The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Intelligent Life

Let's make a new universe. Let's make it slightly different from the one that we are familiar with. We could change the laws of nature, just a little bit. We could change how the universe begins, or make it four-dimensional. In the last 40 years, scientists have discovered something astounding: the vast majority of these changes are disastrous. We end up with a universe containing no galaxies, no stars, no planets, no atoms, no molecules, and most importantly, no intelligent life-forms wondering what went wrong. This fact is called the fine-tuning of the universe for life. After explaining the science of what happens when you change the way our universe works, we will ask:

What does all this mean?

Luke A. Barnes is a John Templeton Foundation Fellow at the University of Sydney. Educated at the University of Sydney, and with a PhD from the University of Cambridge, his research focuses on galaxy formation and the fine-tuning of the universe for intelligent life, both its scientific and philosophical aspects. Through public outreach, he has presented our place in the universe to a popular audience.