Is it possible to know cosmological fine-tuning?
Abstract
Fine-tuning studies whether some physical parameters, or relevant ratios between them, are located within so-called life-permitting intervals of small probability outside of which carbon-based life would not be possible. Recent developments have found estimates of these probabilities that circumvent previous concerns of measurability and selection bias. However, the question remains if fine-tuning can indeed be known. Using a mathematization of the epistemological concepts of learning and knowledge acquisition, we argue that most examples that have been touted as fine-tuned cannot be formally assessed as such. Nevertheless, fine-tuning can be known when the physical parameter is seen as a random variable and it is supported in the nonnegative real line, provided the size of the life-permitting interval is small in relation to the observed value of the parameter.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2401.04190,
title = {Is it possible to know cosmological fine-tuning?},
author = {Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón and Ola Hössjer and Calvin Mathew},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.04190},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
Accepted version. Minor changes: a sentence removed at the end of Section 5.2, and more comprehensive keywords