Giant cold spot evidence of parallel universes - or materialist hype?

A recent Softpedia article announces,

In August this year, astronomers studying the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation or CMB, a 'remnant' of the Big Bang, discovered a texture of a giant cold spot in the universe, completely empty of any normal matter or dark matter and even any kind of radiation. In order to explain how such a void might have formed in the middle of our universe, physicists and cosmologists developed a theory in which the giant void might be evidence of another universe developing in the one we are part of.

Hot pa-TOOT!

Well, not really. The LAST graff of the story reads,

The large void is positioned in the northern hemisphere of the sky related to the Earth. Scientists predicted that eventually another large cold spot will be found somewhere in the southern hemisphere. However the claims made by the Mersini-Houghton team are mostly speculative, but nevertheless interesting, until further experiments are made to validate or reject their theory.

Speculative but interesting? Hmmm. That is the way I would describe claims I have heard for ghosts, fairies, and leprechauns. All by people who swear on their grandmothers’ graves, too.

Hey, I never say that the alternative universes are not happening - but I WILL say this: The entire story is in perfect conformity to the unwritten rule of the pop science media: Any speculation, no matter how hasty or ridiculous, can be advanced if it promotes a materialist view (a zillion universes happen randomly).

But information that promotes a non-materialist view - like the definite evidence for the fine tuning of the universe - is treated with deep suspicion - no matter how well grounded.

Note that, inverting the usual news writing formula - where you put the most important stuff first, the fact that the ideas are “mostly speculative” - is saved for the very last sentence.

Well, if they can’t make it, they fake it, I guess.

Many worlds theory supports intelligent design?

The blog, Anarchic Harmony , operated by William J. Murray, is worth a look. About many world's theory (= every time you turn right instead of left, a new universe is created in which you turned left) Murray writes,

I thought you might be interested in an argument I came up with in a new blog about how the MWI theory, which scientists are now starting to invoke in order to explain the anthropic principle and the origin of life, supports ID theory and indicates it would in fact be a better scientific model to use in many cases.

Say what?

The MWI argument is that out of infinite non-productive variations of universes we have one (or more, but we're in this one) that by chance is so ordered and specific that it has generated product (intelligent, conscious life forms with incredibly specified, complex biologies that are manifest from coded instructions) that utterly defies random, non-directed modeling, as well as an anthropic universe that utterly defies random, non-directed modeling.

Even if our universe is the necessary chance result of infinite, many-world iterations of universes, intelligent design would necessarily be a far better model of description and analysis than non-directed models in many scientific ventures, because an ID model would more accurately described the incredibly ordered, improbable patterns of chance outcomes in this particular universe.

I wonder what Murray thinks of Frank Tipler and versa vice. Tipler is the only genuine Christian materialist I have ever heard of, and he is enthusiastic about many worlds theory.*

I myself am unconvinced by many-worlds theory in any form. One problem is, as Robb Mann, University of Waterloo physics chair, pointed out to me the other day, it means that absolutely every implausible thing must be true somewhere.

Think about it. It's worse than the nihilists utter unyielding despair - you know, there is no truth, truth is unknowable and all that jazz: Rather, absolutely everything you have ever imagined actually exists somewhere! Sounds too much like magic to me.

I will eventually add Anarchic Harmony to the blogroll at your right (Never a Dull Moment ...). I will think about doing it today.

*Christian materialist: Not to be confused with the sort of "theistic evolutionist" who appears WITH materialist atheists in debates AGAINST Christian intelligent design apologists. George Hunter explains Darwin's devout pretty well in Science's Blind Spot. They seek to protect God's honour by insisting that natural selection does all the nasty stuff, and God really doesn't have much to do with it. As if.

Also, over at Mindful:

Mindful Hack on the Lennox-Dawkins debate.

The Pharyngulite really, honestly, sincerely struggles with The Spiritual Brain

Canadian mystery novelist turns his brain disorder into winning plot idea

Brain disease research not necessarily wise spending choice

Mindfulness explored as aid in struggle against depression

P.S.: I am working on another book proposal, so if I don't blog as often for just a bit, that is why.

The Gospel According to Frank Tipler: O'Leary's review of The Physics of Christianity

When I asked a gifted Canadian physicist what he thought of Frank Tipler's The Physics of Christianity, he said, "in one word: wacky".

But readers will expect more than one word from me, and I think there is more than that to be said for Tipler's book.

Frank Tipler is in an unusual position. He is a Christian physicist who is an exponent of "many worlds" theory. This theory, according to which new universes are constantly generated by each choice that we make, is typically shunned by Christian physicists (including my friend, mentioned above). Apart from its dizzying implications, many worlds theory seems to make life's choices meaningless. (Tipler does not appear to see it that way.)

Now, one good thing about Tipler, he is no pussyfoot. He is NOT afraid to take on the implications of whatever he espouses. For example, he writes ... (For the rest, click the link.)

