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It’s a Wonderful, Complex, and Finely-Tuned Universe

Series
Mind Matters
Host
Robert J. Marks II
Guest
Ola Hössjer and Daniel Diaz
Duration
02:12:16
Download
Audio File (181.7 mb)

What does it mean for something to be finely-tuned? Does fine-tuning extend beyond our own man-made systems and into biology and the universe itself? If so, what or who has done the fine-tuning? Robert J. Marks, Ola Hössjer, and Daniel Diaz discuss the concept of fine-tuning.

Show Notes

  • 00:02:17 | Introducing Ola Hössjer and Daniel Diaz
  • 00:04:39 | No Free Lunch Theorems
  • 00:06:23 | Formula 409
  • 00:09:01 | Active Information
  • 00:10:22 | Intervals
  • 00:13:48 | Maximum Entropy
  • 00:21:05 | Intervals of Infinite Length
  • 00:25:08 | Reduction to Practice
  • 00:30:25 | Specified Complexity
  • 00:32:43 | Irreducible Complexity
  • 00:34:51 | Fine-tuning in biology
  • 00:39:51 | A Cellular City
  • 00:41:36 | Population Genetics
  • 00:44:53 | A general theory of fine-tuning
  • 00:55:09 | Probability to measure the degree of fine-tuning
  • 00:01:53 | Wiggle Room
  • 00:06:06 | More gravity, more weight?
  • 01:10:05 | Other examples of universal constants
  • 01:15:04 | Are these numerous constants fine-tuned?
  • 01:16:06 | LPI
  • 01:26:36 | Are there any constants which are not fine-tuned?
  • 01:33:39 | Panspermia
  • 01:41:11 | The Sims Theory
  • 01:42:56 | Anthropic Principle
  • 01:50:58 | Multiverse
  • 01:58:04 | The Creator Interpretation
  • 02:01:17 | Personal Beliefs
  • 02:08:08 | Final Words

Additional Resources

Ola Hössjer

Professor of Mathematical Statistics, Stockholm University
Ola Hössjer has been professor of mathematical statistics at Stockholm University, Sweden, since 2002. He has done research in statistics and probability theory with applications in population genetics, epidemiology, and insurance mathematics. Hössjer has authored more than one hundred publications, supervised thirteen PhD students, and in 2009 received the Gustafsson Prize in Mathematics. His current research interests include exploring the limits of evolutionary theory and quantifying fine tuning in biology and physics.

Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón

Contributor, the Bradley Center's Mind Matters
Daniel Andrés Díaz-Pachón is Research Assistant Professor at the Division of Biostatistics at the University of Miami, where he also was a postdoc. He has a PhD in Probability from the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and a bachelor's in Mathematical Statistics from Universidad Nacional de Colombia, in Bogotá. His research is focused on some kind of intersection between probability, statistics, information theory, and machine learning. He has a deep interest in Christian apologetics and Christian life, and frequently lectures and writes on the relation of faith and science.
Tags
amino acids
anthropic principle
Cosmic fine-tuning
cosmological constant
fine tuning
gravity
irreducible complexity
molecular machines
Multiverse
mutations
Origins
panspermia
population
Proteins
Robert J. Marks
teleology