HAWKING AND FINE-TUNING AND THE MULTIVERSE
Stephen Hawking denied that the universe needed a God or a supernatural creator.
While believers harp about, "God is the answer to why there is something when there might not be anything", what really convinces them is not this abstract argument but the alleged fine-tuning. One unimaginably small difference in the way the universe organised itself would mean life could not appear. I wonder how accurate that is when we cannot create life anyway and have no idea how it started.
Anyway Hawking says that the universe seems to be fine-tuned and designed. He states
that this "design" is entirely natural and there is no need to surmise that
there must be a designer God because there is an infinity of universes. This
view says that there are so many universes that by pure chance one would appear
designed though it is not. This is the concept of the multiverse. All
possible worlds exist in this concept. In one world, Donald
Trump marries Madonna. In another Jesus Christ rises from the
dead claiming to be trans or gay. Actually I will correct
that. If resurrection cannot happen it cannot happen in any
world.
The multiverse cannot be verified. Physics can only show that it is possibly
true. The theory of the multiverse states that there are 10500 universes which
explains seeming design in this universe. This is based on the notion that if
there are enough universes chances are one will come out all organised but just
by chance. The theory makes out that the seeming design we see is a coincidence.
Christians say that instead of developing the multiverse theory it is better to
suppose that there is a designer God who made this universe and there is no need
to assume that any other universe exists. They think the multiverse is too
complicated and it's better to stick to simpler theories. But this ignores the
fact that nobody can prove it is really possible for the supernatural to exist.
In other words, nobody can prove it is possible for the God with magic powers to
exist. God cannot be proven to be coherent. The multiverse theory makes sense
logically and mathematically. Choose the theory with the less magic in it.
Max Tegmark author of Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature
of Reality Tegmark, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014) says that the multiverse
model solves some terrible problems in the Big Bang Theory and helps science
predict phenomena. For him, the number of events is countless so it stands to
reason that unlikely things have to happen sometime. The sheer luck that leads
to you and be being here and alive proves that! For him, the you that exists in
another universe is not you but just a person very like you. Thus the idea that
there may be several mes may be wrong. But not all thinkers suppose that it is
wrong. The objection is that the usefulness of the multiverse cannot beat
verification and testing. True but that is problem not an objection. It seems
the multiverse model contradicts probability for it means in the parallel
universe by pure chance the history played out exactly is it did here but there
may have only been a minor difference that does not even register Perhaps a
grain of sand a millimeter away from where it is in ours.
The Christians say the multiverse does not rule out the possibility that there
is a God (page 49, God and Stephen Hawking). It does not rule out there being a
tooth fairy either. It is a theory about how randomness works - it is not
related to God at all. And why can't they just say designer? God is
too loaded.
The multiverse would mean that all is ultimately non-moral. It makes no difference if I save Annie's life in this world for that makes sure that in another world I will not save her. It makes morality impractical. And morality itself says that if it cannot be done it is no good. There is a rule that you cannot be morally obligated to do what you cannot do.
Scholars in the Church have claimed that if there are multiple universes then some could be paradise and we could go there or they could be an eternal Hell. But the multiple universes if they exist just exist so you can still end up in a Hell universe despite doing nothing wrong.
Their speculation violates how the multiverse is not about magical worlds but all possible worlds. If magic and the supernatural are real then we end up with a subject that is not only unfathomable but even more unfathomable.
Hawking stated that we have no direct perception of anything in the universe.
The book God and Stephen Hawking states that when we look at a tree we see an
image of it fed to our brains. Our senses do not give us direct perception or
knowledge (page 61). It says we use memory and reason in addition to the sense
perceptions to be able to tell that what we sense is there. What the book does
not tell us is that if miracles happen and if God exists then the supernatural
exists then all this is undermined.
Suppose you see a tree. If we accept that nature will not change we can assume
that the tree we see is not a vision or a miracle image but is there. But once
we start thinking nature can be overridden by the supernatural we feel less sure
and mentally become less sure.
Belief in the supernatural increases our scepticism. It is a pity we have to
have a level of scepticism at all - and so to embrace belief in the supernatural
turns it from a pity into a disgrace.
I would remind Hawking that what he says is right but we know what a jigsaw with nearly half the pieces missing is depicting so all is not lost. We do not need religion coming along trying to fill in missing pieces with magic. That only attacks our perception which is threatened enough as it is.
The perception thing helps us get closer to accepting the multiverse. The multiverse is based on how much we do not know.
Page 65 speaks of the subjective element in science and states that the
independent observer who is free from all prejudices and preconceived ideas does
not exist.
So whatever we believe, that belief is not based solely on evidence. We believe
and accept things partly because we are biased and want them to be true. It
follows then that to believe that a good God inflicts suffering on people is
evil. The more better off you are the worse it is. The belief merits revulsion.
With science though, again we still see enough of a jigsaw.
The aggression that nature has towards our perception is real and does not indicate a loving creator God.
John Lennox complains that Hawking says miracles don't happen yet
he believes in the multiverse theory which alleges that there are
universe in which anything can happen including water transmuting
into wine (God and Stephen Hawking, page 92, 93).
He does not. There could be another universe just slightly different
from this one. Perhaps there is an infinitesimally small difference
in time and neither universe can be told apart. The multiverse idea
does not require that we think there is such a thing as a universe
where water can turn into wine.
FINALLY
Multiverse ideas range from the notion that there are whole universes almost the same as the one that we are in to notions that this universe is connected to multiverse bubbles that support it. The other universes are very basic and uninteresting. This is based on the idea that a universe can just be a small pile of rubble or energy.
