“ Scientists are slowly waking up to an inconvenient truth the universe looks suspiciously like a fix. The issue concerns the very laws of nature themselves. For 40 years, physicists and cosmologists have been quietly collecting examples of all too convenient "coincidences" and special features in the underlying laws of the universe that seem to be necessary in order for life, and hence conscious beings, to exist. Change any one of them and the consequences would be lethal. Fred Hoyle, the distinguished cosmologist, once said it was as if "a superintellect has monkeyed with physics". To see the problem, imagine playing God with the cosmos. Before you is a designer machine that lets you tinker with the basics of physics. Twiddle this knob and you make all electrons a bit lighter, twiddle that one and you make gravity a bit stronger, and so on. It happens that you need to set thirtysomething knobs to fully describe the world about us. The crucial point is that some of those metaphorical knobs must be tuned very precisely, or the universe would be sterile. Example: neutrons are just a tad heavier than protons. If it were the other way around, atoms couldn't exist, because all the protons in the universe would have decayed into neutrons shortly after the big bang. No protons, then no atomic nucleuses and no atoms. No atoms, no chemistry, no life. Like Baby Bear's porridge in the story of Goldilocks, the universe seems to be just right for life. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 373
“ Many investigators feel uneasy stating in public that the origin of life is a mystery, even though behind closed doors they admit they are baffled. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 3.9K
“ A universe that came from nothing in the big bang will disappear into nothing at the big crunch. Its glorious few zillion years of existence not even a memory. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 2.2K
“ A universe that came from nothing in the big bang will disappear into nothing at the big crunch. Its glorious few zillion years of existence not even a memory. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 3.8K
“ Even atheistic scientists will wax lyrical about the scale, the majesty, the harmony, the elegance, the sheer ingenuity of the universe of which they form so small and fragile a part.... Science reveals that there is a coherent scheme of things, but scientists do not necessarily interpret that as evidence for meaning or purpose in the universe. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 544
“ Even atheistic scientists will wax lyrical about the scale, the majesty, the harmony, the elegance, the sheer ingenuity of the universe of which they form so small and fragile a part.... Science reveals that there is a coherent scheme of things, but scientists do not necessarily interpret that as evidence for meaning or purpose in the universe. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 474
“ A much-voiced objection to travel backwards in time is that we don't encounter anybody from the future. If it were possible to visit the past, we might expect that our descendants, perhaps thousands of years from now, would build a time machine and come back to observe us, or even to tell us about themselves… ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 1.5K
“ A universe that came from nothing in the big bang will disappear into nothing at the big crunch. Its glorious few zillion years of existence not even a memory. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 1.5K
“ Even atheistic scientists will wax lyrical about the scale, the majesty, the harmony, the elegance, the sheer ingenuity of the universe of which they form so small and fragile a part.... Science reveals that there is a coherent scheme of things, but scientists do not necessarily interpret that as evidence for meaning or purpose in the universe. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 2.1K
“ The universe contains vastly more order than Earth-life could ever demand. All those distant galaxies, irrelevant for our existence, seem as equally well ordered as our own. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 1.4K
“ A universe that came from nothing in the big bang will disappear into nothing at the big crunch. Its glorious few zillion years of existence not even a memory. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 3.2K
“ It's something of a triumph for Guth and the people who developed the inflation scenario that 25 years later we get this level of detail and confirmation of inflation. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 987
“ Everyone plays a little tighter, and I'm just trying to create something. If you can get a turnover and convert it, it's a big lift for the team. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 3.2K
“ Perhaps the most famous of all the time travel paradoxes is the one in which the time traveler goes back in time and murders one of his ancestors, for example, his mother. The problem is then obvious. If his mother dies before giving birth, then the time traveler would never have existed… ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 3.8K
“ The universe contains vastly more order than Earth-life could ever demand. All those distant galaxies, irrelevant for our existence, seem as equally well ordered as our own. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 656
“ Perhaps the most famous of all the time travel paradoxes is the one in which the time traveler goes back in time and murders one of his ancestors, for example, his mother. The problem is then obvious. If his mother dies before giving birth, then the time traveler would never have existed… ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 1.8K
“ Even atheistic scientists will wax lyrical about the scale, the majesty, the harmony, the elegance, the sheer ingenuity of the universe of which they form so small and fragile a part.... Science reveals that there is a coherent scheme of things, but scientists do not necessarily interpret that as evidence for meaning or purpose in the universe. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 3.5K
“ Perhaps the most famous of all the time travel paradoxes is the one in which the time traveler goes back in time and murders one of his ancestors, for example, his mother. The problem is then obvious. If his mother dies before giving birth, then the time traveler would never have existed… ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 3.8K
“ A much-voiced objection to travel backwards in time is that we don't encounter anybody from the future. If it were possible to visit the past, we might expect that our descendants, perhaps thousands of years from now, would build a time machine and come back to observe us, or even to tell us about themselves… ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 3K
“ A much-voiced objection to travel backwards in time is that we don't encounter anybody from the future. If it were possible to visit the past, we might expect that our descendants, perhaps thousands of years from now, would build a time machine and come back to observe us, or even to tell us about themselves… ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 646
“ A much-voiced objection to travel backwards in time is that we don't encounter anybody from the future. If it were possible to visit the past, we might expect that our descendants, perhaps thousands of years from now, would build a time machine and come back to observe us, or even to tell us about themselves… ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 293
“ Everyone plays a little tighter, and I'm just trying to create something. If you can get a turnover and convert it, it's a big lift for the team. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 2.1K
“ A universe that came from nothing in the big bang will disappear into nothing at the big crunch. Its glorious few zillion years of existence not even a memory. ”
- Paul Davies- Copy
- 1