The Goldilocks Enigma

The Goldilocks Enigma The Goldilocks Enigma

by Paul Davies

From the rear cover -

It's not too hot, it's not too cold and its forces act together in a way that's just right: why does the universe seem so perfectly tailor-made for life to exist?

Paul Davies, one of the world's most acclaimed science writers, shows how everything from the humble carbon atom to the speed of light and the laws of physics themselves interact. He asks: Is a theory of everything within our grasp? If there was a big bang, what happened before it? Is there just one universe or many? Could we exist in an endless time loop?

The Goldilocks Enigma gets to the heart of what makes the universe tick - and what makes our place in it so special.

'This is popular science as home to the really big questions.'

Independent, Books of the year

'Britain's most eminent cosmologist ... Davies is effortlessly at home in the scale of the impossibly large, hundreds of billions of miles.'

Observer

'He leads the reader gently by the hand through the basics of what we are sure we understand about space, time and the universe.'

John Gribbin

'Paul Davies is undoubltedly one of the most important modern scientific authors ... his most significant contribution to date.'

Patrick Moore

Page 2 -

Among the many prerequisites for life - at least for life as we know it - is a good supply of the various chemical elements needed to make biomass. Carbon is the key life-giving element, but oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorous are crucial too. Liquid water is another essential ingredient. Life also requires an energy source and a stable environment, which in our case are provided by the sun. For life to evolve past the level of simple microbes, this life-encouraging setting has to remain benign for a very long time; it took billions of years for life on Earth to reach the point of intelligence.

On a larger scale, the universe must be sufficiently old and cool to permit complex chemistry. It has to be orderly enough to allow the untrammelled formation of galaxies and stars. There have to be the right kind of forces acting between particles of matter to make stable atoms, complex molecules, planets and stars. If almost any of the basic features of the universe, from the properties of atoms to the distribution of the galaxies, were different, life would very probably be impossible.

Page 17 -

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. As the great cosmic drama unfolds before us, it begins to look as though there is a 'script' - a scheme of things - which its evolution is following. We are then bound to ask who or what wrote the script? Or did the script somehow, miraculously, write itself? Is the great cosmic text laid down, once and for all, or is the universe, or the invisible author, making it up as it goes along? Is this the only drama being staged, or is our universe just one of many shows in town?

Page 18 -

Can a truly absurd universe so convincingly mimic a meaningful one?

May add more of this section ... but you know me :)

Page 56 -

After decades of research, it is now possible to reconstruct in some detail how the elements were produced.

Page 61 -

This wasn't just idle curiosity. It was clear in the 1970's that some very basic features of the universe remained completely unexplained - indeed, they were positively mysterious. First, and most obvious, was the problem of what actually caused the big bang. A related question was why the big bang was just that big, rather than bigger or smaller: what precisely determined its oomph? Then there was the puzzle of why the large-scale geometry of the universe is flat, and the related mystery of why the total mass-energy of the universe is indistinguishable from zero. But the biggest puzzle of all concerned the extraordinary uniformity of the universe on a grand scale, as manifested in the smoothness of the CMB radiation. As I have pointed out, on a scale of billions of light-years, the universe looks pretty much the same everywhere. And similar remarks apply to the expansion: the rate is identical in all directions and, as best we can tell, in all cosmic regions. All these features were completely baffling in the 1970's, yet they are all crucial for creating a universe fit for life. For example, a bigger bang would would have dispersed the cosmolgical gases too swiftly for them to accumulate into galaxies. Conversely, had the bang been not so big, then the universe would have collapsed back on itself before life could get going. Our universe has picked a happy compromise: it expands slowly enough to permit galaxies, stars and planets to form, but not so slowly as to risk rapid colapse.

Page 157 -

The carbon story left a deep impression on Hoyle. He realised that if it weren't for the coincidence that a nuclear resonance exists at just the right energy, htere would be next o no carbon in the universe, and probably no life.

