The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Life
History and Philosophy of Physics
2021-10-18 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Abstract
When a physicist says that a theory is fine-tuned, they mean that it must make a suspiciously precise assumption in order to explain a certain observation. This is evidence that the theory is deficient or incomplete. One particular case of fine-tuning is particularly striking. The data in question are not the precise measurements of cosmology or particle physics, but a more general feature of our universe: it supports the existence of life. This chapter reviews this Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Life.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2110.07783,
title = {The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Life},
author = {Luke A. Barnes},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.07783},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
15 pages, 1 figure. Invited contribution to the Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics, edited By Eleanor Knox, Alastair Wilson