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Our Universe: creation or coincidence?
Cosmology, the study of the skies and the universe, appeals to most readers but the technical jargon in many of the books on the subject keeps them away. Sir Martin Rees in his book Just six numbers writes about it all in simple terms and that makes his work enjoyable for the layperson.
Scientists have always been intrigued by the mystery surrounding the creation of the universe. Astronomer Hugh Ross warns of considering it a chance accident by comparing the likelihood of its formation with “the possibility of a Boeing 747 aircraft being completely assembled as a result of a tornado striking a junkyard”. The answer to this paradox has almost always been accompanied with an avalanche of resounding inquiries ranging from “Why are we here?” to “How did it happen?” to “Who or what is responsible?”
Theoreticians, philosophers, historians and, of course, scientists have continuously played around these questions.
Sir Martin Rees explores this issue by explaining the present understanding of our Universe. He postulates that our entire universe is exists because of the apparent tuning of just six numbers. These numbers represent the deep forces that shape our universe and are responsible for everything in it. Arguing that the present universe could have only resulted from exactness in these numbers, he leads us to admire this state of tuning and then further slips into a philosophical discourse on who is responsible for this state of affairs.
The ensuing discussion results in a book that is engaging, revealing and above all easy to understand in spite of the intricacy of the issue it handles. What Rees accomplishes is a marvellous feat. He occasionally forces the non-specialist to pause for thought, but rewards the curious reader with the realization that these fine tuned numbers truly have a profound impact upon our lives.
Britain’s Astronomer Royal and winner of the 2001 Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation, Sir Martin Rees is the Royal Society Professor at Kings College, Cambridge. A theoretical astrophysicist, he has a strong belief in the profound link between the stars and the atoms which enables him to maintain his focus onto the big picture of the universe. Thus he can make the essential connection between these otherwise disparate levels of existence.
In Just six numbers, Rees attempts to simplify the quest for the ultimate understanding by focusing on only six physical parameters to explain the whole raison d’etre. Because everything — the stars, planets, mountains, you and me — he argues, came from the same primordial hot soup of the Big Bang about 15 billion years ago in a violent explosion, we only need to trace the simplicity of the Universe in its apparent complexity.
He adapts the idea of “The Oaraborus” to “express the unity of all things, material and spiritual, which never disappear but perpetually change form in an eternal cycle of destruction and re-creation” in expressing the intricate links between the microworld of particles, nuclei and atoms and the enormity of the cosmos. He contends that these six simple parameters are responsible for giving the universe its distinctive features and consequently, any deviation from their unbelievably fine tuning would have resulted in a significantly different present or no present at all.
The six physical parameters imprinted in the big bang that he uses to define the entire structure and texture of the Universe range from the cosmological constant to the ratio of the electric force and gravitational force between two electrons. These numbers weave a tale of the shaping of our universe by a few fundamental forces and concepts. In explaining how our existence depends on six numbers having values in a surprisingly narrow range of possibilities, Rees connects the nature of fundamental forces with the development of the universe.
Of Rees’s six numbers, two relate to basic forces, two determine the size and large-scale texture of the universe, and two fix the properties of space itself. He takes each quantity, or parameter, in turn and thoroughly analyzes it. Some quantities are reasonably well understood like the strength of the force that binds atomic nuclei together, or the Epsilon. This quantity determines how all atoms and thus matter on Earth are made. Others still, like the latest 1998 addition to his list that describes the surprising acceleration of the expansion of the cosmos (Lambda), have turned out to more elusive. For each number, Rees develops reasons for the limits that he gives and discusses the consequence of even a slight deviation from the present numerical value.
For example, if Lambda was tweaked a bit, our universe might have expanded so fast, one might not have been able to see beyond one’s nose, literally! Another example is the parameter N, which is 10 to the power of 36 (yes, that is 1 with 36 zeroes). It measures the ratio of the electrical force binding the atoms together, to the gravity between them. Add or take a zero, and the Cosmos would fall apart due to instability.
Sir Martin Rees further postulates that conceivably there are some connections between these six numbers but states that at the moment we cannot predict any one of them from the values of the others. Perhaps the earnestly sought-after “theory of everything” will eventually yield a formula that relates all six together.
More thought provoking, however, is Sir Martin’s discussion of what or who tuned these numbers. He identifies three scenarios. One is the hardheaded approach of “we could not exist if these numbers weren’t adjusted in this special way: we manifestly are here, so there’s nothing to be surprised about.”
Writers like Carl Sagan, John D Barrow and numerous other cosmologists define this as the “anthorpic” principal that states that human existence itself is one of the prerequisites of the universe in which we live.
Perhaps Canadian philosopher John Leslie best illustrates this mindset with the following fire squad analogy: Suppose you are in front of a firing squad, and they all miss. You could say, “Well, if they hadn’t all missed, I wouldn’t be here to worry about it.” But such thought process is indeed not gratifying enough to a probing mind and leaves a great deal for man to ponder over or question.
Another is that the “tuning” of these numbers is evidence of a beneficent creator, who formed the universe with the specific intention of producing us. Most scientist however term this approach as the “First Mover” escape route and scientifically incomplete. For those who do not accept the providence or creator arguments — and Sir Martin places himself in this category — there is another argument, though still conjectural. This is that the Big Bang may not have been the only one. Rees seems to be sticking to this path and helps us to visualize his concept of a “Multiverse” where our Universe is just one of an infinite amount of universes — not parallel, but siblings, much like children born out of the same parents. These separate universes may have cooled down differently after their respective big bangs, ending up being governed by different laws and defined by different numbers.
Many of the topics in the book are at the leading edge of research. He notes that in a field as active and vital as modern cosmology, some of the subjects in the book are likely to evolve in fundamental ways over the next few years. Where appropriate, Rees is clear about how the picture may change. As he points out, we have only outlined our view of the universe; our view will evolve as man continues with his relentless probes — deeper into the atom and farther into the skies. In the end, one seems convinced by the arguments and facts that Rees demonstrates to justify the continuance of this journey towards enlightenment.
Rees ends his book with the question, “Should we seek other reasons for the providential values of our six numbers?”
These providential values which make our very lives possible had to be accurately tuned and were in existence from the very beginning of the universe. This scientific fact alone leaves the human mind baffled.
The writer
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