Steven Weinberg - Why a Fine-Tuned Universe?

How can so many numbers of nature—the constants and relationships of physics—be so spot-on perfect for humans to exist? Coincidence and luck seem wildly unlikely. This question causes controversy, among scientists and among philosophers. Beware: there is more than one answer lurking here.



Steven Weinberg is an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate in Physics for his contributions to the unification of the weak force and electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles.


Closer to Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[stellarwind]

Always a pleasure to listen to the great mind of Steven Weinberg

[ALavin-enkr]

R.I.P. Mr. Weinberg. You were always a pleasure to listen to and a decent human being.

[rdberg]

I appreciate Steven Weinberg's humility in presenting the puzzles which vex theoretical physicists. He presents the limitations on our knowledge of how the universe is, allowing for multiple possibilities.

[Bo-tznw]

Another excellent video from an excellent channel on yt. Just a small thing: please make it clear what is new material and old published long ago (obviously this one). Seems like old videos now being mixed with newer ones. A bit confusing, but should be easy to fix. But again: a lot to discover here!

[havenbastion]

Fine tuning requires a prior intent to get certain results, which requires a previously existing mind, which cannot be validated by science or logic and is indistinguishable from fiction.

[krischnakrischna]

..." and matter will play a very little role "....🙏.... excellenty crisp and clear discourse... thank you...

[thomasdequincey]

It was a sad day when Steven Weinberg died. Physics lost a great man.

[numericalcode]

It’s criminal how few people know anything about Steven Weinberg

[artoffugue]

That's the longest most convoluted "I don't effing know" answer I've ever heard.

[markrutledge]

Weinberg seems strangely comfortable to me in postulating a multiverse without any direct supporting evidence. His argument seems to rest strongly on string theory which itself has very little direct supporting evidence. From this rather meager position Weinberg feels he can offer a salutary answer to the anthropic principle.

[allenanderson]

If all space (actually "empty" or not) is filled with annihilating matter-antimatter pairs...why isn't measurable background gamma radiation ubiquitous?

[chargersina]

I wish we knew the date of the videos. You see Robert with dark hair and I know Steven Weinberg passed away in 2021.

[dorfmanjones]

Terrific! I actually understood what Weinberg was saying from first to last! Maybe I'm not as dumb as I thought. Or more likely he's so smart he can make himself understood to imbeciles like me.

[chrisgarret]

1. Universe has a cause. Why? Because every single thing we know of in the universe has a cause. It's not logical to conclude otherwise.
2. Super String Theory and all the variants of Multiverse theories don't at all explain existence, at best they explain the reason for energy, matter and life in the universe, not anything more than that.
3. It's not possible to explain existence because we are a part of it as are the tools we aim to use to answer the question. You cannot have part of the question as the answer. We can never get at the relationship of existence to non-existence because we can't "look" at it "from the outside" and the tools we have to use are part of that system too. I'm obviously meaning scientific observations utilizing math, physics and any other cognitive/technological system available to us.

[spacemissing]

The universe has no responsibility to explain itself, and it doesn't care that we want it to be explained.

[Dyslexic-Artist-Theory-on-Time]

The most logical explanation for the Fined tuned Universe is that we have one universal process from the quantum world of the very small to cosmology at the largest scale, with complexity arising out of simplicity.

[jamenta]

In Hugh Everett's many-worlds interpretation of quantum wave function collapse, what determines, and more importantly, "when is it determined"- the split into another universe takes place?

[NeverTalkToCops]

Fine tuning does not require a Fine Tuner.

[jewononefoot]

If a multiverse explains fine tuning for life, what explains the fine tuning of the multiverse that enables some universe to b finely tuned?
Is there an evidence for a multiverse? Is it falsifiable?
Even if string theory would some day b proven correct. Wouldn't it just prove that one solution is true, not that other solutions are correct in other universes?

[lukasmakarios]

I don't know if I'm just not getting this, but it sounds like he's asking this ...
Why is the energy of empty space so seemingly insignificant (although collectively 70% of all the universe's energy), and alternatively, why is it not simply a flat zero? So, instead, should it be 0.1 x 10-¹⁰⁰⁰⁰? If you can't measure it, and you have to literally guess at what it "should" be, then maybe you just can't estimate it at all. May be it "should" be 0.1 x 10 to the minus infinity?

Hmmm ... "zero point one times ten to the minus infinity" would be equal to "zero, but not zero" ... right? Kinda like the idea of multiplying by negative one. Basically absurd to calculate.

And I still don't see the point of postulating an infinity of other universes to compensate for the incomprehensibility of God's mind.