> George Murphy wrote:
>
> > If I may connect this with my post earlier today on APs: Ross
> >is 1 who emphasizes the anthropic "coincidences" as evidences of design.
> >But then it seems to me he makes that all pointless by his rejection of
> >evolution. If the correlated values of fundamental constants &c aren't
> >to make possible the evolution of intelligent life, then the supposed
> >design is just God doing some precision balancing to impress us, & has
> >no deep role in creation.
>
> This is great stuff. I had never thought of it in those terms but you are
> correct. The particluar values of the fundamental constants allow for the
> manufacture by stars of heavy elements which are then required by our bodies.
> A case in point is the nuclear resonances in the formtion of carbon and the
> fortuitous non resonance of O16. If there was no evolution then why not
> simply have god create the elements ex nihilo along with the animals. There
> is absolutely no need for the resonances if evolution didn't occur.
>
I think Ross's position is more along the following lines: If all these
constant are around and needed for life and if we don't have them, life
would not be able to exist, as we know it, then there must be some
design. I think that this is a good statement to thikn abobut, but i
have another. Why did God create such a complex universe in the first
place? Because He is God and He does what He wants. ALso, God likes
impresses us all the time, look at the Grand Canyon, freeing the Jews
from the Egyptians, and, most importantly, He sent His som to die for the
sins of a world that had turned its back against Him. That is the most
impressive thing of all. So a highly structured universe, with lots of
constants may seem unimportant and useless without evolution taking
place, but God has been known to do stuff that we mere humans find
useless and unimportant.
Glenn your statement of why didn't God just create the elements ex nihlo
with the animals is a good one, but remember YEC's get around this by
saying that He did ;)
John
jmisasi@engc.bu.edu