Fine-tuned universe

Definition

The fine-tuned universe is the hypothesis that, because "life as we know it" could not exist if the constants of nature—such as the electron charge or the gravitational constant—had been even slightly different, the universe must be tuned specifically for life. In practice, this hypothesis is formulated in relation to dimensionless physical constants. These physical constants, parameters, and initial conditions of the universe at, or around, the Big Bang played a key role in allowing life to emerge and evolve. There are about 31 physical constants in the Standard Model of particle physics and the standard model of cosmology combined and they seem to have unusual precision.

Related concepts

2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey Abingdon-on-Thames Abiogenesis Accelerating expansion of the universe Acosmism Adi Shankara Afrikan Spir Age of the universe Agnosticism Alan Guth Albert Einstein Albrecht Ritschl Alexander Friedmann Alexander Pruss Ali Akbar Rashad Alister McGrath Alternative biochemistry Alvin Plantinga Amherst, New York Ancient Greek philosophy Andrew Loke Anil Ananthaswamy Animism Anselm of Canterbury Anthony Kenny Anthropic principle Antireligion Antoine Augustin Calmet Antony Flew Argument from beauty Argument from consciousness Argument from degree Argument from design Argument from desire Argument from free will Argument from inconsistent revelations Argument from love Argument from miracles Argument from morality Argument from nonbelief Argument from poor design Argument from reason Argument from religious experience Arno Allan Penzias Atheism Atheist's Wager Atheistic existentialism Augustine of Hippo Averroes Avicenna BOOMERanG experiment Baron d'Holbach Baruch Spinoza Baryon Bayesian probability Berlin Bernard Carr Bertrand Russell Big Bang Big Bang nucleosynthesis Biogenesis Biophilia hypothesis Black Hole Initiative Blaise Pascal Boethius Brahman Brian Schmidt CHNOPS CP violation Carbon-12 Carbon chauvinism Center for Science and Culture Centre for Intelligent Design Charles Hartshorne Charles Townes Chemist Christiaan Huygens Christian apologist Christian existentialism Christian humanism Christological argument Chronology of the universe Clockwork universe Conceptions of God Cosmic Background Explorer Cosmic Jackpot Cosmic inflation Cosmic microwave background Cosmic neutrino background Cosmological argument Cosmological constant Coupling constant Creation myth Creationism Creator in Buddhism Criticism of religion Crowell-Collier Publishing Company D. Reidel Daniel Dennett Dark Energy Survey Dark energy Dark matter David Hume Deism Demiurge Demonology Density parameter Desacralization of knowledge Deuterium Dewi Zephaniah Phillips Dharma Dimensionality Dimensionless physical constant Dimensionless physical constants Diproton Discover magazine Discovery Institute Discovery Institute intelligent design campaigns Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation Divine Providence Divine command theory Divine simplicity Donald Brownlee Dordrecht Doubleday (publisher)Dualism in cosmology Early modern philosophy East Asian religions Edwin Hubble Ekpyrotic universe Electromagnetism Electron Electron charge Elliott Sober Emil Brunner Erasmus Ernst Cassirer Ernst Haeckel Ernst Troeltsch Eternal inflation Ethical egoism Ethics in religion Evil God challenge Evry Schatzman Exclusivism Exegesis Existence of God Existentialism Expansion of the universe Faith and rationality Fate of the unlearned Feminist theology Fideism Fine-structure constant Fine-tuning (disambiguation)Francis Collins Frank J. Tipler Fred Hoyle Friedmann equations Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker metric Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Schleiermacher Frithjof Schuon Fundamentalism Future of an expanding universe Gabriel Marcel Galaxy filament Galaxy formation and evolution Galileo Galilei Gaudapada Gaunilo of Marmoutiers General relativity Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel George Berkeley George F. R. Ellis George Gamow George I. Mavrodes George Santayana George Smoot Georges Lemaître Geraint F. Lewis Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Gnosticism God God Speaks God in Abrahamic religions God in Christianity God in Hinduism God in Islam God in Jainism God in Judaism God in Mormonism God in Sikhism God in the Baháʼí Faith God of the gaps Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Graham Priest Gravitational constant Gravitational wave background Gravity Gödel's ontological proof Hannes Alfvén Harald Høffding Heidelberg Helium Henotheism Heraclitus Higgs boson History of religion History of the Big Bang theory Hitchens's razor Holy Spirit Hoyle state Hubble's law Hugh Ross (astrophysicist)Hugh Ross (creationist)Humanism Humanistic naturalism Hydrogen fusion Ian Hacking Ian Stewart (mathematician)Immanuel Kant Inclusivism Incompatible-properties argument Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness Center Intelligent design Intelligent design in politics Intelligent design movement Intelligent