RE: Is the Higgs Boson the 'God' Particle?
(18 Jul 2012 03:28 PM)NJM Wrote: I can't see how "this universe just happens to be suitable to us" - in general it isn't!!!
The only place, as yet known, where we can exist at all is here..........and that is only because "we can" The hackneyed phrase "The Goldilocks Zone" shows...
There is a difference between the "Goldilocks Paradox" and the "Goldilocks Zone".
The Goldilocks Zone is based on the (likely) false assumption that all life must be of the same basic construction as found on earth.
The Goldilocks Paradox points out the laws of physics in this universe are finely tuned to allow the complexity of life to be sustained. If you tweak Planck's Constant by even a tiny amount then you get a universe where atoms will not form, preventing any kind of complexity appearing at all.
The laws of physics in this universe mean that stars are born and die and as a result build the elements larger than iron. This gives a nice complex palette of components to build life from (not necessarily carbon based). That's the paradox... except, of course, in a multiverse of an infinite number of universes, each one built on slightly different laws of physics, this universe is bound to turn up.
