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The Teleological Argument

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paulm50

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So, here we have theists pretending that something we are woefully ignorant can be the basis of an argument that a designer was required, which is of course, just an argument from ignorance.
The argument for intelligent design, is totally reliant on what was designed is perfect. Of course those arguing the god performed the miracle, than had everything undone by satan.

Like five year old children blaming each other for making then breaking a toy. It was him who did it wrong. At least with two children we know they're there.
 
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paulm50

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Not only all of that, but a total solar eclipse is only total from certain vantage points on the earth at any one time. Someone else viewing the same "total" eclipse will not see it covered the same way, it will be partial.
By reading the original translation of Genesis, that wasn't how the Jews saw the world. The believe god created day and night. Think about what that proves.
 
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quatona

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The Teleological Argument

1. The fine-tuning of the universe
That´s already a question-begging term. Just because something is the way it is (and not one of the trillions of ways you may imagine it to possibly being) doesn´t mean it´s "fine-tuned".
is due to either physical necessity, chance, or design.
Could you define these terms precisely so that they become the trichotomy you present them as?
2. It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
Says who?
 
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variant

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I am honestly not sure how this replies to what I said as I did not reference anything about the quality of the universe being perfect or imperfect.

Are you sure you quoted the right post?
 
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nonbeliever314

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Define life.
 
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Joshua260

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Define life.
First, please note that as I demonstrated, scientists have already agreed with the fine-tuning of the universe. So the definition below is really provided as a formality.

Life: the property of organisms to take in food, extract energy from it, grow, adapt to their environment, and reproduce.
 
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nonbeliever314

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(That was taken straight from Willy Craig.. and not a scientific definition) Anyways, isn't it possible if the "fine-tuned" constants were changed they could produce other types of life? Therefore, this universe isn't "fine-tuned" for some other type of biochemistry? And technically not "fine-tuned" for all life, because the only life we know of is what we've observed on Earth?
 
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nonbeliever314

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I'd also like to note, just because a couple a scientists might think the universe is "fine-tuned" doesn't mean it is. If we are gonna play "quote the scientist" I could equally find just as many scientists that think fine tuning is a joke.
 
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nonbeliever314

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The only reason why the universe might appear "fine-tuned" is because we're here, and if we tweak the constants we can say "Oh, I guess we wouldn't be here then". So what? It's like saying, "If that car was going 40mph instead of 20, I would've gotten in a car accident". (I wish I did)
 
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variant

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Not just other kinds of life but life as we know it might be better suited to universes with other values.

Specifically for the cosmological constant more life would exist in the universe if constant were slightly negative.


http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/the_problem_with_the_cosmological_constant

Specifically it is not "life" that the universe is "fine tuned" for but rather things like having physical matter available to make life, and the formation of galaxies and not having the entire universe collapsing in on itself instantaneously.

We are focused on life in this debate but of course it is completely unknown what other, more fundamental things would be violated if we changed the constants that make up the universe.

Sure, if we changed the energy of an electron at rest that would make life impossible, but the question is, what else would it make impossible?
 
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Archaeopteryx

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Then rephrase the premise to say "apparent fine-tuning."
Why focus on life specifically? Small deviations in these values would not only render the universe life-prohibiting, they would also render it starless and mostly devoid of heavy elements.

This appears to have been copied from here, almost word for word.
This appears to have come from here, almost word for word.
Physicist P.C.W. Davies has calculated that the odds against the initial conditions being suitable for star formation (without which planets could not exist) is one followed by at least a thousand billion billion zeroes!
This also appears to have been copied from here, almost word for word.
He also calculates that a change in the strength of gravity or of the weak force by merely one part in 10 raised to the 100th power would have prevented a life-permitting universe (from The Anthropic Principle).
According to this source, this calculation was performed by Barrow and Tipler, not Davies.
 
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