This is another excellent chapter ... why not get the book 4 yourself ...

Page 164 -

If gravity were a bit stronger, all stars would be radiative and planets might not form; if gravity were somewhat weaker, all stars would be convective and supernovas might never happen. Either way, the prospects for life would be dinminished.

Page 204 -

The closest most of us come to the Matrix experience is dreaming.

May type more of this interestin section ...

Page 207 -

Moreover, it is not necessary to create a whole universe to convince you and me that the world about us is real. Most of the universe goes unseen in daily life, so it can be dispensed with: just Earth and its immediate environs would suffice. Nor does the fake universe have to be billions of years old: the simulation could start at any time with records and memories intact.

Page 210 -

This would be like the dream-within-a-dream I discussed earlier - which raises the scary prospect that we and our world may be a simulation being run by another simulation, two steps removed from reality!

Page 214 -

In that respect, it is akin to the argument that the universe was created five minutes ago with all records and memories imprinted in it - that the present is real but the past is fake.

Page 218 -

Biological organisms are immensely complex - far more complex than Paey could have realised. To a physicist they look nothing short of miraculous. The many and diverse components function together in a coherent and amazingly orchestrated manner. The living cell contains miniscule pumps, levers, motors, rotors, turbines, propellers, scissors and many othe instruments familiar from a human workshop, all of them exquisite examples of nanotechnology. The entire assemblage runs itself with great efficiency, sometimes autonomously, sometimes in collaboration with other cells through a sophisticated network of intercellular communication based on chemical signalling. The command and control functions of the cell are encoded in its DNA database, which implements instructions through intermediary molecules using an optimal mathematical code to convert software instructions into hardware components with customised functionality. And this is just one cell! In a larger organism, vastly many cells get together and co-operate to form organs such as eyes, ears, brains, livers and kidneys, many of them immensely elaborate in their structure and function. The human brain alone has more cells than there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy. So it all adds up to a package of marvels that boggles the mind.

Kinda reminds me of this poem

Page 293 -

Now we are free of Darwinian evolution and able to create our own real and virtual worlds, and our information processing technology can take us to intellectual arenas that no human mind has ever before visited , those age-old questions of existence may evaporate away, exposed as nothing more than the befuddled musings of biological beings trapped in a mental straitjacket inherited from evolutionary happenstance.

That's about it ... if you have read this far why not buy the book - lots more I could have typed up :)

Afterword

Page 302 -

Fake universe

We are living in a simulation, and what we take to be the real world is an ingeniously contrived virtual reality show. This is a variant on the intelligent designer scenario but upgraded for the information age. This theory enjoys the same easy-fix advantages as intelligent design but has the distinct disadvantage of undermining the scientific quest. If the universe is a sham, why bother to figure out how it works?

I may tap out more but go & get yourself a copy! Readin off a screen can't compare with havin a copy in your hot, little hands & sittin in a nice, comfy chair. :)

Some links:

Buy the book online

Why is the universe JUST right for intelligent life

More about fine-tuning

Also reminds me of a great book called "God, Actually" :)

See journal for Feb 2010 - click

Great site about god & science

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Basic building blocks for life depend on a very delicate, finely-tuned balance of the physical properties of the universe

What does the universe tell us about God?

Paul mentions a book called The Anthropic Cosmolgical Principle

Some atheists unhappy that the fine-tuning of the laws smacked of some sort of divine design, they seized on the multiverse theory as a neat explanation for the uncanny bio-friendliness of the universe

For the universe 2 support life certain elements must be present

Liquid water is also essential

How evolution led to us :)

The physical laws of the universe support life

Do the laws of nature originate in the mind of God?

Another book mentioned is 'The Mysterious universe'

Is the universe a simulation - I have often wondered myself :)

www.evidence-for-god.com

Our atmosphere is also JUST right 4 life

Is the big bang a moment of creation by a divine (loving) Creator?

Three dimensions is JUST right for life

Book mentioned in the text - about the first three minutes of the universe