Yesterday evening, Belgian TV broadcasted episode 2 – Why are we here? – of the BBC documentary called Human Universe. To my surprise, scientists have apparently come up with a theory what could have preceded the Big Bang. Also see my related blogs of March 8, March 9, and March 11.
Most of this 2nd episode was actually quite interesting for non scientists like me. Several times the scientists in this documentary made a reference to the perfection of the Universe as – in so many ways – it has created the perfect conditions for humans to exist. That reference to perfection already made me wonder what (anti) climax was to come at the end of this episode. And I was not disappointed.
The documentary also made a reference to an earlier scientific hypothesis that it’s just sheer luck that our entire Universe provides these perfect conditions (winning lottery ticket theory). Apparently, scientists have finally realised that it’s too unlikely that an entire Universe is perfect. There must be an explanation for that. And there was indeed one but not the one you would expect.
When the documentary started to make reference to the continued appearances of new (volcanic) islands, my suspicion started. I felt an anti climax was on its way. And I was not disappointed. The continued appearances of new (volcanic) islands was used as a metaphor.
The lottery example (winning ticket) and the example of continued appearances of new (volcanic) islands were used to introduce the eternal inflation (gravitational wave) theory. In my own words: assume that the Universe is like an ever expanding ocean in which once and while a new volcanic island (pocket universe) pops up. In that view, our pocket universe is just the winning lottery ticket in a sea of universes. Seriously?? That’s the best they can come up with?? Links: BBC, Scientific American, and SPACE.
Even from a statistical point of view such a theory looks silly. Initially, scientists claimed that there are billions of planets in our Universe and thus one of these planets could just have been lucky (winning lottery ticket theory). If our entire pocket universe is just lucky now then you would also expect that this new theory includes the assumed existence of billions of pocket universes to enable our pocket universe to claim the winning lottery ticket.
I love Science and belief in Religion, also see my April 10 blog. However, most likely Religion and Science will never converge to a joint view on our existence as humans on this planet. Scientists will continue proving that chaos is leading everything and that our existence is just a lucky coincidence based on a combination of random events. Also see my May 3 blog about Science as a Belief system. It must be rather unfortunate (e.g., bad luck, losing lottery ticket) for scientists that the more they see, the more structured perfectionism they discover. However, it’s hard changing Beliefs.
If you believe, like me, that perfectionism is not random and involves a Master plan then you can just sit back, relax, enjoy the ride and let scientist do their work. Each new discovery underpins the existence of a Master plan. Owning a winning lottery ticket has its advantages.
Somehow all of this reminds me of the consultant joke. Just replace the word consultant for scientist.
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