Quote from kjkent1:
1. What I can see is that you erroneously tried to suggest that quantum mechanics is heavily involved in the current science of sending space craft to other planets, and when challenged, you tried to implicate semiconductors as the rationale for your comment.
I asked around my office, where there are about 20 semiconductor designers located within less than a one minute walk. After asking about 5 of them, and having them all laugh at the prospect that they would use quantum physics to design a production chip, I am satisfied, that while there is lots of quantum theory in the underlying science of electronics, no one could seriously claim that quantum mechanics is an integral part of anything but the farthest bleeding edge of current semiconductor development.
2. What I can see is that you refuse to produce the math to prove your assertions about the cosmological constant proving design.
3. What I can see is that your grammar and spelling is that of a 15 year old or someone who is heavily sedated/intoxicated.
4. What I can see is that you keep talking about how my application of probability theory is wrong, but you never actually demonstrate how -- which suggests to me that you don't really know if it's wrong or not. Considering your refusal as to #2, above, this is unremarkable.
4. What this thread is about, is whatever anyone wants to argue. And, as you, and others, have chosen to argue about what the cosmological constant means, it's fair game that I suggest it means no more than what it says: Vacuum energy of local space = ~2x10^-121.
The weakness of gravity, the existence of just the right motley set of particles to form the building blocks of lifeâare these facts enough to cause physicists to abandon their quest for mathematical elegance and shift to embrace the anthropic principle?
No, said Susskind, there is still the possibility that they arose by chance. "But there is one fine-tuning of nature, one accident, one conspiracy we might call it, which is so extraordinary that nobody thinks it's an accident."...
Several years ago, the 121st decimal place of the cosmological constant was measured through cosmological observation; its value appears to be 2 instead of 0. To Weinberg and to Susskind, this confirmation of the earlier prediction is the best support for the anthropic contention that "some features of our own existence determine certain things about the laws of nature."
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Explaining the appearance of design
What else, besides an intelligent designer, could have tailored the universe to fit the needs of planets and people, including unlikely features that defy current mathematical prediction? Susskind's answer lies in string theoryâa mathematical model of nature to which many, if not most, physicists now subscribe.
String theory makes sense in 10 dimensions of space, not our usual three. The extra six-dimensional spaces are known as Calabi Yau or CY spaces. "These spaces control all the properties of the world in a large scale," said Susskind. "The (elementary) particles have to be able to fit into these spaces. If they fit, then they're allowable particles. If they don't, they're not allowable. All the laws of nature and string theory are controlled by these features of these CY spaces." There are about a million different CY spaces, or "manifolds." Each one can be decorated with "little lines of flux that can wind around them in many, many ways," said Susskind. "When you start counting up all the possible ways the CY manifolds can be decorated with these fluxes, the numbers are humongous."
String theory allows for a landscape of as many as 10500 different environments.
Thus, string theory allows for a landscape of possible universes "so rich that it appears there may be as many as 10500 different environments that can be described." The number of possibilities is so large that it can compensate for the incredible unlikelihood of the cosmological constant being so exceptionally small.
Do these alternate universes actually exist outside of the realm of possibility, or is the universe everywhere the same as it is here, in all the places we can measure it? Nobody knows the answer yet. What is known is that the universe is far wider than the 10 billion light years across that it was once assumed to be.
The school of inflationary cosmology holds that the universe is expanding at an increasing rate. An exponential and perpetual expansion would be possible if, as the universe expanded, new bits of space formed to fill interstitial spaces. The theory of eternal inflation suggests that as the universe grows, bubbles of alternate types of space appear. "If a bubble is too small, it will melt back into the environment," said Susskind. "If it happens to grow a little bit, it will then start to really expand." Within that expanding bubble, more bubbles will form. "It creates this enormous diversity of different properties and in some tiny, tiny fraction of it, perhaps a comfortable little green neighborhood appears where life can exist. That's where we are."
http://www.nyas.org/publications/readersReport.asp?articleID=48
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