A New Question for Science

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A New Question for Science Theology
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The Puzzle of Existence
Theologys old challenge Why 1 instead of
0?
Theologys new challenge Why 1 instead of
??
Why is there something instead of nothing?
Why is there something instead of everything?
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Meeting the Old Challenge
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Meeting the New Challenge

• How do we address the puzzle of existence?
• Reality checks
• Why is there a new challenge?
• Bottom-up
• Top Down
• Does everything exist?
• What are its implications?
• For Science
• For Theology
• Where next?

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Putting the Puzzle Together
Theologys Approach
In the Beginning God Created the heavens and the
earth (Gen 11)
Teleology
Sciences Approach
Necessity and/or Chance
Ecbatology
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Reality Checks
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DETERMINISTIC
?
DESIGNED
DETECTABLE
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DETERMINISTIC
Everyday World
DESIGNED
DETECTABLE
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Thinking of Everything
We live in on a planet orbiting a star in a
galaxy that is in expanding universe that began
explosively about 13 billion years ago

• Why do we believe this?
• We see the expansion
• We see the heat from the explosion
• We see the debris from the explosion

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Cosmic Theology
Selection
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Are we special?

• Is our universe a typical specimen?
• The answer appears to be no!
• The Bottom-Up Reasons
• Cosmic Fine tuning
• Biophilic Selection
• The Top-Down Reasons
• Cosmic Inflation
• String Theory
• What is the significance of cosmic selection?

Selection
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1 Cosmic Fine-Tuning

• Flatness problem
• Why is the universe so flat?

• Horizon Problem
• Why is the universe so smooth (uniform in
  temperature)?

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Flatness Problem
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Flatness Problem
For the universe as old as ours to have the
structure of stars and galaxies that we see, the
density 1ns after the Big Bang has to be near its
critical value to within .000000000000000000000001
!
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History
Horizon Problem
Foreground-cleaned WMAP map from Tegmark, de
Oliveira-Costa Hamilton, astro-ph/0302496
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• Information cannot travel faster than the
  speed of light
• Hence any particular point in the universe has a
  limited region of space that it can be in
  (thermal) contact with -- the communication zone

Horizon Problem

• The extent of this region depends on how long
  the universe has existed
• In our universe the communication zone of any
  point is 1088 times smaller than the hot plasma
  from the primordial fireball!
• So how do distant communication zones come to
  have almost the exact same temperature?

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2 Biophilic Selection
Basic idea 1) Compare our universe with a
set of possible universes that are allowed by
the known (or mathematically possible) laws of
physics. 2) Ask the question Are the
life-permitting features of our universe typical
or special? 3) Answer Our universe appears to
be very special finely tuned for the existence
of many things that make it hospitable for life.
Does the existence of intelligent life on planet
Earth tell us something about the properties of
the Universe as a whole?
Brandon Carter
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The Structure of Matter
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Many Unexplained Numbers
Quark Masses 6 Lepton Masses
6 Force Strengths 4 Mass Mixings
8 Higgs Mass 1 Vacuum Energy
1 Vacuum Mixings 1
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Why these values?
What we measure
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Our universe obeys laws of physics that depend
upon these numbers that we measure in experiments
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Other Strange Coincidences

• Vacuum energy
• Expansion of the universe
• Spatial dimensions
• Particle/antiparticle ratio
• Neutron/proton mass
• Electron mass
• Strength of Radioactivity
• Strength of Electromagnetism

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Anthropic Accolade

• We can only live in a universe whose
• Laws permit our kind of life
• Structure permits our kind of life
• Initial conditions allowed our kind of life
• Obvious when you think about it
• Life needs SPECIAL PERMISSION
• Laws, structure and initial conditions are all
  special
• Not obvious -- discovered over the last 50 years
• Out of all possible universes, ours is NOT
  TYPICAL
• A (divine) lottery, where life is the grand
  prize?

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3 Cosmic Inflation

• Basic idea very shortly after the Big Bang there
  was something called a false vacuum
• This generates a period of extremely rapid
  (exponential) expansion of the universe Universe
  doubles in size every 10-34 sec
• If this happens for only 10-32 sec, expansion is
  by a factor of 21001030

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Horizon problem solved
Todays observable universe of 13 billion light
years has nearly uniform temperature
Flatness problem solved
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General Predictions of Inflation

• That the density of the universe is close to the
  critical density, and thus the geometry of the
  universe is flat
• That there should be, on average, equal numbers
  of hot and cold spots in the fluctuations of the
  cosmic microwave background temperature.
• That the fluctuations in the primordial density
  in the early universe had the same amplitude on
  all physical scales
• An ecbatic (non-telic) smoothing mechanism
  replaces special initial conditions!

