Bernard Carr - Ultimate Questions: Do They Evolve?

Ask the most fundamental questions; make the most penetrating inquires; probe the deep essence of existence. Push boundaries. Search the foundations of reality. Imagine all that may exist in physics and cosmology, even beyond current understanding. Then ask how such ultimate questions may change over time.



Bernard J. Carr is a Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Queen Mary, University of London. His research interests include the early universe, dark matter, general relativity, primordial black holes, and the anthropic principle.


Closer to Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn, 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.

[chrisc]

Ultimate questions? There are 2: To be or not to be.

[dongshengdi]

There are still a lot of things we do not know. It’s important that people realize there are limitations to science.

“Perhaps we need to think about more positive dialogue perhaps with science and society and issues of religion, for example, and we look for ways can share the different ways we look at the world rather than polarizing it, ” du Sautoy said.
"I wonder, whether as I come to the end of my exploration at the limits of knowledge, I have changed my mind about declaring myself an atheist. With my definition of a God as the existence of things we cannot know, to declare myself an atheist would mean that I believe there is nothing that we cannot know. I don’t believe that anymore. In some sense I think I have proved that this God does exist. It’s now about exploring what quality this God has."
From atheist to agnostic believer after more than a decade of holding the position as Professor of Public Understanding of Science.
…

[RURC]

Our conciousness can only arise from a universe "tuned" this way. Consequently, it appears the universe is finely tuned for us. But the reality, we couldn't ask these questions if the "tuning" was different, because we simply wouldn't exist.

It's like a bubble saying "This water was heated to exactly 100°C so that I could exist!"

When in fact, it was just the water's temperature rising and the bubble is an effect of this process. The water temp will continue to rise well beyond the life cycle of the bubble. But the only time important to the bubble is when it existed.

Similarly, our universe is changing, it's not static, and at some time in the future, even we would not be able to exist.

[catherinemira]

It's interesting to find that the most scientific minds are forced to consider ideas that our ancestors possibly also mused about... The answers to these ultimate questions are probably beyond science, they are likely to always recede from the us like a mirage. Everytime we ask these ultimate questions, we are confronted with philosophy or/and theology. We seem to have arrived where we started from. I enjoyed this video and I have the same hunches...😉

[adisduderija]

Intensity of value and diversity of experience- my take

[samsunghome]

The better question than all these ultimate questions is why do all the dedicated philosophers eventually end up thinking that there is something special about human conscious which is holding the universe as it is?
It is not the questions and pursuit of it, it is the questioner and how the pursuit shapes up his psychology. He can't hope to find all the answers in a natural language accidentally developed to find a consistent structure 'English' or 'French'. Tell him to talk precise and define every single word that he is using, and then reconsider... "Universe is fine-tuned for 'Consciousness', and by our pure luck, or anthropically, we seem to have it".

[anthonycraig]

Someone said, the fine tuning of the Universe is for black holes. They were there near the beginning and will be there near the end. Everything in the universe is its potential food.

[Pursuitoftruth]

As above, so below.
Our observations teaches us about infinite evolution. Isn't it wonderous!

[mathew]

*An Overview of the Fine tuning argument*

For many, the regularity of the universe and the precision with which the universe exploded into being provides even more evidences for the existence of God. This evidence technically known as the Teleological argument, derives its name from the Greek word telos, which means "design." The Teleological argument goes like this:

1. Every design has a designer
2. The universe has high- complex design
3. Therefore, the universe has a designer


*The Anthropic Principle*

Scientists are finding the universe is like that watch ( anology of William Paley ), except even more precisely designed. These highly-precise and interdependent environmental conditions (called "anthropic constants") make up what is known as the "Anthropic Principle"-- a title for the mounting evidence that has many scientists believing the universe is extremely fine tuned (designed) to support human life on earth (Thats why some notorious atheists including Antony Flew later believed in God). Some Anthropic constants example include:

Oxygen level
• On earth, oxygen comprises 21 percent of the atmosphere
• That precise figure is an Anthropic constant that make life in earth possible.
• If oxygen were 25 percent fire would erept spontaneously
• If it were 15 percent, human beings would suffocate

Carbon dioxide level
• If the carbon dioxide level was higher than it is now, a runaway greenhouse effect would develop, and we would all burnt up
• If the level was lower than it is now, plants would not be able to maintain efficient photosynthesis, and we would all suffocate

For more evidence:



*What are the chances?*

It's not there just a few broadly defined constants that may have resulted by chance. There are more than 100 very narrowly defined constants that strongly point to an Intelligent Designer. Astrophysicist, Hugh Ross, calculated the probability these and other constants would exist for any planet in the universe by chance (i.e, without divine design). To meet all conditions, there is 1 chance in 10^1038 (one chance in one with 1038 zeroes after it)-- essentially 0% chance.
According to probability theory, odds of less than 1 in 10^50 equals " zero probability" .



