Humans
seem to take for granted any law of nature that regularly acts to
their benefit, no matter how wonderful such a law may be, and no
matter how improbable such a law may seem from the standpoint of
random actions of material particles.
To
illustrate this point, let us imagine a different universe. In this
universe there is a most amazing law called “the law of soft
collisions.” So in this alternate universe, whenever anyone jumps
out of a tall building, or falls from a high cliff, their speed
starts to decrease at just the right time, causing them to gently
land without suffering any damage. Also, when two cars travel
directly towards each other at high speeds, their paths always divert
at just the right time so that there is no hard collision. (Please
do not test whether this “law of soft collisions” works in our
universe; I can assure you that it does not.)
If
people had always lived in such a universe, would they regard this
“law of soft collisions” as some evidence that their universe had
been carefully designed? I think very many of them would not.
Instead, they would simply take the law for granted – just as we
take for granted the laws that make our existence possible. In such
a universe we might see conversations such as the following.
Physics
teacher: So, to review our lesson for today, it is a fundamental
law of nature that nothing can ever collide violently. We call this
“the law of soft collisions.” So, for example, when people jump
out of skyscrapers they always land softly and safely. And there has
never been a death from an automobile collision. And when people fire
bullets at other people, the bullets always swerve away from their
targets or slow down, so that no harm is ever done.
Student:
My dad says that the “law of soft collisions” is so convenient
that it may perhaps be a bit of an indication of some purpose or plan
behind the universe.
Physics
teacher: Sentimental nonsense! The “law of soft collisions”
is simply the way that nature has always worked, a “brute fact”
that we can no more “explain” than we can explain the laws of
mathematics.
Returning
to our universe, do we ever take for granted any laws that are as
seemingly providential as this “law of soft collisions”? Yes, we
do that all the time. The laws we take for granted are the laws of
nature that make our existence possible. These laws include: the
laws of nuclear physics that bind together protons and neutrons to
become an atomic nucleus, the laws of gravitation that allows large
bodies to form, the laws of electromagnetism that allow complex life
to exist, the Pauli exclusion principle that makes solid matter possible, and also certain laws of quantum mechanics that allow the
existence of atoms by making sure that electrons do not fall into the
nucleus (something they would otherwise have a natural tendency to do
because of the electromagnetic attraction between protons and
electrons).
We
inevitably take all of these wonderful things for granted, simply
because they are part of the fabric of reality as we have always
known it. It is hard for us to imagine any other reality. But
suppose we try really hard to imagine a completely different reality.
Let us make such an attempt, by trying to imagine what it would be
like if you had always lived in a truly random universe.
In
a truly random universe, there would be no convenient laws that cause
matter to organize into galaxies, stars, planets, and atoms. So at
first glance it seems impossible to imagine yourself living in such a
universe, because biological life would be impossible. But let's get
over this difficulty by cheating a little. You can simply imagine
yourself as a disembodied spirit or energy floating around from place
to place.
What
would life be like for you in this utterly random universe? We
cannot imagine you living in a house, or walking on the ground,
because there would be none of the favorable laws of nature that make
possible planets and solid matter. But you can at least imagine
yourself floating around like a misty cloud drifting in the wind.
What
kind of matter would there be around you in this random universe?
There would be only disorganized matter drifting about. The closest
thing in our universe to such matter would be the disorganized matter
that drifts about in a gaseous nebula like the one shown below.
Occasionally
such drifting matter might form into interesting random
concentrations, although nothing too interesting because of the lack
of gravity. But you would not be able to appreciate even these mildly
interesting concentrations of random matter. This is because there
would be no sunlight or starlight anywhere in your random universe. Sunlight
and starlight both requires stars, and stars require many favorable laws and some
fine-tuned constants, which would not exist in your random universe.
So
you would not be able to see anything in this random universe as you
drifted randomly from place to place. For you there would be no home,
no solid matter, no beauty to appreciate. You would be like some
blind cloud drifting around in a moonless night sky, being tossed
around by dark, random forces. Life would be very, very dull.
Now let us imagine that after living many years in such a blind, drifting existence in a dark random universe, you suddenly found yourself transformed into a material being standing on the surface of a solid planet. If you then learned about the laws that made possible this orderly material universe, you would have the greatest appreciation for such laws that you had only just started to experience, regarding them as numinous marvels infinitely more amazing than having a huge monarch butterfly drift through your open window every day of the summer.
But
we can never have any such appreciation ourselves. We instead will
always utterly “take for granted” whatever favorable laws exist
in our universe, no matter how improbable or providential they may
be.
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