws that those conscious intelligentbeings:n can comprehend?

n find to be aesthetically beautiful.

n What gives fire to the law of physics; what givespalpable reality to the potentiality they describe?


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IntroductionThis Week: An Orderly, Rational,

Comprehensible, Beautiful Universen Then we wrap up everything up from these

past 4 weeks to conclude that the best, single,

most rational explanation for all of it is acreator God who deliberately created a

universe or multiverse that would be

fruitful of life.


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The Laws of Physics


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The Laws of PhysicsOrder in Nature

n If we study the world around us, we see order, strikingregularities:n The orbits of the planets and their moons are simple

geometrical shapes; their motions display precisemathematical rhythms.

n

Patterns and rhythms are found within atoms.n Bridges and machines behave in an ordered and

predictable manner.

n These regularities are clearly real; they are not merelypatterns imposed on nature by our minds.

n Physicists, discerning these fundamental patterns,n have found they can be best distilled and expressed using

mathematics.

n Have come to regard them as laws that do not merelydescribe, but govern the universe. They are the eternal,

bedrock truths upon which the universe is built.

Orbit of the Moon

Around the Earth

Electrons orbitingthe nucleus of an atom


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The Laws of PhysicsOrder in Nature

n Remarkably, these mathematical distillations of theregularities seen in nature have allowed us to uncovernew things in nature, often things we never suspected:n Newtons law of gravity, for example, gives an

accurate account of planetary motion, but it alsoexplains the ocean tides, the shape of the Earth, themotion of spacecraft, and much else.

n Maxwells Theory of Electromagnetism went farbeyond a description of electricity and magnetism, byexplaining the nature of light waves and predicting theexistence of radio waves.

n Study and formulation of the truly basic Laws ofPhysics have revealed deep interconnections betweendifferent physical processes, connections that weotherwise never would have discerned or evenguessed.

Newtons Universal

Law of Gravity

Maxwells Equations

of Electromagnetism


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The Laws of PhysicsProperties of the Laws

n Many of the properties that physicists attribute tothe Laws of Physics are properties that theistscommonly attribute to God.

n The Laws are UniversalandPerfect.n The Laws apply unfailingly everywhere in the universe

and at all epochs of cosmic history.No exceptions arepermitted.

n The Laws areAbsolute.n The Laws do not depend on anything else. They do not

depend on who is observing the world, or on the actualstate of the world.


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The Laws of PhysicsProperties of the Laws

n The Laws areEternal.n The Laws do not change in time.

n This timeless, eternal character of the laws is reflected intheir expression as timeless, unchanging mathematical

structures.n The Laws are Omnipotent.

n Everything that exists is subject to the laws. Nothingescapes them. They are all-powerful.

n The Laws are Omniscient(in a loose sense).n Systems in the world do not have to inform the Laws

of their current situation in order for the laws to governthem. The Laws seem to already know theirsituation.


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The Laws of PhysicsNature of the Laws

n So what is the true nature of these Laws? In whatsense do they exist, and where do they exist?

n Most scientists think of the laws as something outthere that they are discovering, somethingtranscendental.

n A related question: all of the fundamental laws areexpressed in mathematical form. What is the nature ofmathematics? Where do mathematical forms andstructures exist?n Galileo: The great book of nature can be read only by

those who know the language in which it was written.And this language is mathematics.

n English Astronomer James Jean (pioneer in the study ofstars): The universe appears to have been designed bya pure mathematician.

n Many mathematicians also think of themselves asdiscovering mathematics forms and structures thatexist out there, forms and structures that exist in atranscendentalrealm.

Einsteins Equations of

Special Relativity

Einsteins Equation of General

Relativity (replacing Newtons

Theory of Gravity)


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The Laws of PhysicsPlatonic Nature of Mathematics

n The idea that mathematics forms andstructures exist out there, in atranscendentalrealm was the view ofPlato(427 347 BC).

n Plato is most famous for his theory of Formsor Ideas:n All triangles have in common participation in the

Form of the Triangle that exists in a divine,eternal, simple, indissoluble, unchanging, self-subsisting reality, existing outside space and time

(= the Platonic realm). Furthermore:n All beautiful things have in common

participation in the Form of the Beautiful; allgood things have in common participation in theForm of the Good that exists in the Platonicrealm.

Plato, 427-347 BC


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n Many mathematicians are Platonists. TheOxford mathematical physicist Roger Penrosewrites:

n Mathematical truth is something that goesbeyond mere formalism. There often does

appear to be some profound reality about thesemathematical concepts, going quite beyond thedeliberations of any particular mathematician. Itis as though human thought is, instead, beingguided towards some eternal external truthatruth which has a reality of its own, and which is

revealed only partially to any one of us.n Examples that inspired Penrose to adopt

Platonism include:n the system of complex numbers, which he feels

has a profound and timeless reality.

n something called the Mandelbrot set.

Roger Penrose, 1931 -


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n The Mandelbrot Set wasdiscovered by BenoitMandelbrot in 1980.

n The set is produced by the

incredibly simple iterationformula:

n zn+1 = zn2 + c

n where z and c are complexnumbers and z

0= 0.

n The Mandelbrot set consists ofall the points on a complexcoordinate graph for which thefunction z2 + c doesnt diverge

under iteration.

