Comments for "Is This a Fine-Tuned Universe?" Video at VideoSift.com

By dgandhi

dgandhi (http://www.videosift.com/member/dgandhi) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 04:57:40 -0700

IIRC this is part of an interview that Brian Flemming did for The God Who Wasn't There. Some good interviews in that flick.

By Violator99

Violator99 (http://www.videosift.com/member/Violator99) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:02:06 -0700

The only problem I have with this guy's argument (see also Hitchens, etc.) is that god has to equal the Christian/Muslim/Jewish/etc. idea of god. They never seem to take in to account the possiblity of a god that exists outside of those religions' ideas of what god is.
Maybe a universe that is perfect for making black holes is absolutely necessary for the balance of all creation and reality. Who knows.
There is so little that we know about reality and we are still poking around in the dark for answers. I just kind of get sick of the smug self assuredness of people like this. Sometimes people just need to say, "I don't know" and accept it for now until better answers come to light.
Still, he made some interesting points, so it still gets an upvote from me.

By Spiff

Spiff (http://www.videosift.com/member/Spiff) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:27:26 -0700

Carrier's argument reminds me a lot of Neil DeGrasse Tyson's 'stupid design' argument (last 9 1/2 minutes of linked video).

By gwiz665

gwiz665 (http://www.videosift.com/member/gwiz665) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:19:06 -0700

Violator99: Indeed, BUT even if people just need to say "I don't know" it doesn't mean they should accept an answer which is obviously false; i.e. the judeo-christian god. His arguments, and so, so many others, just invalidates the christian god altogether, which means there is no real discussion available about it.

Even if we don't have "better answers" an answer that is decidedly false is not a worthy alternative.

By Johnald_Chaffinch

Johnald_Chaffinch (http://www.videosift.com/member/Johnald_Chaffinch) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:12:24 -0700

it's not arguing that this universe is not ideal for conscious observers to occur, it's just that we are a byproduct of it.
that it seems finely-tuned to a trillionth of a degree is only a result of the anthropic principle, this is the kind of place we're likely to occur. this supports the multiverse hypothesis, if this was the only 1 universe then it's development of conscious observers would be unreasonable to have come about by shear luck.