It only proves that atheism is just a dogmatic belief. Nearly 2000 years ago, the apostle St Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, *_" For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse"_*


_Important: The term “entropy” describes degree of thermodynamic “disorder” in a closed system like the universe. “Maximum entropy” would describe the “heat death” of the universe (which is the state it is slowly gravitating towards). Amazingly, our universe was at its “minimum entropy” at the very beginning, which begs the question “how did it get so orderly?” Looking just at the initial entropy conditions, what is the likelihood of a universe supportive of life coming into existence by coincidence? One in billions of billions? Or trillions of trillions of trillions? Or more?_

_Sir Roger Penrose, 2020 Nobel prize winner and a close friend of Stephen Hawking, wondered about this question and tried to calculate the probability of the initial entropy conditions of the Big Bang_

_According to Penrose, the odds against such an occurrence were on the order of 10 to the power of 10^123 to 1_

_It is hard even to imagine what this number means. In math, the value 10^123 means 1 followed by 123 zeros. (This is, by the way, more than the total number of atoms [10^79] believed to exist in the whole universe.) But Penrose's answer is vastly more than this: It requires 1 followed by 10^10^123 zeros_

_It’s important to recognize that we're not talking about a single unlikely event here. We’re talking about hitting the jackpot over and over again, nailing extremely unlikely, mutually complementary parameters of constants and quantities, far past the point where chance could account for it_

[avecina]

"Without "THOUGHT" nothing happen " RSMM...

We need to recognized the existence of a Cosmic Mind for the Cosmic body..

Mind and Body are the two characters of the one and the same existence..
Invisible Mind and Visible Body..

The Body is like a copy of the Mind, the body acts in obedience to the minds command.
..
The Universe is a perfect organic body, it has invisible internal nature/ character( i e God)

and Visible external Form(Physical Universe)...

[ravichanana]

It is still not clear if the 'big bang occurred'.

[Naturamorpho]

Oh my God! Susan Boyle is an astrophysicist! Oh, wait... no..., it is just Bernard Carr, at closer inspection!

[kallianpublico]

From "Forbidden Planet": Are there evolutionary limits to progress? Or can progress transcend the physical? Is consciousness fundamentally physical or beyond the physical?

[stevecoley]

7 Metaphysical Questions

1) How do we remove the current cornerstone called ignorance (greed) from life and replace it with the cornerstone of truth (love)?

2) How do we remove the heavy lead called ignorance (greed) from the springboard of truth (love)... so that the springboard rebounds to happiness and launches US to heaven (joy, beauty and harmony)?

3) How do we release the string of lies being pulled by ignorance (greed)...so that the bow of truth (love) returns to happiness and propels US to heaven (joy, beauty and harmony)?

4) How do we fill a giant black hole in space called ignorance (greed) with light (love)...so that it's darkness (misery, murder, mass shootings, suicides, war, etc.) goes away and it's heavy gravitational pull stops sucking the joy out of life and destroying the planet?

5) How do we knock down the wall of lies saying that "life is business" (greed)...so that the truth that "life is art" (creating joy) floods the earth and washes away it's ignorance (hate)?

6) How do we make the hostile alien vampires (greed) who are blind...see the ignorance of transforming heaven (peace) into hell (war)?

7) How do we make the hostile alien vampires (greed) who are blind...see the ignorance of destroying the planet?

[mrschuyler]

That is the best explanation FOR the anthropic principle I have ever heard.

[xspotbox]

Well, if i remember correctly, relativity and quantum mechanics were already merged a long time ago, at least in principle. In matter of fact, this is why quantum theory came to be, it's a natural extension of relativistic relations and principles of energy potential. That doesn't mean anybody understands how gravity, or better say space-time, is related to the energetic phenomena of matter at the deepest explored levels. Because there is no geometry and dimensionality down there, events occurs almost instantly, there's no locality, so it's impossible to talk about classical relativistic equations. It's very hard to observe something that small, but move further back a bit and things suddenly becomes very relativistic and objective. So there's that barrier of uncertainty and probability distributions somewhere in between, nobody knows how to describe in mathematical terms exactly. That doesn't mean scientists can't deconstruct some object from objective observations on larger scales and all the way down to the tinniest energetic pulses, that ends in quantum force fields. Fields are completely abstract entities, can't be observed directly, but they are the origin of that strange fine-tuning problem, whatever we mean by that.

Theory obviously exists, and it works, or we couldn't use modern computers, internet and GPS, for example. Electronics doesn't grow in fields, parts are made from purified natural elements, so better be sure the scientific community knows exactly what they're doing.
Brains do grow on their own, mind is not like a software code, consciousness arises with growth of an organism and social cultivation, so it's all part of a natural evolutionary process. But ask yourselves one question, who would be better suited for lasting existence and thriving with the universe, artificial intelligence or a smart biological self awareness, it became very clear quickly humans doesn't stand a chance against very sophisticated, self powered and replicating robots.
So no, sorry for disappointing him, but it's very obvious the physical environment will always favor material, large, massive, simple and robust forms, just like general physics favors mathematics over philosophy and ideology.
In my personal opinion, the universe is fine-tuned for God only and nobody else, The problem with this notion is, God is also the least likely thing that can ever exists, so...

[-by-_Publishing_LLC]

(0:30) *BC: "I think the key question is what is the universe supposed to be fine tuned for?"* ... The universe is fine tuned for whatever unknown structure might evolve within it (from the very first Hydrogen atom all the way up to _Homo sapiens_ ). The universe is no different than we are: starting off with a well-organized and structured foundation is simply "logical."

[dongshengdi]

Science has not answered most of the Big questions in nature because Science has limitations to what it can do. Professor of Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, mathematician, broadcaster and author Marcus du Sautoy in his book, <What We Cannot Know: Explorations at the Edge of Knowledge>. He took over this position from atheist Richard Dawkins in 2008.

[Sharperthanu]

WE have the largest brains and there's a REASON for that.

[francesco]

Interesting interview as always. Complexity itself is fine tuning... The starting set could have been a rotating pear in space...