Benoit Mandelbrot, 1924-2010


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n Zooming inandexploringone small

section oftheMandelbrotSet, using

thecomputer:

from YouTube video Mandelbrot Zoom by M. Eric Carr / Northlight Computing(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEw8xpb1aRA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEw8xpb1aRA)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEw8xpb1aRA)


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n Roger Penrose writes:

n The complete details of thecomplication of the structure ofMandelbrots set cannot really befully comprehended by any one of

us, nor can it be fully revealed byany computer. It would seem thatthis structure is not just part of ourminds, but it has a reality of its own.. . . The computer is being used inessentially the same way that the

experimental physicist uses a pieceof experimental apparatus to explorethe structure of the physical world.The Mandelbrot set is not aninvention of the human mind: it wasa discovery. Like Mount Everest,

the Mandelbrot set is just there.

Mandelbrot Set zoom-in image from:

http://www.misterx.ca/Mandelbrot_Set---

Thumb_Print_of_God.html
http://www.misterx.ca/Mandelbrot_Sethttp://www.misterx.ca/Mandelbrot_Set


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The Laws of PhysicsNature of the Laws of Physics

n We are faced with deep and profoundmysteries:n The Laws of Physics seem to be eternal,

bedrock truths upon which the universe isbuilt.

n They are universal, perfect, absolute, eternal,omnipotent and omniscient in their scope.

n They seem to physicists to exist out there insome transcendent Platonic realm.

n

The Laws appear to be encoded inmathematic forms and structures, and thesemathematic forms and structures also appearto exist in some transcendent Platonicrealm.

n

How can these mysteries be explained?


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The Laws of PhysicsNature of the Laws of Physics

n For a Christian, a satisfying explanation is:n The Platonic realm where mathematical forms

and structures exist is the realm of God.

n The laws of physics seems universal, perfect,absolute, eternal, omnipotent and omniscient intheir scope because they rooted in and crafted

by God, the creator of the universe.

n If the idea of God is rejected, then theexistence of both the Laws of Physics and themathematical structures in which they areencoded become profound and unanswerable

mysteries.n Where do they come from?

n Who sent the message?

n Who devised the code?

n How could something that seems so obviouslyto belong to the realm of the mind just simply

be there freefloating?

Michelangelo: The Creation of the

Heavens (detail), 1508-12, from

the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel


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Why Are the Laws of

Physics Intelligible toUs?


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Intelligible LawsWhy are the Laws Comprehensible?

n Human beings have come to understandthe world, at least in part, through the

processes of reasoning and science.

n We have methodically explored ourphysical world as well as mathematics,

and by so doing have unraveled some ofthe hidden cosmic code, the Laws ofPhysics, the subtle tune to which naturedances.

n There is nothing in the Multiverseexplanation for why the universe appears

designed to produce life that requires thatlife have such a deep level ofinvolvement, such a deep level ofconnection with the Laws of the Universe/ Multiverse.

Neil Armstrong on the Moon, Apollo11 mission, July 1969


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n That is: there is no obvious reason why wehumans should be capable ofcomprehending the fundamental Laws ofPhysics that undergird the universe.n If there is no God, if we are products of a

mindless evolution, merely creaturesformed in a jungle crucible of dog eat dognatural selection and survival of the fitness,what evolutionary purpose was served byour ability to comprehendhighermathematics or discern quantummechanics?

n If Windows XP involved 45 million lines ofsource code, Mac OS X 86 million lines ofsource code, wouldnt you expect that anycosmic code that undergirds the operationof the universe would most likely beincomprehensible by any finite intelligent

being?


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n A Christian can speculate Goddeliberately designed the universe

n with laws that would becomprehensible to the conscious,intelligent beings (us, forexample) that the universe wasdesigned be fruitful of,

n because God wanted thosecreatures, intended to reflectGods image and likeness, tohave some understanding andappreciation of the creation, anunderstanding and appreciationthat they could share with theCreator.

Michelangelo: The Creation of Man,

1508-12, from the ceiling of the Sistine

Chapel.


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Why Are the Laws of

Physics AestheticallyBeautiful to Us?


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Beautiful LawsBeauty, a Guide to Discovery in Physics

n Not only are the Laws of Physics comprehensible tohumans, but theoretical physicists those who spend theirlives studying the Laws describe the laws as aesthetically

beautiful.

n It is widely believed among scientists thatbeauty is areliable guide to truth, and many advances in theoreticalphysics have been made by the theorist demandingmathematical elegance of a new theory.

n Einstein, when discussing an experimental test of his

general theory of relativity, was once asked what he woulddo if the experiment didnt agree with the theory. He wasunperturbed at the prospect. So much the worse for theexperiment, he retorted. The theory is right!


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Beautiful LawsBeauty, a Guide to Discovery in Physics

n Paul Dirac, the theoretical physicist whose aestheticdeliberations led him to construct a mathematicallymore elegant equation for the electron, which thenled to the successful prediction of the existence ofantimatter, echoed these sentiments when he judgedthat it is more important to have beauty in one's

equations than to have them fit experiment.n Roger Penrose, the mathematical physicists,

describes creative work in physics as the creativemind breaking through into the Platonic realm toglimpse mathematical forms which are in some way

beautiful:n

He cites beauty as a guiding principle in much of hismathematical work.

n Countering a view of mathematics as cold, dry, andrigorous discipline, he notes: Rigorous argument isusually the last step! Before that, one has to makemany guesses, and for these, aesthetic convictions areenormously important.Paul Dirac, 1902-1984


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Beautiful LawsElegance and Beauty of Maxwells Equations

n As a college sophomore physics major at Rice University,when we finished a year of study ofMaxwells fourequations that encoded all the phenomenon ofelectromagnetism, it seemed very appropriate to:n

celebrate the elegance and beauty of those four equations, anelegance and beauty that we could now appreciate to somedegree,

n acknowledge the ecstatic high many of us now felt,

in the manner our physics professor proceeded to do:

n He raised a large banner displaying the four equationsbefore the amphitheater of physics students, to the finale ofthe Overture of 1812.


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Beautiful LawsWhy are the Laws Beautiful?

n A Christian can speculate Goddeliberately designed the universe

n with laws that would becomprehensible and beautifultothe conscious, intelligent beings(us, for example) that the universewas designed be fruitful of,

n because God wanted thosecreatures, intended to reflectGods image and likeness, tohave some understandingandaesthetic appreciation of thecreation, an understandingandaesthetic appreciation that theycould share with the Creator.

Michelangelo: The Creation of Man,

1508-12, from the ceiling of the Sistine

Chapel.


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What Gives Fire,

Reality to MerePossibility?


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Giving Reality to PossibilityWhat is the Source ofBeing?

n The Laws of Physics prescribe the behavior of thefundamental constituents of the universe.

n But does knowing the Law, the prescription, the cosmiccode, explain:

n the existence of the universe,n that fact the universe is

n that the universe has being?

n The Laws of Physics, the cosmic code only describespossibility, potentiality. It is the software that prescribesthe behavior of hardware. It is the dream of a possibleworld.

n What gives the hardware being/palpable reality? Whatmakes the dream real?


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Giving Reality to PossibilityWhat is the Source ofBeing?

n Perhaps someday science will find the Final Theory ofEverything, the entire cosmic code that prescribes the

behavior of everything in the universe.

n Such a Final Theory of Everything will still only be:

n the code or law for how things behave,

n software that prescribes the behavior of hardware,

n the dream of a possible world that has somehow becomereal.

n It can never answer the questions:n What gives being to the things?

n What makes the hardware?

n What turned the possible world into a real world?


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Giving Reality to PossibilityGod as the Source ofBeing?

n A Christian however does have an answer:

n the things,

n the hardware,

n the possible world become real

n the universe

n has been created, made real, and is continuously

sustained in beingby God.


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Putting It All Together


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Putting It All TogetherSummary of the Problems

n Week 1 & 2: The Universe had a beginning (before whichthere was nothing). A Multiverse (if real) must have a

beginning (before which there was nothing). Yet fromnothing, comes nothing. What then could have caused theUniverse / Multiverse to begin?

n Week 3: How do we explain that the Universe appears tobe incredibly fine-tuned as if designed -- to be fruitful oflife?

n This Week: How do we explain that the Laws of Physics

are both comprehensible and aesthetically beautiful to thelife the universe appears designed to produce?

n This Week: What gives fire to the Laws of Physics; whatgives palpable reality / being itself to the potentialitythey describe?


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Putting It All TogetherThe Best Explanation

n The best explanation, the only explanation that

can answer all questions is:

n a creator God who deliberately created a universe

or multiverse that would be fruitful of conscious,intelligent life,

n a God who wanted that conscious, intelligent life,

intended to reflect Gods image and likeness, tohave some understanding and aesthetic appreciation

of the creation, an understanding and aesthetic

appreciation that they could share with the Creator.


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n A common objection is: but who created God? What caused God?n In our realm of reality:

n (1) the universe has a beginning (= before the beginning there wasnothing)

n (2) from nothingcomes nothing,

n (3) everything has a cause that is not itself; everything is dependent orcontingent on something else

n We have an intractable problem explaining why there is something(the universe) and not nothing

n The only way out of this intractable problem is to hypothesize adifferent realm of reality where (1) and (3) dont hold.

n It is perfectly logically coherent to say God the creator is in a realm ofreality wheren (1) There is no beginning.

n (3) Gods cause lies within Gods self.


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n This then is the description of God that NaturalTheology (the name for what weve been doing these

past 4 weeks!) has led us to:n a creator God who deliberately created a universe or

multiverse that would be fruitful of conscious, intelligentlife,

n a God who wanted that conscious, intelligent life, intended toreflect Gods image and likeness, to have someunderstanding and aesthetic appreciation of the creation, anunderstanding and aesthetic appreciation that they could share

with the Creator.n Such a God is fully consistent with God revealed to us in

the Scripture, with God revealed to us in Jesus, TheChrist, Our Lord and Savior.

multiverse 4

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