Many universes: Or many fairies?

Casey Luskin noted a while back at Evolution News that a recent article in Nature noted that many universes theory is not testable:

Since the early 1980s, some cosmologists have argued that multiple universes could have formed during a period of cosmic inflation that preceded the Big Bang. More recently, string theorists have calculated that there could be 10 [to the]500 universes, which is more than the number of atoms in our observable Universe. Under these circumstances, it becomes more reasonable to assume that several would turn out like ours. It’s like getting zillions and zillions of darts to throw at the dart board, Susskind says. “Surely, a large number of them are going to wind up in the target zone.” And of course, we exist in our particular Universe because we couldn’t exist anywhere else. It’s an intriguing idea with just one problem, says Gross: “It’s impossible to disprove.” Because our Universe is, almost by definition, everything we can observe, there are no apparent measurements that would confirm whether we exist within a cosmic landscape of multiple universes, or if ours is the only one. And because we can’t falsify the idea, Gross says, it isn’t science. (Geoff Brumfiel, "Outrageous Fortune," Nature, Vol 439:10-12 (January 5, 2006).)

But, Luskin writes, “National Academy of Sciences member and Nobel Laureate Leonard Susskind was given print-space--in fact he had a highlighted box-quote--saying that we should not reject the multi-verse hypothesis on the grounds that it isn’t testable.” Nature reports:

Susskind, too, finds it “deeply, deeply troubling” that there’s no way to test the principle. But he is not yet ready to rule it out completely. “It would be very foolish to throw away the right answer on the basis that it doesn’t conform to some criteria for what is or isn’t science,” he says. (Geoff Brumfiel, "Outrageous Fortune," Nature, Vol 439:10-12 (January 5, 2006)

I love it! “It would be very foolish to throw away the right answer on the basis that it doesn’t conform to some criteria for what is or isn’t science ...” Why so foolish? Because, while it doesn’t conform to science, it does conform to materialism.

Similarly, in Max Tegmark’s 2003 Scientific American article on the four levels of multi verses, we are told that

Cosmologists infer the presence of Level II parallel universes by scrutinizing the properties of our universe. These properties, including the strength of the forces of nature and the number of observable space and time dimensions, were established by random processes during the birth of our universe. Yet they have exactly the values that sustain life. That suggests the existence of other universes with other values.

So the only reason for the Level II universes' supposed very existence is to avoid the obvious implications of observable fine-tuning in this one.

Now, of course there is no problem in principle with untestable theories being discussed.

The problem is that the many-universes hypothesis is used as a discussion-stopper - a way to avoid the fine-tuning of the universe.

Here's what it reminds me of: A small child claiming that "the fairies" broke the vase or stole the cookies.

The real problem isn't whether fairies exist or act - only a naif or a fool would try discussing that with the child - but whether "the fairies" are used to avoid addressing difficult sets of facts.

When dealing with such data sets in my own household decades ago, as a child minder and later a young mother, I usually resorted to the following judgement: "Well, if you know so much about the fairies, you must be part of their deplorable gang. You and they can spend the afternoon in your room, and I hope you enjoy each other's company."

If you like this blog, check out my book on the intelligent design controversy, By Design or by Chance?. You can read excerpts as well.

Are you looking for one of the following stories?

A summary of tech guru George Gilder's arguments for ID and against Darwinism

A critical look at why March of the Penguins was thought to be an ID film.

A summary of recent opinion columns on the ID controversy

A summary of recent polls of US public opinion on the ID controversy

A summary of the Catholic Church's entry into the controversy, essentially on the side of ID.

O'Leary's intro to non-Darwinian agnostic philosopher David Stove’s critique of Darwinism.

An ID Timeline: The ID folk seem always to win when they lose.

O’Leary’s comments on Francis Beckwith, a Dembski associate, being denied tenure at Baylor.

Why origin of life is such a difficult problem.

Blog policy note:Comments are permitted on this blog, but they are moderated. Fully anonymous posts and URLs posted without comment are rarely accepted. To Mr. Anonymous: I'm not psychic, so if you won't tell me who you are, I can't guess and don't care. To Mr. Nude World (URL): If you can't be bothered telling site visitors why they should go on to your fave site next, why should I post your comment? They're all busy people, like you. To Mr. Rudeby International and Mr. Pottymouth: I also have a tendency to delete comments that are merely offensive. Go be offensive to someone who can smack you a good one upside the head. That may provide you with a needed incentive to stop and think about what you are trying to accomplish. To Mr. Righteous but Wrong: I don't publish comments that contain known or probable factual errors. There's already enough widely repeated misinformation out there, and if you don't have the time to do your homework, I don't either. To those who write to announce that at death I will either 1) disintegrate into nothingness or 2) go to Hell by a fast post, please pester someone else. I am a Catholic in communion with the Church and haven't the time for either village atheism or aimless Jesus-hollering.