"The fine structure constant, or alpha constant as it is often called, is a critical number which seems to be precisely tuned for life to exist."
According to proponents of the Anthropic Cosmological Principle, anyway. Personally, I think the quasi-"intelligent design" notion that we owe our lives to an astronomical fluke vanishes when we remind ourselves that if the universe were any different from what we observe, we simply wouldn't be observing it at all. And I think it bears noting that Frank Tipler, one of the major advocates of the ACP, has since descended the credibility ladder with his book "The Physics of Immortality," a rambling tome that tries very, very hard to wed transhumanist philosophy with Judeo-Christian mythology.
The lesson? Sometimes even no-kidding scientists Want to Believe.
The article continues:
"It governs the electromagnetic force which holds all atoms and molecules together. Scientists have known for many years that if its value was slightly different, life could not exist. Most scientists believe that alpha today is the same as it always has been. But Murphy thinks this sacred number might be changing."
If it's changing, then the seeming "fine-tuning" hyped by Tipler and colleagues isn't as impressive as thought. Or is it? I suppose ACP theorists could always argue that the change in the alpha constant is itself another statistically implausible phenomenon arguing that the Cosmos is "designed" for human life.
2 comments:
A lot of scientists are closet fundamentalists, I suspect. In fact, science really is incompatible with religious belief, at least if you're consistent about it. If you're not, well, you end up spinning crazy theories.
--WMB
The ACP is indeed food for thought, but I think it is philosophically flawed.
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