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Evidence for Inflation?
March 7, 2008
February 2003
Circumstantial evidence

• Upper limit on energy of inflation
• Physical structure approximately the same on all
  length scales

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4 String Theory
T I M E
Shorter Distance
Basic idea All known forces and particles are
different kinds of vibrations of one kind of
particle -- a string! Regarded by many as best
way of uniting gravity with quantum mechanics
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Remember those Unexplained Numbers?
Original hope String theory (TOE?) would
predict the value of these (and all other)
physical constants in our low-energy universe via
symmetry and dynamics
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Today

• Vast generality
• Very large variety of mathematical structures
• Nothing unique about any of them
• Vast number of particles
• Infinitely many unobserved particles
• No pattern to the known particle masses
• Vast number of ground states
• At least 10500 possible low-energy solutions
• Which one is our universe, and why?
• Troubling Problem of the Vacuum Energy
  (cosmological constant)
• All calculations indicate that it is 1050 --
  10120 times larger than observation

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Thinking of Nothing

• How can we obtain a small ?? (cosmological
  constant)
• Symmetry that gives ?????
• No examples
• Dynamics that gives ?????
• No examples
• Selection of ?????out of an array of
  possibilities?
• Maybe

Does this mean a multiverse?
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Our Cosmic Origins

• Coroborated by
• Age of Globular Clusters
• Age of Brown Dwarfs
• Age of the oldest elements

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Does Everything Exist?
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To The Multiverse
From Inflation
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Multiple Universes?
Inflation We are 1 tiny patch in an enormous
cosmos Our visible universe is no bigger than
1/101,000,000 of the entire cosmos.
How?
False Vacuum
True vacuum
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False Vacuum

• Vacuum energy density is constant because there
  is nothing for it to depend on

Pull out piston
False Vacuum Energy Tension
Time
inflation
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From Inflation to Multiverse

• The basic idea
• our observable universe was once the size of a
  grapefruit
• shortly after the big bang it grew by a factor
  of 1027 in size due to some (as yet unknown)
  mechanism
• As spacetime cools, different spatial regions
  have different constants of nature (different
  laws of physics!)
• The unlikely prospect that the constants have
  biophilic values will occur if space is
  sufficiently large

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Time
No Special conditions because ALL conditions
happen somewhere (in the false vacuum)!
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Multiverse level 1 other Hubble volumes
beyond our cosmic horizon
FALSE VACUUM
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Cmbgg OmOl
Multiverse level 2 Parallel Universes in a
False Vacuum
FALSE VACUUM
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Level 2 multiverse

• String Theorys 10500 solutions all exist
  someplace each coloured bubble represents a
  different solution
• Different effective laws of physics
• (physical constants, particles, symmetrics,
  dimensionality)
• Perhaps even uncountably infinite

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Multiverse level 3 Many Quantum Worlds
Quantum Decay of a radioactive nucleus triggers
hammer After 1 hour 50 chance of decay
Is the cat dead or alive after 1 hour?
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Big Bang Zoom
Multiverse level 4 Mathematical Multiplicity
All possible mathematical structures are
physically instantiated
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4 Levels of Multiverse
Level 1 All possible initial conditions
(inflation)
Level 2 All possible laws of physics (string
theory)
Level 3 All possible outcomes (quantum
mechanics)
Level 4 All possible logical structures
(mathematics)
Max Tegmark
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Implications of the Multiverse

• Scientific
• Elegance
• Testability
• Duplication
• Creationism
• Unboundedness

• Theological
• Free-will
• Justice
• Problem of Evil
• Purpose
• Divinity

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1 Elegance A Loss of Innocence?

• Cosmology becomes Environmental Science
• Universe is a Rube Goldberg machine
• Must give up the dream of a no-free parameter
  theory
• Our scientific efforts have been misguided all
  along

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2 Testability Measuring Mediocrity?
If this observer is in a typical region of the
multiverse, then the physical constants in that
region that he/she measures can be predicted from
a statistical distribution
Pick a random observer from the multiverse
false vacuum
If you walked out from church you would expect
the first man you see to be between 1.63 and 1.90
metres tall
If you were picked at random from the multiverse,
you would expect to measure a neutrino mass
somewhere in the middle!
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Mediocrity Strategy

• Consider constants of nature that are
  bio-irrelevant
• Do these fall within 1? of the mean of a
• normal distribution?
• If most do -- multiverse?

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3 Duplication Dept of Redundancy Dept?
Giordano Bruno (executed 1600) Ellis Brundrit
1979, Q.J.R. Astr. Soc. 20, 37 Garriga
Vilenkin 2001, Phys.Rev. D64, 043511

• Size of our Hubble volume 1026m,
• Closest copy of you 101029m
• Closest 100 lightyear bubble like ours 101091m
  
• Closest Hubble volume like ours 1010118m

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Lifes Winning Ticket?
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Be Fruitful and Multiply?

• If one biophilic region can exist, why not two?
• If 2 regions can exist, why not many?
• Why not infinitely many?
• The logical extension of the argument is that
  infinitely many biophilic regions exist
  (somewhere/when)
• Infinitely many earths ( duplicates) with all
  possible variations
• All possible social/psychological/experimental
  outcomes occur
• Unlikely outcomes cant be ruled out on the
  basis of chance
• Absurd everything that occurs is reasonless

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4 Creationism Boltzmanns no-Brainer?

• Boltzmanns Brain
• Easier to make fragments of a universe
• More likely to quantum fluctuate a brain than an
  entire universe
• Quantum brains more likely than bio-brains

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5 Unboundedness The Skys the Limit?

