From David Warren at the Catholic Thing:
Thirty years have now passed since the publication of an extraordinary book, by a respectable publisher (the Oxford University Press). This was, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, by the witty British astronomer, John Barrow, and the brilliant American mathematical physicist, Frank Tipler. It included a laudatory preface by John Wheeler, co-inventor or discoverer of “black holes.”
It was an attempt to overturn the Copernican Revolution: to put man back at the centre of a miraculously conceived universe, and make his fate the whole meaning of it. This universe, from its Alpha Point in what is popularly called the “Big Bang,” to an Omega Point that is darkly foreseeable, could be described in no sense of the word, “random.”
For the very existence of man depends upon a large, and constantly increasing number of demonstrably happy coincidences, in the “design” of the universe itself. The thing is incredibly fine-tuned, from what we can already calculate and measure, such that the slightest alteration in any of the physical laws, or the chemical properties, would not only eliminate us, but make it impossible that we had ever been.More.
Warren is one of the bravest Canadian journalists I have ever known. He was, of course, eventually forced out of local media who were attuned to griping neurotics*. These media will soon be defunct and – in many cases, if you ask me – should be collectively panhandling outside a liquor store.
Trust Warren to take the fact of fine-tuning on.
* Griping neurotics? I offer a standard response when some apparent live entity writes me threatening to raise hell over something or other I wrote:
Yes, you are correct. There are only two Free Speech Corners in all of North America, north of the Rio Grande.
One is called the Dominion of Canada. The other is called the United States of America.
You could find out their locations using this map.
There are strict hours. They operate 24/7.
If I was not in one of them when I said what I did, or was there at an hour not covered by the rules, please feel free to contact the authorities.
Otherwise, get the heck out of my mailbox and don’t come back. I have a serious deadline to meet.
See also: Copernicus, you are not going to believe who is using your name. Or how.
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