designer International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design Inverse gambler's fallacy Irreducible complexity Isaac Newton J. L. Mackie Jaakko Hintikka Jack Cohen (biologist)James VI and I James W. Truran Jay L. Garfield Jean-Luc Marion Jewish reactions to intelligent design Johann Gottfried Herder Johannes Kepler John A. Leslie John Archibald Wheeler John C. Mather John D. Barrow John Hinnells John L. Heilbron John Polkinghorne Jonathan Wells (intelligent design advocate)Joseph Maréchal Jürgen Ehlers Kalam Cosmological Argument Kalam cosmological argument Karl Barth Karl Christian Friedrich Krause Karl Marx Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District Lambda-CDM model Large Hadron Collider Large quasar group Larry Abbott Laura Mersini-Houghton Lawrence Joseph Henderson Lawrence Krauss Leap of faith Lee Smolin Lev Shestov Lewis' trilemma List of cosmologists List of scientific bodies explicitly rejecting intelligent design London Loyal Rue Ludwig Feuerbach M-theory Maimonides Marc Aaronson Marcion of Sinope Marcus Chown Mario Livio Mark Colyvan Martin Buber Martin Lings Martin Rees Mathematics and God Max Tegmark Medieval philosophy Meinongian argument Metaphysical naturalism Michael Behe Michael Joseph (publisher)Michael Lou Martin Michio Kaku Mind (journal)Mircea Eliade Misotheism Monism Monotheism Multiverse Mysticism Natalie Wolchover National Geographic National Institute of Standards and Technology Natural-law argument Natural evil Natural selection Naturalism (philosophy)Nature (journal)Nature Astronomy Neo-creationism New Age Nicholas B. Suntzeff Nicholas Wolterstorff Nick Bostrom Nicolas Malebranche Nicolaus Copernicus Nondualism Nontheism Nutrient Nyayakusumanjali Observable universe Observational cosmology Occam's razor Omnipotence paradox Ontological argument Oxford University Press Pandeism Panentheism Pantheism Parallel Worlds (book)Partial differential equation Particle physics Pascal's wager Paul Davies Paul Tillich Pavel Florensky Perennial philosophy Personal god Peter Geach Peter Ward (paleontologist)Peter van Inwagen Philip Ball Philip Goff (philosopher)Phillip E. Johnson Philosopher Philosophy of religion Photon Physical Review D Physical constant Physical constants Physical cosmology Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity Physics Physics beyond the Standard Model Planck (spacecraft)Planck units Polytheism Possibilianism Princeton University Press Problem of Hell Problem of evil Problem of religious language Problem of the creator of God Process theology Prometheus Books Proof of the Truthful Proslogion Proton Quanta Magazine Quantum gravity Quantum superposition Ralph Alpher Rare Earth hypothesis Rashid Sunyaev Ravi Zacharias Redshift Reformed epistemology Reinhold Niebuhr Reionization Relationship between religion and science Religion Religious humanism Religious naturalism Religious philosophy Religious responses to the problem of evil Religious skepticism René Descartes René Guénon Resurrection of Jesus Richard C. Tolman Richard Dawkins Richard Swinburne Robert Dicke Robert H. Dicke Robert L. Park Robert Merrihew Adams Robert Woodrow Wilson Robin Collins Roger Penrose Routledge Rudolf Bultmann Rudolf Otto Russell's teapot Samuel L. Braunstein Scientific American Sean Carroll (physicist)Secular humanism Seddiqin argument Selection bias Sergei Bulgakov Shamanism Shape of the universe Simon Conway Morris Simulation hypothesis Sloan Digital Sky Survey Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge Spacetime Specified complexity Spiritualism (beliefs)Springer Science+Business Media Standard Model Standard Model of particle physics Star Stellar nucleosynthesis Stephen C. Meyer Stephen Hawking String theory Strong force Strong nuclear force Structure formation Supersymmetry Survivorship bias Synthese Søren Kierkegaard Teach the Controversy Teleological Argument Teleological argument Teleology The Anthropic Cosmological Principle Thealogy Theism Theistic science Theologian Theological noncognitivism Theology Theories about religions Theory of everything Think (journal)Thomas Aquinas Thomas Carlyle Thomas Chubb Thomas Hertog Timeline of cosmological theories Timeline of intelligent design Timothy J. McGrew Top-down cosmology Trademark argument Transcendent theosophy Transcendental argument for the existence of God Transcendentalism Triple-alpha process Truth in Science Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit Ultimate fate of the universe Universe Unmoved mover Vera Rubin Victor J. Stenger Victor J Stenger Victor Stenger Vladimir Solovyov (philosopher)WMAP cold spot Walter Kaufmann (philosopher)Watchmaker analogy Wedge strategy Western esotericism Why is there anything at all?Wiccan views of divinity Wiley-Blackwell Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe Willem de Sitter William A. Dembski William Alston William H. Jefferys William James William Kingdon Clifford William L. Rowe William Lane Craig William Whewell William Wollaston William of Ockham Womanist theology Yakov Zeldovich

42 concepts already in your glossary