Naturalistic Faith

If you believe in naturalism and evolution as presented by today's scientists, there are a number of things in which you must have faith. I don't have enough faith in random chance to believe that our entire existence is a cosmic accident.

In this posting, which will be rather long, I'll point out a few of the absolute requirements for just matter to exist -- not even mentioning how much more complex the requirements are for life. Then I'll illustrate the mathematical probabilities that these few conditions can exist via random chance. I'm not presupposing any conclusion -- just read and view the facts of physics and draw your own conclusion.

Neutrons and Protons

The relative mass of a proton and a neutron have to be exactly what they are, and they are nearly identical. Inside our sun, there are ongoing nuclear reactions that convert hydrogen to helium (which releases the tremendous amount of energy given off by the sun). Two protons collide and one changes into a neutron. The two particles join together, creating something called a deuteron.

This is only possible because the mass of the proton and the neutron are nearly identical. Without this process, and the creation of deuterons, there would be no nuclear reactions and no energy released by the sun. A free neutron decays into a proton and an electron. If a neutron were just .002% of it's actual size, protons would decay into neutrons -- and atoms would not exist. The most basic atom, hydrogen, is a free proton -- if protons decayed, even hydrogen could not exist.

In other words, if the relative mass of protons vs. neutrons was off by even just 0.0001%, not only could life not exist, but matter itself couldn't exist. What are the odds that this situation happened by pure random chance?

Atomic Partical Charges

When comparing the electrical charge of a proton and an electron in an atom, scientists have shown that the charges can only differ by less than one part in 1,000,000,000,000,000. Because they do not, atoms tend to have a neutral charge.

However, if one of these charged particles differed by one 1 part per 1,000,000,000, then the atom would not be electrically neutral -- they would be either positively or negatively charged. If that were the case, the parts of an atom would repel one another -- and there could be no existence of matter at all.

Strong Nuclear Force

This is the force that binds atoms together and keeps atoms from falling apart. If this force were only 3% stronger, all hydrogen in existence would become helium. If it were about 5% stronger, the thermonuclear reactions in the sun would be tremendously more efficient, ensuring all stars would burn up millions of times faster.

If this force were weaker, say 1/100th of it's actual strength, then protons would repel one another in the nucleus of atoms -- again making neither life nor even matter possible. Again, what is the probability that this force just "happened" to be exactly right?

Epsilon Constant

The Epsilon Constant is a factor that pertains to gravitational forces. If it deviated even a tiny bit in any direction, all stars in the universe would change -- becoming rapidly, exponentially cooler or hotter. The value of this constant is expressed as 2.0e-39, or 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000002.

This force is extremely important and delicate. If there were even the slightest deviation in this force, the universe would likely collapse. This force balances with and opposes the gravitational fine structure, measured at 5.9e-39 (0.00000000000000000000000000000000000000059). The slightest change in either of these forces would change our sun into a blue giant or a red dwarf -- ensuring no life on the planet earth.

Primordial Escape Velocity

The primordial expansion velocity is the speed at which the universe is expanding. The primordial escape velocity is the combined gravity of all the universe. These two velocities must be exactly the same to maintain the universe in it's current state.

If the expansion velocity were only one part in a million greater, the entire universe would expand into nothing but gas -- no planets or stars could form. If the velocity were one part in a million less, the whole universe would collapse into itself and a black hole.

If the universe were completely random with no design or plan, what are the odds that these two forces just happen to be balanced exactly and they maintain their exact, constant rate?

The Cosmological Constant

This constant is related to the primordial escape velocity. The expanding universe is limited in it's expansion rate by the combined pull of gravity. As distance increases, this pull of gravity force decreases. The opposite force to this is the cosmological constant. This constant is less than .0000000000000000000000000000000001 per square meter.

If this constant were increased by a mere 0.0001 per square meter -- a time-space distortion would occur that would make it impossible for a person to walk a few miles and then return to where they started! This makes the concept of repetitive orbiting planets impossible.

Weak Nuclear Force

This force is the force that allows protons to change into neutrons. This force controls that rate at which that happens. If this force were reduced even a tiny amount, all of the hydrogen in the universe would change into helium!

This force retrains the rate of thermonuclear reactions in the sun -- the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force combined ensure that the rate of burn of the sun is the way that it is. Any variation in this rate and stars would not produce the amount of light and energy that they do -- increasing this value even slightly would result in all stars in the universe burning up completely and quickly.

Once again, what are the odds that such perfectly balanced intricate forces can simply happen by chance?

Actual Probabilities

This post outlined just seven different very specific physical and cosmic forces that must be maintained and must be exactly the way they are for matter to exist, never mind life. Without these exact forces (and many others), there would simply be no universe at all. Since these numbers can all be known, a mathematical simulation can be created to determine the actual odds of these situations occurring together randomly.

A software simulation was created that randomly created forces in a universe. One demonstration created 2,129 separate universe models, which give a very realistic picture of what the odds are that all requirements would be met by simple random chance.

In the example, 404 models met 1 of these 7 requirements. Only 8 met 2 of the requirements. Zero randomly generated universes met more than 2. None met 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 requirements. Sure, the user could change the program requirements to get a closer match, but that's the entire point of this post.

Given the odds and the nature of physics and forces, if there were millions of millions (1,000,000,000,000+) models created, there would be a ZERO percent chance of all 7 conditions being met. In other words, according to physics and mathematics, there is absolutely no possible way that this universe was created through random chance -- it's simply not possible.

Some sort of intelligent design is the only possible answer. You may not know or understand what that force of intelligent design may be, but it simply cannot be explained by random chance. If you fail to see that some sort of intelligence created this universe, you certainly have more faith than everyone who believes in God combined.

Posted by: Ogre at 02:02 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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