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1 Abstract: The universe has the appearance of being extraordinarily finely tuned for life. This is problematic for a chance-driven explanation. In response many atheist thinkers have explored the possibility that an ensemble of universes, the multiverse, could be a plausible alternative to design. This paper explores the theoretical viability of the multiverse while providing an overview of the subject for the intelligent layman.
2 D. Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (New York: Crown Publishing Group, 2004).
3 Actually the geocentric (Ptolemaic) view was that Earth occupied the lowest position in the cosmos. This fits with the gnostic heresy that matter, the physical universe, is irredeemably corrupt.
4 P. Glynn, God, the Evidence (Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing, 1997), 22.
5 See J. Leslie, Universes (London: Routledge, 1996).
6 See D. Brownlee and P. Ward, Rare Earth (New York: Copernicus Books, 2000); H. Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2001).
7 W. Bradley, “The ‘Just So’ Universe,” in Signs of Intelligence, eds. W. Dembski and J. Kushiner (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2001).
8 V. Reppert, C. S. Lewis's Dangerous Idea (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003).
9 R. Lewontin, “Billions and Billions of Demons,” review of The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by C. Sagan, in the New York Review of Books (January 1997): 28–32.
10 R. Swinburne, The Existence of God (rev. ed.: Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991).
11 If only one innocent man is too few to convince, I can produce any number through suitable propagation of worlds. In fact, the number of worlds (and innocent men) could be infinite!
12 Sherlock Holmes in A. C. Doyle, Sherlock Holmes: Selected Stories, ed. S. C. Roberts (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998).
13 J. Khoury, B. A. Ovrut, P. J. Steinhardt, and N. Turok, “The Ekpyrotic Universe: Colliding Branes and the Origin of the Hot Big Bang,” Physical Review D 64 (2001), 123522, http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0103239 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008). I note, for completeness, that one of the authors (P. Steinhardt) is actually a critic of anthropic thinking as a resolution of the universe fine-tuning problem.
14 See the February 2004 issue of Discover (p. 35) for a full, popular-level description of this model. Energetically, what really happens is that the universe's state of gravitational potential energy can be reduced infinitely; the stopping point is a boundary at negative infinity.
15 Our particular world sheet expands at a rate consistent with keeping the entropy density constant.
16 J. H. Adelberger, T. S. Cook, J. H. Gundlach, B. R. Heckel, C. D. Hoyle, D. J. Kapner, and H. E. Swanson, “Tests of the Gravitational Inverse-Square Law Below the Dark-Energy Length Scale, Physical Review Letters 98 (2007) 021101, http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0611184v1 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008).
17 Except for exotic topologies.
18 A. Guth, The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origin (New York: Perseus Publishing, 1998).
19 G. Ellis, U. Kirchner, and J.-P. Uzan, “WMAP Data and the Curvature of Space,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 344 (2003) L65, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0302597 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008).
20 C. L. Bennett, J. Dunkley, R. Greason, B. Gold, M. Halpern, R. S. Hill, G. Hinshaw, M. N. Jarosik, A. Kogut, E. Komatsu, D. Larson, M. Limon, S. S. Meyer, M. R. Nolta, N. Odegard, L. Page, D. N. Spergel, G. S. Tucker, J. L. Weiland, E. Wollack, E. L. Wright, “Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Data Processing, Sky Maps, and Basic Results,” Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (forthcoming) http://arxiv.org/abs/0803.0732 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008).
21 These errors are “one sigma” values. To be truly confident in an error bound, scientists will usually use bounds that are three to five times larger. So we currently have only weak confidence of a closed universe.
22 R. Penrose, The Emperor's New Mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 344.
23 G. Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters (New York: Bantam, 1989), 302.
24 See Guth, The Inflationary Universe.
25 A potential infinity is a finite quantity that is increasing without bound. An actual infinity is just as it sounds, a truly infinite quantity.
26 Research on this matter will show that more than four are discussed, but most are weeded out if we assert (1) a correspondence theory of truth, (2) that “ordinary” logic applies (i.e., we respect notions such as the Law of Excluded Middle), (3) that current quantum theory is complete, (4) that we ignore FAPP (for-all-practical-purposes) or instrumental-only (nonrealist) interpretations, (5) that we are interested only in interpretations where “the universe” is a meaningful concept, and (6) that this “universe” is an objective, extramental reality (which likely excludes the “consistent” or “decoherent” histories approach). If so, then the four options are:
27 Which, due to the effect of dark energy will expand forever (i.e., no reincarnation).
28 See http://cmb.phys.cwru.edu/boomerang/press_images/raw_images/model_maps.jpg for a depiction of how the CBR can help determine the “flatness” of the universe.
