Are We Lucky or What?
By Ed Handkins
What about life on other planets?
When I see the news I am sometimes convinced that there is intelligent life on other planets – and they are using earth as their mental institution!
On a more serious note, we don’t know if there is any kind of life anywhere in the universe except here. At this point there is no way to be 100% certain either way. What we do know – earth is in a very privileged place in the universe. It is in a special place where life as we know it can exist. Living things are delicate and complex with many special requirements. Most of the universe we have been able to observe does not have conditions that would permit life as we know it.
Here are a few of the things that MUST be just right in order for life as we know it to exist at all. Radiation must be low enough to allow for life. Liquid water is necessary. There needs to be an abundance of the right elements – Carbon being the major one. Hundreds of other conditions need to be met for our kind of life to survive – and we don’t know that any other kind of life is even possible.
A different set of conditions is necessary for matter to exist. The ratio of the mass of the proton to that of the electron must be just right for life to exist at all. This mundane number (the ratio) is vital to the formation of stable atoms. An understatement is that matter is a very necessary part of life.
In order to have life it is necessary that the relationship between gravitation and electromagnetism be “just right.” Without the right ratio stars and planets could not exist.
In all there are at least thirty 30 different natural relationships that MUST be just right (within 1%) for life to exist at all. The possibility of that being an accident is so small it makes that idea laughable.
Paul Davies says, “The Standard Model of particle physics has about twenty undetermined parameters, while cosmology has about ten.” (Cosmic Jackpot; Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007, P. 146)
It looks like life is a “put-up job.” It didn’t just happen. It was designed. In another blog I will talk about the other things that are necessary for life. Right now I want to think about these “30” things that must be just right.
The classic image is a designer at a control board with 30 different knobs. Each knob (each knob represents one of the parameters necessary for life) can be adjusted through a wide range of settings. In order for life to exist each one of these knobs must be adjusted to within 1% of the value we know are necessary for life to exist.
One of my granddaughters was watching a video in the car as they traveled. The DVD would play the introduction when the disk was put in the player but Carissa would have to tell her mother (the driver) when it was time to push the play button to play the movie (Her mom, the driver, couldn’t see the TV.) Mom asked, “Do I need to push the play button?” To which Carissa said, “Well, it’s not going to play itself.”
That is true of the universe. It’s not going to “play” itself. The universe has no way of adjusting the knobs so they will be just the right setting – nor can it know what the settings would need to be in the first place.
Are we lucky or what? I have to conclude it is the “or what.” The universe is designed for life. If there is a design then there is a designer.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
© 2009 Ed Handkins
By Ed Handkins
What about life on other planets?
When I see the news I am sometimes convinced that there is intelligent life on other planets – and they are using earth as their mental institution!
On a more serious note, we don’t know if there is any kind of life anywhere in the universe except here. At this point there is no way to be 100% certain either way. What we do know – earth is in a very privileged place in the universe. It is in a special place where life as we know it can exist. Living things are delicate and complex with many special requirements. Most of the universe we have been able to observe does not have conditions that would permit life as we know it.
Here are a few of the things that MUST be just right in order for life as we know it to exist at all. Radiation must be low enough to allow for life. Liquid water is necessary. There needs to be an abundance of the right elements – Carbon being the major one. Hundreds of other conditions need to be met for our kind of life to survive – and we don’t know that any other kind of life is even possible.
A different set of conditions is necessary for matter to exist. The ratio of the mass of the proton to that of the electron must be just right for life to exist at all. This mundane number (the ratio) is vital to the formation of stable atoms. An understatement is that matter is a very necessary part of life.
In order to have life it is necessary that the relationship between gravitation and electromagnetism be “just right.” Without the right ratio stars and planets could not exist.
In all there are at least thirty 30 different natural relationships that MUST be just right (within 1%) for life to exist at all. The possibility of that being an accident is so small it makes that idea laughable.
Paul Davies says, “The Standard Model of particle physics has about twenty undetermined parameters, while cosmology has about ten.” (Cosmic Jackpot; Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007, P. 146)
It looks like life is a “put-up job.” It didn’t just happen. It was designed. In another blog I will talk about the other things that are necessary for life. Right now I want to think about these “30” things that must be just right.
The classic image is a designer at a control board with 30 different knobs. Each knob (each knob represents one of the parameters necessary for life) can be adjusted through a wide range of settings. In order for life to exist each one of these knobs must be adjusted to within 1% of the value we know are necessary for life to exist.
One of my granddaughters was watching a video in the car as they traveled. The DVD would play the introduction when the disk was put in the player but Carissa would have to tell her mother (the driver) when it was time to push the play button to play the movie (Her mom, the driver, couldn’t see the TV.) Mom asked, “Do I need to push the play button?” To which Carissa said, “Well, it’s not going to play itself.”
That is true of the universe. It’s not going to “play” itself. The universe has no way of adjusting the knobs so they will be just the right setting – nor can it know what the settings would need to be in the first place.
Are we lucky or what? I have to conclude it is the “or what.” The universe is designed for life. If there is a design then there is a designer.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
© 2009 Ed Handkins
the power and perfection really are fantastic! glad i'm not God, "1%...5%...close enough, they don't need so much oxygen."
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