Asimov, Isaac, "What is Beyond the Universe?" Science Digest, vol. 69 (April 1974), pp. 69-70.
p. 69
"If 0 = (+ 1) + (- 1), then something which is 0
might just as well become +1 and -1. Perhaps in an infinite sea of
nothingness, globs of positive and negative energy in equal-sized pairs
are constantly forming, and after passing through evolutionary changes,
combining once more and vanishing. We are in one of these globs in the
period of time between nothing and nothing, and wondering about it."
Darling, David, "On Creating Something from Nothing," New Scientist, vol. 151 (September 14, 1996).
p. 49
"What is a big deal—the biggest deal of all—is
how you get something out of nothing.
"Don’t let the cosmologists try to kid you on this one. They have not got a clue either—despite the fact that they are doing a pretty good job of convincing themselves and others that this is really not a problem. ‘In the beginning,’ they will say, ‘there was nothing—no time, space, matter or energy. Then there was a quantum fluctuation from which …’ Whoa! Stop right there. You see what I mean? First there is nothing, then there is something. And the cosmologists try to bridge the two with a quantum flutter, a tremor of uncertainty that sparks it all off. Then they are away and before you know it, they have pulled a hundred billion galaxies out of their quantum hats."
p. 49
"You cannot fudge this by appealing to quantum
mechanics. Either there is nothing to begin with, in which case there is no
quantum vacuum, no pre-geometric dust, no time in which anything can happen,
no physical laws that can effect a change from nothingness into
somethingness; or there is something, in which case that needs
explaining."
Chesterton, G., as quoted by P.E. Hodgson in his review of Chesteron: A Seer of Science, by Stanley L. Jaki, National Review, June 5, 1987, as quoted (in turn) by Duane T. Gish in Creation Scientists Answer Their Critics, Institute for Creation Science, El Cajon, CA
p.384
"The world does not explain itself... it is absurd for the Evolutionist to
complain that it is unthinkable for the admittedly unthinkable God to make
everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable
that nothing should turn itself into everything."
Discussion:
In his books The Design Inference (1998) and Intelligent Design (1999), William Dembski demonstrates that Complex (improbable) Specified (conforming to an independently given pattern) Information is the hallmark by which science empirically detects intelligent design in forensics, cryptography, archaeology, artificial intelligence, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, etc.
Over the years scientists have noticed surprising coincidences between the values of the physical constants and cosmological quantities of the universe, and the precise values required in order for life to exist. Huge amounts of Complex Specified Information fairly scream, Intelligent Design!
Historically, the term "anthropic principle" was first used by scientists trying to avoid the inference of intelligent design. In The Biotic Message, Walter ReMine classifies various skeptic formulations of the anthropic principle into three categories:
The tautological anthropic principle: We see the universe has survivable (and observable) properties because we survive (and observe).
The metaphysical anthropic principle: There are an infinitude of other universes having properties unlike the known universe; almost all those other universes are unsuitable for life; therefore 'nature' (all this infinity of universes) on the average has no special favor toward life or humankind.
The lame anthropic principle: The observed values of all physical and cosmological quantities take on values restricted by the requirement that life exists.
For stimulating discussions challenging the claim that the universe is a grand accident, please check out the following websites.
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The 2001 Principle - Fascinating analysis of the 1969 movie, 20001 - A Space Odyssey. Includes provocative discussions of the Anthropic Principle, Intelligent Design, Cognitive Dissonance and the “Design Threshold”. Deep insights into the human psyche.
The Anthropic Principle contains introduction, history of the term and definitions of different versions, a bibliography and numerous links.
Article – The Prerequisites of Life in
Our Universe by John Leslie. (126 footnotes).
An impertinent resume’ of
the Anthropic Cosmological Principle by Daniel Berger. Links to Weak,
Strong, Participatory and Final versions of the Anthropic Principle. Includes
links and booklist for further reading.
Design in Nature: The Anthropic Principle by Donald B. DeYoung, Ph.D.
Links to both theistic and atheistic perspectives on the Anthropic Principle.
A Designed Universe by Robert C. Newman, Ph.D.
The Intelligent Design of the
Cosmos: A Mathematical Proof - by R. Totten © 2000. Calculates the
composite probability of 8 Anthropic coincidences occurring independently by
chance.
The Designed 'Just So'
Universe by Walter L. Bradley. Discusses the mathematical
comprehensibility of nature, Cosmological Constants and Boundary Conditions of
the universe as evidences of design.
Papers by Robin Collins, Ph.D.
If the universe "just happened" into existence, it can jolly well just "un-happen". This tongue-in-cheek essay proposes that quantum physicists' experiments might accidentally tip the balance with an effect "like putting a needle into a balloon".
Arp, H. C., G. Burbidge, F. Hoyle, J. V. Narlikar, and N. C. Wickramasinghe, "The Extragalactic Universe: An Alternative View," Nature, vol. 346 (August 30, 1990), pp. 807-812.
p. 809
"The microwave background has no imprints to mark the occurrence of such events, contradicting the theoretical expectations of a decade ago and causing theoreticians in recent years to search for variants of the Big Bang that avoid a confrontation with observation on this point. Our opinion is that avoiding confrontation with observation is not the hallmark of a good theory.
"The Big Bang model offers a Universe created in a smooth featureless condition, out of which a highly structured Universe is nevertheless supposed to have evolved. Numerous attempts have been made to explain how this miracle is supposed to have happened. They have two features in common, one a retreat into the highest flights of physics and the other an unsatisfactory absence of the immense detail that would be required to support them in a proper manner, from which we suspect the attempts to be little more than ingenious handwaving. Perhaps this is why they are called ‘scenarios.’
"The root of the matter, it seems to us, is one of time-ordering. In the Big Bang model, the microwave background came first and the galaxies second, whereas the observations suggest (almost to the point of compelling) the opposite."
p. 810
"The commonsense inference from the Planckian nature of the spectrum of the microwave background and from the smoothness of the background is that, so far as microwaves are concerned, we are living in a fog and that the fog is relatively local. A man who falls asleep on the top of a mountain and who wakes in a fog does not think he is looking at the origin of the Universe. He thinks he is in a fog."
p. 810
"The above discussion clearly indicates that the present evidence does not warrant an implicit belief in the standard hot Big Bang picture."
p.812
"Cosmology is unique in science in that it is a very large intellectual edifice based on a very few facts."
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