Category: Physics and Cosmology

Night scene of the Milky Way and stars at Zion National Park

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Author
Guillermo Gonzalez

Date
March 15, 2023

Categorized
Physics and Cosmology

Tagged
astrobiology, Atheism, correlation between habitability and discoverability, cosmic fine tuning, cosmic habitable age, deism, discoverability, earth-like planets, exoplanets, extra-terrestrial life, fine tuning, Galactic Habitable Zone, Guillermo Gonzalez, Intelligent Design, local fine tuning, Pantheism, perfect solar eclipses, rainbows, red dwarf stars, science-friendly universe, sun-like stars, The Privileged Planet, Theism}

A Privileged Place for Life and Discovery

_{Guillermo Gonzalez

March 15, 2023

Physics and Cosmology}

On this ID the Future host and geologist Casey Luskin continues his conversation with astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez about the many ways Earth’s place in the cosmos is fine tuned for life. In this second half of their conversation, Gonzalez zooms out to discuss the galactic habitable zone and the cosmic habitable age. Luskin says that the combination of exquisite cosmic and local fine tuning strongly suggests intelligent design, but he asks Gonzalez whether he thinks these telltale clues favor theism over deism? That is, does any of the evidence suggest a cosmic designer who is more than just the clockmaker God of the deists who, in the words of Stephen Dedalus, “remains within or behind or beyond or above his Read More ›

World environment and earth day concept with glass globe and eco friendly enviroment

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Author
Guillermo Gonzalez

Date
March 13, 2023

Categorized
Physics and Cosmology

Tagged
active geology, Casey Luskin, circular orbits, Circumstellar Habitable Zone, earthlike planets, exoplanets, gas giant planets, Guillermo Gonzalez, habitable planets, local fine tuning, planetary obliquity, planetary rotation, plate tectonics, Privileged Planet, sun-like stars, superearths, transparent atmosphere, universal fine tuning}

The Problem of Earth Privilege: It’s Getting Worse

_{Guillermo Gonzalez

March 13, 2023

Physics and Cosmology}

On today’s ID the Future, astrobiologist Guillermo Gonzalez, co-author of The Privileged Planet, provides a rapid survey of some of the growing evidence that Earth is finely tuned in numerous ways to allow for life. He draws a helpful distinction between local fine tuning and universal fine tuning. And he tells us about the many extra-solar planets astronomers have discovered in recent years and how all that new data continues to undermine the misguided assumption (encouraged by the misnamed “Copernican Principle”) that Earth is just a humdrum planet. Far from it, Gonzalez argues. The conversation is occasioned by Gonzalez’s essay in a newly released anthology, Science and Faith in Dialogue.

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post

Author
Stephen C. Meyer

Date
October 17, 2022

Categorized
Physics and Cosmology

Tagged
Albert Einstein, Arthur Eddington, beginning of the universe, Big Bang, cosmic beginning, earliest galaxies, Edwin Hubble, Eric Lerner, expanding universe, fine tuning, galaxy formation, God, God hypothesis, infrared telescope, Intelligent Design, James Webb space telescope, James Webb telescope, Michael Medved, redshift, Return of the God Hypothesis, Stephen C. Meyer, The Daily Wire, Theism}

Stephen Meyer: James Webb Telescope Supports the Big Bang

_{Stephen C. Meyer

October 17, 2022

Physics and Cosmology}

On this ID The Future, Return of the God Hypothesis author Stephen Meyer again speaks with radio host Michael Medved about the extraordinarily powerful new James Webb space telescope. One researcher, Eric Lerner, has claimed that what the Webb telescope is seeing many billions of light years away (and therefore, many billions of years in the past) undercuts the Big Bang theory. But according to Meyer, the new photographs coming back from Webb actually further confirm the reality that our universe had a beginning (“the Big Bang”) and that it has been expanding ever since. What these Webb images are forcing a rethink on, Meyer says, is the conventional wisdom among cosmologists on galaxy formation in the early universe. Meyer Read More ›

Alignment or array of many Earth planet in outer space scenery 3D rendering illustration. Multiverse or parallel universes concept. Earth textures provided by NASA.

