Possible new habitable planet - Page 2

The universe is theorized to be about 15 billion years old, with the earth forming at 4.5 billion years ago. That gave 10 billion years from the bang, to allow the universe to create all the "heavier" elements that make up our bodies (Carbon, iron, potassium, etc). From the cauldron of the big bang, to producing stars big enough to create these elements, then to them collapsing to produce the elements- then exploding to redistribute them back to the universe to be sucked in to the creation of a solar system as ours- in theory- could happen no SOONER than 10 billion years. Because- all the materials had to be there when our solar system started forming. This means that our planet formed as SOON as it could have given the length of time needed to create it. If it were truly a "random" event- you would expect it to take some time to actually produce. But- as unlikely as it was, it happened almost immediately.

The odds against making just 1 cell. Given all the materials needed to make a cell, in the exact proportions, in a contained environment, is still an amazingly improbable occurrence. With all the exact molecules needed, it would still take Trillions of Trillions of permutations to create a cell. Some theories to the underlying order of atomic structure are presented as possible catalysts to hasten the production of cells.

The possible occurrences from a Big-Bang like event. An explosion of that size, to distribute itself as it did, into ordered atoms and particles- at the perfect speed to not collapse back in on itself, but to continue to expand apparently indefinitely is obviously an amazing orchestra of occurrences and values such as the Universal Constant (a number Einstein discovered on accident) the Strong and Weak nuclear force, and Electromagnetism. Assuming all of these forces could have assumed any number at all given a "random" generation... the perfect harmony they appear to exist in is staggering. He theorizes some about the results of changing the Universal Constant by .0000001... and explains that the most likely result of an occurrence as mind numbingly large as the Big Bang would be either something that would immediately collapse again.... or spit out a bunch of clustered Di-Protons or Black Holes that would be useless for producing planets and suns and the like. The balance needed to create the diversity in structures we see- seems to have been very unlikely to say the least.

Lastly, he theorizes that the Purpose- had their been a creator- is to create epistemic distance. This distance, is need to implement Free Will. The free will argument permeates religion as much as it does Atheism, for are we living in a perfect Clockwork Universe (Newton) or a totally random universe (Plank)... neither would afford us any real "Free Will". Theoretically, if God just created you- right in front of him... you could be said to have no Free Will at all- because you can too easily trace all of your behaviors and feelings right to the beginning. Though, given the format of this universe- God has essentially insulated himself from life, and its creation, to effectively remove his own influence somehow- through Quantum Mechanics or actual epistemic separation- to give the life created actual- certifiable free will. Completely and totally independent of its creator.

I myself am agnostic, neither believer or non, I don't claim to know anything. But this was by far one of the most interesting books I've read.