A Fortunate Universe - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook A Fortunate Universe write by Geraint F. Lewis. This book was released on 2016-10-06. A Fortunate Universe available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Over the last forty years, scientists have uncovered evidence that if the Universe had been forged with even slightly different properties, life as we know it - and life as we can imagine it - would be impossible. Join us on a journey through how we understand the Universe, from its most basic particles and forces, to planets, stars and galaxies, and back through cosmic history to the birth of the cosmos. Conflicting notions about our place in the Universe are defined, defended and critiqued from scientific, philosophical and religious viewpoints. The authors' engaging and witty style addresses what fine-tuning might mean for the future of physics and the search for the ultimate laws of nature. Tackling difficult questions and providing thought-provoking answers, this volumes challenges us to consider our place in the cosmos, regardless of our initial convictions.
The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning
The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning write by Victor J. Stenger. This book was released on 2011-04-15. The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A number of authors have noted that if some physical parameters were slightly changed, the universe could no longer support life, as we know it. This implies that life depends sensitively on the physics of our universe. Does this "fine-tuning" of the universe suggest that a creator god intentionally calibrated the initial conditions of the universe such that life on earth and the evolution of humanity would eventually emerge? In his in-depth and highly accessible discussion of this fascinating and controversial topic, the author looks at the evidence and comes to the opposite conclusion. He finds that the observations of science and our naked senses not only show no evidence for God, they provide evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that God does not exist.
God: The Failed Hypothesis
God: The Failed Hypothesis - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook God: The Failed Hypothesis write by Victor J. Stenger. This book was released on 2010-08-05. God: The Failed Hypothesis available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Throughout history, arguments for and against the existence of God have been largely confined to philosophy and theology, while science has sat on the sidelines. Despite the fact that science has revolutionized every aspect of human life and greatly clarified our understanding of the world, somehow the notion has arisen that it has nothing to say about the possibility of a supreme being, which much of humanity worships as the source of all reality. This book contends that, if God exists, some evidence for this existence should be detectable by scientific means, especially considering the central role that God is alleged to play in the operation of the universe and the lives of humans. Treating the traditional God concept, as conventionally presented in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, like any other scientific hypothesis, physicist Stenger examines all of the claims made for God's existence. He considers the latest Intelligent Design arguments as evidence of God's influence in biology. He looks at human behavior for evidence of immaterial souls and the possible effects of prayer. He discusses the findings of physics and astronomy in weighing the suggestions that the universe is the work of a creator and that humans are God's special creation. After evaluating all the scientific evidence, Stenger concludes that beyond a reasonable doubt the universe and life appear exactly as we might expect if there were no God. This paperback edition of the New York Times bestselling hardcover edition contains a new foreword by Christopher Hitchens and a postscript by the author in which he responds to reviewers' criticisms of the original edition.
God and the Folly of Faith
God and the Folly of Faith - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook God and the Folly of Faith write by Victor J. Stenger. This book was released on 2012. God and the Folly of Faith available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Looking at both historical and contemporary contexts, the author argues that religion has played a major role in suppressing scientific pursuit.
Anthropic Bias
Anthropic Bias - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Anthropic Bias write by Nick Bostrom. This book was released on 2013-10-11. Anthropic Bias available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Anthropic Bias explores how to reason when you suspect that your evidence is biased by "observation selection effects"--that is, evidence that has been filtered by the precondition that there be some suitably positioned observer to "have" the evidence. This conundrum--sometimes alluded to as "the anthropic principle," "self-locating belief," or "indexical information"--turns out to be a surprisingly perplexing and intellectually stimulating challenge, one abounding with important implications for many areas in science and philosophy. There are the philosophical thought experiments and paradoxes: the Doomsday Argument; Sleeping Beauty; the Presumptuous Philosopher; Adam & Eve; the Absent-Minded Driver; the Shooting Room. And there are the applications in contemporary science: cosmology ("How many universes are there?", "Why does the universe appear fine-tuned for life?"); evolutionary theory ("How improbable was the evolution of intelligent life on our planet?"); the problem of time's arrow ("Can it be given a thermodynamic explanation?"); quantum physics ("How can the many-worlds theory be tested?"); game-theory problems with imperfect recall ("How to model them?"); even traffic analysis ("Why is the 'next lane' faster?"). Anthropic Bias argues that the same principles are at work across all these domains. And it offers a synthesis: a mathematically explicit theory of observation selection effects that attempts to meet scientific needs while steering clear of philosophical paradox.
