Explore Why Are We Here: The Anthropic Principle ~ Earth Is Specially Made for Us
The universe of experiences in Our Universal Intelligence has characteristics fine-tuned to give us what we need to thrive, learn lessons, and explore why we are here. There is virtually no chance such a universe could have evolved by chance in a physical realm outside of Our Universal Intelligence. One estimate is that it would take 820 trillion years (58,610 times the estimated age of the universe) for such a world to have evolved using the materialists’ properties of a physical universe. [1]
Tailored Universe: A Glimpse into Our Purposeful Journey
The universe in which we are having experiences was made uniquely for us. That fact is another indication that we are immersed in a temporary experience that is simply one stage in our eternal lives. When we have finished our tasks here, we transition to the next experience that will be made uniquely for us.
The Perfect Harmony of Matter and Energy: A Design for Human Evolution
The energy and matter are the scenery in which we have experiences and learn lessons. Thus, we would expect that this combination of matter and energy would fit our needs for survival and growth, both intellectually and spiritually. In fact, it does more than simply fit. It is so perfectly matched to our needs that even minor deviations from the carefully engineered design would have rendered life in the universe impossible. It is matched to us in ways that are far beyond chance.
The Anthropic Principle: Cosmic Significance and Exploring Why Are We Here
The fact that the universe is so remarkably matched to us resulted in Stephen Hawking, the renowned theoretical physicist, coining the term “Anthropic Principle” to describe it. He wrote, “The odds against a universe like ours emerging out of something like the Big Bang are enormous. I think there are clearly religious implications whenever you start to discuss the origins of the universe. There must be religious overtones. But I think most scientists prefer to shy away from the religious side of it.” [2]
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Remarkably Precise Conditions on Earth Prove This Environment Is Created for Us
The existence of our universe, with galaxies and stars, is actually quite unlikely, with the odds against a universe that has produced life like ours being immense. These are some of the remarkably precise conditions the universe has that, if any fluctuated a small degree one way or the other, wouldn’t allow humanity to live on Earth.
Critical Balance: Necessity for Life’s Existence
If the strong force that acts on the quarks, neutrons, and protons of the atomic nucleus were just slightly weaker, the only element that would be stable would be hydrogen. No other elements could exist, and humankind couldn’t live.
Critical Balance in the Cosmos: The Impact of Strong Nuclear Force
If the strong force that holds the nucleus of atoms together were just a bit stronger, then the universe would be made up of atomic nuclei containing just two protons, so hydrogen would not exist to create water and the stars and galaxies would have evolved in ways that wouldn’t support life.
Delicate Balance: Gravity’s Influence on Stellar Lifespan
If gravity were just a little stronger, the average star would have only 10 to 12 times the mass of the sun and could exist for only a year, not enough time for humankind to live and grow.
Gravity’s Role: Star and Galaxy Formation in the Universe
If gravity were just a little weaker, then matter would not have assembled into stars and galaxies, and the universe would be cold and empty.
Entropy and Order: The Mystery to Explore Why Are We Here
“Entropy” is the second law of thermodynamics. Things disintegrate—they fall apart over time. But that means our universe began with order and is gradually becoming less orderly. No one knows why there was order at the beginning and not chaos.
Fine-Tuning at the Big Bang: Implications for Cosmic Creation
At the “big bang,” the initial rate of expansion would have had to have been chosen very precisely for the rate of expansion still to be so close to the critical rate needed to avoid re-collapse. This means that the initial state of the universe must have been very carefully chosen if the hot big bang model was correct right back to the beginning of time. It would be very difficult to explain why the universe should have begun in just this way, except as the act of a God who intended to create beings like us. [3]
Perfect Balance in Nature: Enabling Life’s Existence on Earth
The gravity pull of the sun and moon perfectly stabilize the Earth’s tilt of the rotation axis that results in a stable climate. The moon’s size is just right to cause ocean tides that mix nutrients from the land and oceans to make life possible. The Earth is just far enough from the sun so water can stay liquid, with temperatures such that human beings can live, and a size sufficient to have an atmosphere. [4]
Earth’s Vital Systems: Supporting Life’s Existence and Exploring Why Are We Here
The Earth is set up remarkably precisely to provide the water and oxygen the planet needs to support life. It has what amounts to an “oxygen machine,” as explained by researchers in the journal Nature. Large amounts of oxygen are stored in a mineral called “majorite” deep within the earth. Some of the majorite is continually rising to the surface on convection currents. As it rises, pressure and temperature decrease and the oxygen is released. That gives the Earth oxygen, and may be responsible for some of the water so necessary for life.
Protective Shield: Earth’s Magnetic Field and Atmosphere
The Earth’s magnetic field is set precisely so it helps keep the water and oxygen-rich atmosphere from being blown away by solar winds. [5]
The Galaxies Have Been Created to Allow Humans to Exist
The same kinds of remarkable engineering are present in galaxies. For human beings to be able to live in a particular galaxy, it would have to have exactly the right mass, type, age, and allotment of heavy elements. Our Milky Way Galaxy has that fine tuning. [6]
The earth is also uniquely situated with distinct properties that allow conscious beings to discover how the universe works. That fact is explained by the authors of The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery. [7] Our universe is set up not only to allow human beings to exist, but also to allow us to have maximum opportunities to make discoveries about it.
Perfect Alignment: The Moon’s Role in Enabling Solar Eclipses
The authors explain that the moon is just the right size and just the right distance from the Earth moving in just the right orbit to cover the sun precisely so we can have perfect solar eclipses—the moon exactly covers the sun from where we’re standing. As a result, we’ve made discoveries about the sun’s corona and the warping of light by gravity that couldn’t have been made without this incredible set of matched conditions.
Perfect Galactic Position: Our Unique View of the Universe
We’re also situated perfectly in the Milky Way Galaxy so we can observe and make discoveries about the universe. We have front-row seats. There’s very little dust where we’re located to absorb light from nearby stars and distant galaxies so we can see the remarkable images, such as the Hubble image on the cover of this book. We’re far enough from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, and the galaxy disk is flat enough, that our view of the distant universe is not excessively obscured. We can see a wonderful diversity of nearby stars and other galaxy structures. And because of where we’re situated, we can see the unique cosmic microwave background radiation that led us to realize that the universe is expanding and finite in age. [8]
Precision in Design: Questioning Chance and Explore Why Are We Here
All of that is engineered with such precision that it would be impossible for it to have occurred by chance as a result of an explosive expansion 13.7 billion years ago that materialists describe. These precise placements are within a universe with vast expanses of space where the sun, earth, and moon could have been formed anywhere by chance when the solar system was born 4.5 billion years ago. One analogy is that expecting to get our uniquely designed living environment out of an accidental explosive expansion in the universe is like expecting to get a dictionary out of an explosion in a printing shop.
Life's Origin on Earth: Explore Why Are We Here Beyond Evolution
Another indication that the Earth has been set up specifically for us is that evolution doesn’t explain the emergence of life from chemicals. The emergence of life by accident would have required that amino acids, the building blocks of life, be joined together in chains of hundreds of thousands of units to form proteins, and then proteins would have had to have combined into the single-celled creatures we call “life.” But evolution works through mutations of cells, by accident, resulting in the fittest surviving and passing along their mutations as adaptations. So the cells would have had to have existed first to have such evolution, and they couldn’t evolve by themselves without some intelligent design. Work in a laboratory to produce the amino acids required to sustain life has not been successful:
Life’s Origin: The Elusive Puzzle of Complexity
When, in 1953, Stanley Miller, then a graduate student at The University of Chicago, produced a few amino acids through purely random reactions among chemicals found naturally throughout the universe, the scientific community felt the problem of life’s origin had been solved. Far from it. Subsequent experiments have failed to extend his results. Thermodynamics favors disorder over order. Attempting to get those amino acids to join into any sort of complex molecules has been one long study in failure. The emergence of the specialized complexity of life, even in its most simple forms, remains a bewildering mystery [to the Darwinian evolutionists]. [9]
References to: Explore Why Are We Here
[1] Rabbi Ephraim Horowitz, “Life by Accident,” AISH, https://www.aish.com/ci/sam/48970356.html.
[2] Grant R. Jeffrey, Creation: Remarkable Evidence of God’s Design (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2009).
[3] Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Random House Publishing Group, 2011).
[4] Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay W. Richards, The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2004).
[5] Jeanna Bryner, “Huge Stores of Oxygen Found Deep Inside Earth,” NBC News, October 1, 2007, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna21082196.
[6] Schroeder, The Hidden Face of God.
[7] Gonzalez, Guillermo, and Jay W. Richards. The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos is Designed for Discovery. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 2004.
[8] Gonzalez, The Privileged Planet.
[9] Gonzalez, The Privileged Planet.