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post

Author
Andrew McDiarmid

Date
September 28, 2022

Categorized
Physics and Cosmology}

The Multiverse—From Epicurus to Comic Books and Beyond

_{Andrew McDiarmid

September 28, 2022

Physics and Cosmology}

On this ID the Future, Discovery Institute senior fellow Andrew McDiarmid explores the roots of the idea that our universe is just one of many universes, an idea stretching back to the ancient atomists and given new life in the modern era, first by physicist Hugh Everett. McDiarmid then looks at how the idea percolated into comic books and from there into popular culture. He caps off the episode with a reading of a recent article about the multiverse hypothesis by Stephen Meyer, author of the recent bestseller, Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe. Meyer shows why some atheist scientists are attracted to the multiverse idea. As he explains, there is Read More ›

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Author
Stephen C. Meyer

Date
August 1, 2022}

James Webb Telescope Goes Live: Stephen Meyer Reports

_{Stephen C. Meyer

August 1, 2022}

On today’s ID the Future, radio host Michael Medved sits down with Cambridge-trained philosopher of science Stephen Meyer to hear some exciting news about the newly active James Webb space telescope, a telescope dramatically more powerful than the already extraordinarily powerful Hubble space telescope. The James Webb telescope was launched by NASA last Christmas and has begun returning a stream of dramatic images. As Meyer explains, thanks to Webb we can now see farther into the distant universe than ever before, and the farther a telescope can see, the further into the past it can see. The James Webb telescope can see far enough to witness galaxies from the very early universe. Meyer says what Webb is revealing, and what Read More ›

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post

Author
Brian Miller

Date
March 23, 2022

Categorized
Physics and Cosmology

Tagged
Albert Einstein, Aristotle, beginning of the universe, Big Bang, Borde–Guth–Vilenkin theorem, Brian Miller, bubble universes, Casey Luskin, CMBR, Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, cosmic background radiation, cosmological constant, cosmology, cyclical universe, Edwin Hubble, eternal inflation, eternal universe, fine tuning, Fred Hoyle, general theory of relativity, Georges Lemaître, Intelligent Design, Lawrence Krauss, Materialism, multiple universes, multiverse, oscillating universe, quantum cosmology, specified complexity, steady state model, Stephen Hawking, string landscape model, Universe from Nothing, Vesto Slipher, Wheeler-DeWitt equation}

Physicist Brian Miller Answers the Big Bang Evaders

_{Brian Miller

March 23, 2022

Physics and Cosmology}

On this ID the Future, physicist Brian Miller looks at various attempts to evade the mounting evidence that the universe had a beginning, a Big Bang. Miller and host Casey Luskin first review the fascinating history of how the eternal universe model of the nineteenth century gave way to the Big Bang model. Then Miller walks through about a half a dozen attempts to evade a cosmic beginning after the Big Bang model had won the day. These evasions include the steady state model, the idea of an eternal cyclical universe, and the string landscape model. According to this model, our universe exists in a multi-dimensional brane (not “brain”) which exists in a higher dimensional space, and our multi-dimensional brane Read More ›

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post

Author
Bijan Nemati

Date
February 28, 2022

Categorized
Physics and Cosmology

Tagged
astronomy, Big Bang, Bijan Nemati, coronagraph, cosmology, diffraction effect, early galaxies, early universe, earth-like planets, exoplanets, expansion of universe, extra solar planet atmospheres, extrasolar planets, fine tuning, habitability, habitable planets, Immanuel Kant, infrared astronomy, intelligent, Isaac Newton, James Webb space telescope, James Webb telescope, Jay Richards, NASA, near infrared, perfect eclipses, photon noise, planet formation, planet formation theory, protoplanetary discs, protoplanets, red shift, solar system formation theory, star formation, The Privileged Planet, transit spectroscopy, transit technique}

