Piggy-backing, fine tuning doesn't imply re-tuning. Every time I get a
musical instrument from the factory, it must be fine tuned, since it was
never tuned before.
- Steve
=================================
----- Original Message -----
From: George Andrews Jr. <gandrews@as.wm.edu>
To: Doug Hayworth <hayworth@uic.edu>
Cc: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 4:22 PM
Subject: Re: Meaning of "fine-tuning"
> Hi Doug;
>
> Its just a way of communicating the degree of precision found to be
necessary
> in the values of the fundamental constants in order for the universe to be
> "precisely as it is observed to be." No need to read anything else into
the
> phrase. Nature is "in a habit" of fine tuning its parameters - resulting
in
> the evolution of orderly objects.
>
> Sincerely
> George A.
>
>
>
> Doug Hayworth wrote:
>
> > In my admittedly cursory reading on the Anthropic Principle (AP), I have
> > been uncomfortable with the use of the term "fine-tuning". This term
seems
> > to connote that God (on this list, we are all agreed that if there is
> > anything that can be called fine tuning, it is God who does it) somehow
> > adjusts something that was formerly only crudely "tuned". Conceptions
of
> > the AP that require this meaning do not appeal to me, since they imply
that
> > there is some background or foundational order in the Creation that is
less
> > than perfect or complete. As a Christian, I would prefer the term
> > "finely-established" or "finely-created" to imply that God established
in
> > his initial creation a confluence of orderliness brought about his
purposes
> > in genesis of the cosmos, our solar system, earth, and its creatures. I
> > don't think God had to adjust things (i.e., fine-tune) later.
> >
> > In practice, how do philosophers and apologists of the AP use the term
> > "fine-tuning"? What do you folks think?
> >
> > I seem to remember that Howard Van Till addressed aspects of the AP at
the
> > Waco conference. If so, perhaps he has some wisdom here.
> >
> > Doug
>
> --
> George A. Andrews Jr.
> Physics/Applied Science
> College of William & Mary
> P.O. Box 8795
> Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795
>
>
>
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