"It seems to me that it's the nature of probability to deal with prediction
of future events and not the observation of already occurred events. No one
is interested in hearing weathermen discuss the probability of today's
weather occuring, they know that probability is one. They're interested in
the probability of tomorrow's weather being a certain way. In the same say
the chance of drawing a certain card from a standard deck, predicted before
the card is drawn, is 1 in 52. The probability of drawing a particular card,
after you've actually drawn it, is 1 in 1. I don't see what conclusion is
established by observing the outcome of a trial, after the trial is
concluded, and then discussing the probability the outcome had before the
trial was run."
Frankly, neither do I, but then I'm not a statistician. Those who are,
however, do this kind of thing all the time, so they must get something from
it.
But to take your own argument for a moment, if this is the only universe
that can exist or ever will exist, then the chance that it would have the
constant value combination that it has now is 1, so it is equally useless
for you to speak about how these current values have such a small chance of
occurring.
"Could the physical constants of our universe have been other than they
are?"
Certainly; there is even preliminary evidence that suggests they may be
different in different places of the current universe.
"What factors determine these constants?"
The interplay of the various laws of the universe.
"Are there events associated with the Big Bang that were indeterminate that
could give rise to various values for these constants?"
As I explained in a previous post, during the Planck Era just after the Big
Bang, the four fundamental forces were all combined into one force and the
laws as we know them had not yet been established. During this time the
constant values could have been changing constantly and wildly.
"Or were these constant-forming events determinate? Or are these physical
constants not determined by any events that occured during the Big Bang? Are
they determined by something more basic?"
The answers to these questions are probably no.
"But what would be more basic than the laws of the universe?"
Even the laws of the universe had to be formed in the early stages of the
Big Bang.
Kevin L. O'Brien