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Hidden In Plain Sight 7: The Fine-Tuned Universe
The answers to the big questions:
Are the laws of physics fine-tuned for life?
Are we alone in the universe?
Why is gravity so weak?
How can I predict the winner of every horse race?
Are the laws of physics fine-tuned for life?
Are we alone in the universe?
Why is gravity so weak?
How can I predict the winner of every horse race?
187 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2017
186 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Andrew H. Thomas
14 books11 followersDr. Andrew H. Thomas studied physics in the James Clerk Maxwell Building in Edinburgh University, and received his doctorate from Swansea University in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 26, 2017
A Sensible Explanation
There is quite a lot of ground covered in the a rather short book. The question of whether the universe is "finely tuned" to support life seems to be an unequivocal Yes, although the reason why that is so remains unanswered. The book by Andrew Thomas seems to suggest that the universe simply hast to be the way it is out of logical necessity, although -- as my college textbooks used to say -- the details are left as an exercise for the reader.
The book starts out with brief explanations of the weak and strong anthropic principle. The weak version is a tautology that explains why intelligent organisms --such as us-- are found on Earth instead of, say, in the center of the galaxy, which is totally inhospitable to any kind of life, intelligent or otherwise.. The strong version tries to explain why any life is found in this universe, given the "improbability" that six universal physical constants have to be within ridiculously tight ranges of vales for there to be any chance of life. Some authors conclude that there must be an infinite number of "other" universes in order for that to happen. Thank you, Dr. Thomas, for NOT falling into that lazy trap. [The only way for the constants to be "improbable" in the first place is to presuppose the existence of other universes with randomly-generated constants. Thus that argument for a multiverse based on "fine tuning" is circular logic.]
Dr. Thomas covers Bayes Theorem pretty well, although I'm not sure exactly why he covered that topic, as it doesn't add anything to the premise of the book, which is that the physical laws and their constants are not random, thus probability cannot be used to explain them. [I've read other authors, who use a pseudo-bayesian analysis to justify a multiverse, but again, one must presuppose the existences of multiple universes in order to define the conditional probability of complex life GIVEN a multiverse, which is one of the terms in the Bayes formula. Another circular argument.] I commend Dr. Thomas for not following the herd of physicists who took the easy way out -- an appeal to ignorance-- by concluding we live in a "bubble universe" simply because they can't think of any other explanation.
The book goes on to discuss the Deake Equation, quantum field theory, Feynman diagrams, and string theory. Wow! Quite a range of topics indeed, and well explained. It turns out that the key to explaining the apparent fine-tuning has to do with the weakness of gravity compared to the other three physical constants when they are expressed in natural units. At least that's what Dr. Thomas believes, and he could be right. But as I said before, the details were left as an exercise for the reader. Maybe the solution will be offered in "Hidden in Plain Sight 8."
Good book. Short an to the point, but I wish it went further.
There is quite a lot of ground covered in the a rather short book. The question of whether the universe is "finely tuned" to support life seems to be an unequivocal Yes, although the reason why that is so remains unanswered. The book by Andrew Thomas seems to suggest that the universe simply hast to be the way it is out of logical necessity, although -- as my college textbooks used to say -- the details are left as an exercise for the reader.
The book starts out with brief explanations of the weak and strong anthropic principle. The weak version is a tautology that explains why intelligent organisms --such as us-- are found on Earth instead of, say, in the center of the galaxy, which is totally inhospitable to any kind of life, intelligent or otherwise.. The strong version tries to explain why any life is found in this universe, given the "improbability" that six universal physical constants have to be within ridiculously tight ranges of vales for there to be any chance of life. Some authors conclude that there must be an infinite number of "other" universes in order for that to happen. Thank you, Dr. Thomas, for NOT falling into that lazy trap. [The only way for the constants to be "improbable" in the first place is to presuppose the existence of other universes with randomly-generated constants. Thus that argument for a multiverse based on "fine tuning" is circular logic.]
Dr. Thomas covers Bayes Theorem pretty well, although I'm not sure exactly why he covered that topic, as it doesn't add anything to the premise of the book, which is that the physical laws and their constants are not random, thus probability cannot be used to explain them. [I've read other authors, who use a pseudo-bayesian analysis to justify a multiverse, but again, one must presuppose the existences of multiple universes in order to define the conditional probability of complex life GIVEN a multiverse, which is one of the terms in the Bayes formula. Another circular argument.] I commend Dr. Thomas for not following the herd of physicists who took the easy way out -- an appeal to ignorance-- by concluding we live in a "bubble universe" simply because they can't think of any other explanation.
The book goes on to discuss the Deake Equation, quantum field theory, Feynman diagrams, and string theory. Wow! Quite a range of topics indeed, and well explained. It turns out that the key to explaining the apparent fine-tuning has to do with the weakness of gravity compared to the other three physical constants when they are expressed in natural units. At least that's what Dr. Thomas believes, and he could be right. But as I said before, the details were left as an exercise for the reader. Maybe the solution will be offered in "Hidden in Plain Sight 8."
Good book. Short an to the point, but I wish it went further.
January 31, 2021
It's rare to find a series that can reach seven books and still be going strong!
This book is just as expertly written as the previous six and explains everything in a logical and accessible way, Andrew Thomas is a talented teacher. I particularly like the niche things that are picked out such as The Six Numbers and Bayes Theorem.
Just like the rest, Andrew finishes his book with a theory of his own about why gravity is so weak, and to be honest it does make sense! Very good read and I'd highly recommend it!
This book is just as expertly written as the previous six and explains everything in a logical and accessible way, Andrew Thomas is a talented teacher. I particularly like the niche things that are picked out such as The Six Numbers and Bayes Theorem.
Just like the rest, Andrew finishes his book with a theory of his own about why gravity is so weak, and to be honest it does make sense! Very good read and I'd highly recommend it!
March 1, 2018
Strange stuff.
This volume seemed a lot stranger than the others. Some of it seemed more ethereal than physical. Still good, but we drifted closer to an anything can happen point of view than the highly predictive point of view that classical physics provides. I think I’ll skip volume 8.
This volume seemed a lot stranger than the others. Some of it seemed more ethereal than physical. Still good, but we drifted closer to an anything can happen point of view than the highly predictive point of view that classical physics provides. I think I’ll skip volume 8.
October 18, 2017
Easy to read.
January 7, 2019
Good read
Another good read, not too rigorous for laymen, not too simple for undergraduates. Have enjoyed reading all of A. Thomas’s Hidden in Plain Sight series
Another good read, not too rigorous for laymen, not too simple for undergraduates. Have enjoyed reading all of A. Thomas’s Hidden in Plain Sight series
July 1, 2022
fascinating read
Like the other books in the hidden in plain sight series this makes for a good read - highly recommended
Like the other books in the hidden in plain sight series this makes for a good read - highly recommended
April 27, 2017
Well thought although complex explanation
I have read all 7 hidden in plain sight books I really like the idea that there is only one universe and that there is nothing outside of it. I have a little trouble with extreme gravity modification also the will never detect the graviton. Still it is very interesting to speculate on new cosmology.
I have read all 7 hidden in plain sight books I really like the idea that there is only one universe and that there is nothing outside of it. I have a little trouble with extreme gravity modification also the will never detect the graviton. Still it is very interesting to speculate on new cosmology.
April 30, 2017
To be honest this book was not so good as the first ones in the series. I liked best the last parts of the book, about quantum field theory and gravity, where he explains the separation of forces and their interaction.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews