"In their 2010 book, The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow set out to answer a big question: “Is the apparent ‘grand design’ of our universe evidence of a benevolent creator who set things in motion — or does science offer another explanation?”
Briefly stated, the term “fine-tuned universe” refers to the fact that the universe appears to have been set up “just so.” Its properties,
The thesis of The Grand Design, as stated in the closing chapter, is, “Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing,” i.e., no designer required. Interestingly, the plot of the pop 2014 movie God’s Not Dead hinged on John Lennox’s philosophical dismantling of this exact claim. Lennox never appeared in the movie, but his rather simple refutation did lead to two subsequent documentaries after lead actor Kevin Sorbo became intrigued with his work.
In some ways, the forthcoming film The Story of Everything, out on April 30, offers an answer to that question, though not at all an explicit response to it. While Lennox does appear in the film and comments on The Grand Design, The Story of Everything takes up Hawking’s and Mlodinow’s thesis on their own turf, so to speak. From the perspective of physics, does their “another explanation” add up to a viable case for the universe creating itself out of nothing?
The short answer, according to philosopher of science Stephen Meyer, is, no.
*Hawking proves the singularity, doesn’t much like its implications, because it seems to point to a kind of creation event, so he spent much of the rest of his career attempting to circumvent the conclusion of his own proof.
*And in the process, he developed these quantum cosmological ideas through a tiny loophole.
Ironically, though, as Meyer and others go on to explain, even the quantum cosmological model has “theistic implications.” Moreover, it still implies the prior existence of a mind behind the universe." EN&V
Ironically, though, as Meyer and others go on to explain, even the quantum cosmological model has “theistic implications.” Moreover, it still implies the prior existence of a mind behind the universe." EN&V