Bijan Nemati on What the James Webb Telescope May Discover

_{Bijan Nemati

February 28, 2022

Physics and Cosmology}

Today’s ID the Future explores with physicist and space telescope expert Bijan Nemati the amazing discoveries that may await us when the singularly powerful James Webb space telescope goes on line in summer 2022. Nemati and host Jay Richards, co-author of The Privileged Planet, discuss the telescope’s ability to see far deeper into space than any previous telescope, and further into the past. If all goes well it will be able to see so far into the past, Nemati says, that we will get glimpses of the universe close to when galaxies were first forming, not long after the Big Bang. These glimpses may confirm our most current ideas of early cosmic history and galaxy formation, or turn them on Read More ›

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post

Author
Bijan Nemati

Date
February 23, 2022

Categorized
Physics and Cosmology

Tagged
exo-planets, extra solar planets, far infrared, Hubble telescope, James Webb, James Webb space telescope, James Webb telescope, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Lagrange point 2, Lagrange points, NASA, spectroscopy}

A Webb Telescope Tour with Space Telescope Expert Bijan Nemati

_{Bijan Nemati

February 23, 2022

Physics and Cosmology}

On today’s ID the Future, physicist Bijan Nemati, an expert in advanced astronomical instruments, discusses the new James Webb space telescope with host Jay Richards. The NASA telescope has been successfully launched into space and has reached its destination, known as the Lagrange Point 2, roughly a million miles from Earth. If all goes well with the extremely delicate multi-phase deployment, the Webb telescope will go online in late spring or early summer 2022 and begin sending back stunning images. In this first of two episodes, Nemati describes the remaining steps in the telescope’s deployment, some of the extraordinary technology involved, and the telescope’s amazing powers, including its ability to see into the far infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and Read More ›

Neck of violin with pegbox and scrool, on music sheet.

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Author
Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón

Date
October 11, 2021

Categorized
Physics and Cosmology

Tagged
active information, Bayesian statistics, biostatistics, computational science, constants of nature, cosmology, Daniel Díaz, fine tuning, fine-tuned universe, Formula 409, intervals of infinite length, maximum entropy, no free lunch theorems, Ola Hössjer, physics, reduction to practice, Robert J. Marks, searching large spaces}

How Finely Tuned Is Our Universe?

_{Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón

October 11, 2021

Physics and Cosmology}

On this ID the Future, Baylor University computer engineering professor Robert J. Marks hosts Ola Hössjer of Stockholm University and Daniel Díaz of the University of Miami to discuss a recent research paper the three contributed to the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, “Is Cosmological Tuning Fine or Coarse?” It turns out that’s no easy question to answer rigorously, but this is where the new paper comes in. In this episode the three unpack the long answer. What about the short answer? It’s akin to a description in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “Space,” it informs us, “is big. Really big.” Measuring how finely tuned our universe is for life is all about searching large spaces of possibilities; Read More ›

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Author
Cornelius Hunter

Date
December 7, 2020

Categorized
Physics and Cosmology

Tagged
Beethoven, Cornelius Hunter, David Hume, Determinism, epistemology, Free Will, Michael Keas, natural law, Sabine Hossenfelder, self-defeating arguments, Shakespeare}

Cornelius Hunter: Determinism is Bizarre and Self-Defeating

_{Cornelius Hunter

December 7, 2020

Physics and Cosmology}

On this ID the Future Cornelius Hunter continues discussing determinism, which he describes as a “bizarre position” held “with great confidence” by scientists such as the German physicist Sabine Hossenfelder. It’s bizarre, says Hunter, because if it’s true, then the universe’s initial conditions and the laws of nature produced the particular works of Beethoven and Shakespeare willy nilly. If it’s true, then all one says or thinks — right or wrong, true or false — was determined some 13.8 billion years ago. But if that’s the case, then there are no reasonable grounds for concluding that one’s belief in determinism is true. And like David Hume’s argument against miracles, determinism makes a false dichotomy between natural law and free will. Read More ›