Design

Anthropic Principle:

"all the seemingly arbitrary and unrelated constants in physics have one strange thing in common--these are precisely the values you need if you want to have a universe capable of producing life."

"The Goldy Locks Universe"

• 30 parameters calibrated for life
• fine tuning estimated at one hundred million billion billion billion billion billion

Galactic Habitable Zone:

“zone in the galaxy where habitable planets might be possible” (CC, p. 167)

In Origin of Species, “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” (Charles Darwin)

Irreducible Complexity-Irreducible complexity=a system or device that has a ‘number of different components that all work together to accomplish the task of the system, and if you were to remove on of the components, the system would no longer function (CC, p. 197)

OR

-Irreducibly complex: “single system composed of several well-matched, interacting parts that contribute to the basic function, wherein the removal of any one part causes the system to effectively cease functioning (DBB, p. 39)

Discussion questions:

-Why would God design a Universe and not put us in the center?

-Why is our position in the Universe special?

-What unique properties of Earth make it unique to supporting life?

-How do systems appear to be designed?

-Why would a designer allow flaws in His design?

-Why would God allow cruelty and violence in nature?

-How does studying life systems strengthen your faith?

How is our solar system tuned for life?

• other planets
• circumstellar habitable zone
• our Sun
• our Moon

Spiral Galaxies

How is the Milky Way Galaxy tuned for life?

Types of Galaxies (CC, p. 168-169)

1) Spiral galaxies

2) Elliptical galaxies

3) Irregular galaxies

In the safe zone

• our galaxy
• our solar system
• our planet

We hang in a precarious balance:

1) atmosphere

2) composition

3) structure

4) Earth’s size

5) Earth’s location

6) temperature

7) internal dynamics

8) cycles (C, O2, N, P, S, Ca, Na, etc.)

What do you need for life?

• water
• specific elements
• carbon

Copernican Principle/Principle of Mediocrity (CC, p. 160)

“The problem is that the Copernican Principle has taken a metaphysically bloated form, which essentially says our metaphysical status is as insignificant as our astronomical location. In other words, we’re not here for a purpose, we’re not special in any way, and we don’t occupy a privileged place in the cosmos.” –Jay Wesley Richards

QUESTION: Does being removed from the center of the universe make us any less important?

(cc) image by nuonsolarteam on Flickr

Finished

2nd step

Spark

1st step

Last step

The Universe is fine tuned for life!

When is it reasonable to conclude design?

GOD THE INTELLIGENT DESIGNER

"God is the author of two books-the book of nature and the book of scripture-and that the individual believer will find their understanding and their faith strengthened through the careful reading of both books."(SR, p. 17)

When we talk about design we see two lines of reasoning arise:

• argument good design
• argument poor design/dysteleology

(cc) image by nuonsolarteam on Flickr

Example: The human eye

GOD

Dysteleology:

Why would an intelligent designer allow flaws in design?

DESIGN

photo (cc) Malte Sörensen @ flickr