The Beginning and the End: The Meaning of Life in a Cosmological Perspective (The Frontiers Collection)
Language: English
Pages: 379
ISBN: 3319050613
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
In this fascinating journey to the edge of science, Vidal takes on big philosophical questions: Does our universe have a beginning and an end or is it cyclic? Are we alone in the universe? What is the role of intelligent life, if any, in cosmic evolution? Grounded in science and committed to philosophical rigor, this book presents an evolutionary worldview where the rise of intelligent life is not an accident, but may well be the key to unlocking the universe's deepest mysteries. Vidal shows how the fine-tuning controversy can be advanced with computer simulations. He also explores whether natural or artificial selection could hold on a cosmic scale. In perhaps his boldest hypothesis, he argues that signs of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations are already present in our astrophysical data. His conclusions invite us to see the meaning of life, evolution and intelligence from a novel cosmological framework that should stir debate for years to come.
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extent can a biological view of the universe give us new insights? In a landmark paper, Burbidge, Fowler, and Hoyle (1957) showed the mechanisms responsible for the progressive synthesis of heavy chemical elements, or stellar nucleosynthesis. The unchanging table of periodic elements we all learn at school gives an incorrect picture, because those elements have a history. It took billions of years for them to stabilize, although the formation of chemical elements is now largely stabilized. John
is that CNS lacks a hereditary mechanism. Harrison (1995) noted that CNS lacks a process that selects for reproduction only universes that are inhabitable by organic life, in order to explain fine-tuning for life. Gardner (2003, p. 85) also pointed out the lack of a hereditary mechanism in CNS. Why should baby universes resemble their parents? The third issue regards parameter sensitivity. How reliable is reproduction of universes? If there is perfect reliability in the reproduction mechanism,
kind of repetition. But again, as Gratton argued, there is no objective contradiction with infinite series, although it certainly contradicts our subjective cognitive inclinations to reach either a point or a cycle. The idea of an infinite series constitutes an accepted infinite series of causes, instead of one which is quarantined in a causa sui God or ultimate theory. The third problem with cycles is that they would ipso facto imply an endless cycle of repetition, a veritable eternal return.
it made Leslie (1998, p. 295) wonder if we should still try to correct it. Philosopher John Leslie has probably worked more than anyone else on the anthropic principle as an OSE. In his paper ‘‘The anthropic principle today’’ (1990), he reviews thirteen common misunderstandings of the anthropic principle as a selection effect. One of the key points he emphasizes is the distinction between logical explanations and causal explanations. OSEs let us perform logical or probabilistic reasoning, but
accompanied by a judgment, where the immortal soul is rewarded or punished before choosing the condition of its next existence. The nature of this new existence is a topic in theology. Naturalistic eschatologies emphasize harmony with nature. Goodness is seen as unity with nature, while wrongness is seen as alienation from nature. Interestingly, the main concern is to be in harmony with nature here and now, and not the prospect of a far future state after death. This is illustrated in Taoism,