• Multiverse Mechanism
• Employs unbounded physical resources
• Once you start, you cant stop
• Occams Razor
• Economy of Assumption vs Economy of Resource
• Likelihood vs. Simplicity
• Foundational Fuzzification
• System is no longer closed
• Undermines principle of induction
• Time travel? Magic? Anything?
• Emergence of Level 5 Multiverse
• Universe as a simulation?
• Fake universes outnumber real ones

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The Trouble with Everything
?
Problem How to bound the multiverse?
ROAD TO REALITY

• No experimental guidance
• No compelling theoretical priors
• No firm philosophical foundation

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1 Justice Moral Mayhem?

• Do some universes have different principles of
  justice?
• Are the apparently deep moral principles of the
  universe merely local by-laws?
• Can there be a theological foundation for
  morality in a multiverse?

Warning! Also a SETI Problem
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2 Free-will Choice without Choice?

• Multiverse
• Every potentiality is an actuality
• Free-will
• If every choice is realized somewhere/when is any
  choice meaningful?
• Problems with many theological concepts
• Creativity
• Love
• Salvation
• Sacrifice

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Creativity or Chaos?
Creativity from (mindless) repetition?
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Christology Conundrum
Warning! Also a SETI Problem
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3 Theodicy Evil Unbounded?

• Bad things are more likely than good ones
• Populated landscape will have far more evil than
  good
• Implications
• Holocaust replications
• Tyranny without limit
• Can we tolerate limitless evil?
• Or is evil an irrelevant concept?
• Does Imago Dei make any sense?

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4 Purpose Elusive Eschaton?
Why do we live in a cosmos of change?
I am God, and there is none like me. I make
known the end from the beginning, ?from ancient
times, what is still to come. ? I say My purpose
will stand   (Is 469-10)
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Purpose?
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Purpose in the Multiverse?
A new Heaven for each? Map into a single
Heaven? Is there room for Heaven?
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5 Divinity Fake Gods?

• Recall Fake universes are more probable than
  real ones
• Hence fake gods are more probable
• Implications
• Some universes have gods, some dont
• Some universes are the result of collaborative
  projects between gods
• Infinite regress of gods creating gods
• Does a transcendent God make sense amid such
  theological chaos?

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Where Next?
In my Father's house are many rooms if it were
not so, I would have told you.
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.
John 142 Jesus affirms a multiverse
John 146 Jesus affirms a single universe
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The God Hypothesis

• We can only live in a universe whose
• Laws permit our kind of life
• Structure permits our kind of life
• Initial conditions allowed our kind of life
• Obvious when you think about it
• Life needs SPECIAL PERMISSION
• Laws, structure and initial conditions are all
  special
• Not obvious -- discovered over the last 50 years
• Out of all possible universes, ours is very
  special!
• This suggests the existence of a Cosmic
  Superselector -- God!

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Ingredients for a Theistic Cosmos
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B
Teleology Altiverse Antidote
A
C

• The observable universe is embedded in an
  altiverse a set of possible alternatives that
  logically exist but that are not physically
  realized
• Change from one state to another depends on
• the necessity of physical law
• the statistical likelihood of random processes
• the desires of intelligent agents (natural and
  supernatural) to achieve particular ends
• This last idea implies that the altiverse has
  causal gaps -- it can reach situations in which
  is intrinsically impossible to predict how to go
  from one state to the next

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Altiverse Gaps

• Quantum Mechanics
• actual causal connection between a given initial
  state and a given final state cannot be
  determined
• altiverse is the set of all possible outcomes of
  a given quantum-mechanical system
• Chaotic Phenomena
• not possible to predict the outcome of any such
  system with arbitrary accuracy for arbitrarily
  long times
• altiverse to include the vast range of
  possibilities that a chaotic system could realize
• Compact Spatial Topology
• WMAP data may suggest our universe is of finite
  spatial size, consisting of 12 curved pentagons
  joined together in a sphere about 30 billion
  light years across
• rules out the multiverse

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Identify opposite faces of a Dodecahedron Could
this explain our universe?
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A Small Dodecahedral Universe?
J. Weeks et.al. Astronomy Astrophysics October
3 2007

• Three Predictions
• Weak large scale CMB fluctuations
• Matching circles in the sky
• A slight curvature of space ????????

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Morality Cosmic Kenosis

• Universe is fine-tuned for life
• Universe is fine-tuned for morality
• Self-renunciation for the sake of the other is
  humankind's highest good

N. Murphey G. Ellis
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Personal Kenosis

• An ethic of Stewardship
• Caring for the earth
• An ethic of Non-violence
• Peace is the MEANS to by which we achieve our
  goals
• An ethic of personal commitment
• To our families
• To our friends
• To our communities
• An ethic of celebration
• To cherish what is best in life

love
patient
peace
gentle
good
joy
faithful
kind
self-controlled
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Christianitys Amazing Hypothesis
Identify
The Lord brought Wisdom forth as the first of His
works before his deeds of old Wisdom was
appointed from eternity Proverbs 822
Christ is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation Colossians 115