29 R. Lehoucq, J.-P. Luminet, A. Riazuelo, J. Weeks, J.-P. Uzan, “Dodecahedral space topology as an explanation for weak wide-angle temperature correlations in the cosmic microwave background,” Nature 425 (2003) 593, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0310253 (accessed October 7, 2008); G. Efstathiou, “Is the Low CMB Quadrupole a Signature of Spatial Curvature?” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 343 (2003) L95, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0303127 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008). One should note that the authors do not probe (or endorse) the theistic implications of their research. See W. Hu and M. White, “The Cosmic Symphony,” issue of Scientific American (February 2004): 44, which contains an excellent layman's level discussion of the CBR and what a scientist can learn from it.
30 J.-P. Luminet, “The Shape and Topology of the Universe,” Proceedings from the conference Tessellations: The World a Jigsaw (Leyden, the Netherlands), March 2006, http://arxiv.org/abs/0802.2236 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008).
31 The following string of quotations is taken from Luminet's essay. All italics have been added.
32 The specific reference cited here is: D. N. Spergel, L. Verde, H. V. Peiris, E. Komatsu, M. R. Nolta, C. L. Bennett, M. Halpern, G. Hinshaw, N. Jarosik, A. Kogut, M. Limon, S. S. Meyer, L. Page, G. S. Tucker, J. L. Weiland, E. Wollack, and E. L. Wright, “First Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP 1) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters,” Astrophysical Journal Supplement 148 (2003) 175–94, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0302209 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008).
33 S. Bajtlik, M. Cechowska, B. Lew, A. Marecki, B. F. Roukema, “A Hint of Poincaré Dodecahedral Topology in the WMAP First Year Sky Map,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 423 (2004) 821, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0402608v4 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008); S. Bajtlik, M. Biesiada, H. Jurkiewicz, B. F. Roukema, A. Szaniewska, “A Weak Acceleration Effect Due to Residual Gravity in a Multiply Connected Universe,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 463 (2007), 861, http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0602159v3 (accessed Oct. 7 2008); Z. Buliński, N. E. Gaudin, B. F. Roukema, A. Szaniewska, “The Optimal Phase of the Generalised Poincaré Dodecahedral Space Hypothesis Implied by the Spatial Cross-Correlation Function of the WMAP Sky Maps,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 486 (2008), 55, http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.0006v2 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008); S. Caillerie, M. Lachièze-Rey, R. Lehoucq, J.-P. Luminet, A. Riazuelo, and J. Weeks, “A New Analysis of the Poincaré Dodecahedral Space Model,” Astronomy and Astrophysics (forthcoming), http://arxiv.org/abs/0705.0217v2 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008); B. Lew, B. Roukema, “A Test of the Poincaré Dodecahedral Space Topology Hypothesis with the WMAP CMB Data,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 482 (2008), 747–53, http://arxiv.org/abs/0801.1358v2 (accessed Oct. 7, 2008); J.-P. Luminet, “The Shape and Topology of the Universe.”
34 Luminet's dodecahedron is not the only possibility here. There are many more possible closed topologies.
35 See http://abbott.thefreelibrary.com/Flatland for an online version of this book about a three-dimensional being visiting creatures that live in a two-dimensional “flat-land.”
36 J. Barrow and F. Tipler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986), 177.
37 Penrose, Emperor's New Mind, 354 (emphasis added).
38 D. Page, “Is Our Universe Likely to Decay within 20 Billion Years?” (2006), http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0610079 (accessed October 7, 2008).
39 It might be easier to grasp the need for typicality if you realize that these thermal fluctuations represent a legitimate competitor to Darwinian evolution as an explanation for the origin of the species. Given that both are accepted theories, the atheist seems committed to arguing that we should believe in Darwin because Darwinian worlds are far more likely.
40 Philosopher Nick Bostrom has argued that if artificial intelligence is actually possible, then it is far more likely that we are simulations living within someone's digital computer program as opposed to a real world. This situation implies that the apparent laws of physics are arbitrary. The warrant for scientific practice is thus undercut, eliminating the supposed ground for postulating a multiverse in the first place.
41 G. Gonzalez and J. Richards, The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 2004).
42 J. Richards, “Many Worlds Hypotheses: A Naturalistic Alternative to Design,” Perspectives on Science and the Christian Faith 49 (December 1997): 218–27, http://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1997/PSCF12–97Richards.html.
43 W. L. Craig and J. Sinclair, “The Kalam Cosmological Argument,” in the Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology, eds. W. L. Craig and J. P. Moreland (Oxford: Blackwell, 2009), forthcoming.
44 A. A. Borde, A. Guth, and A. Vilenkin, “Inflationary Spacetimes Are Not Past-Complete,” Physical Review Letters 90 (2003): 151301, http://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0110012 (accessed Oct. 7 2008).
45 W. L. Craig, “The Ultimate Question of Origins: God and the Beginning of the Universe,” Astrophysics and Space Science 269–70 (1999): 723–40, http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/ultimatequestion.html (accessed Oct. 7, 2008).
46 Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act I, scene V.
47 Such as the “Decoherent Histories” account of cosmologist Jim Hartle.
48 Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide.