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Why Do We Have Laws Of Nature — And Why Aren’t They Different?

Why Do We Have Laws Of Nature — And Why Aren’t They Different?

<p><&excl;-- BEGIN THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div style&equals;"position&colon;relative">&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">The universe follows rules&period; The evidence points to a Designer&period; Not to an infinite carnival of imaginary universes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">We’ve written before about the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;dailywire&period;com&sol;news&sol;why-modern-physics-points-to-god&quest;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener" data-saferedirecturl&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;google&period;com&sol;url&quest;q&equals;https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;dailywire&period;com&sol;news&sol;why-modern-physics-points-to-god&quest;&amp&semi;source&equals;gmail&amp&semi;ust&equals;1758912070748000&amp&semi;usg&equals;AOvVaw2GdNjKu7h0FKQn1iXoiSlI">fine-tuning<&sol;a> of the universe’s constants — precise numbers like the strength of gravity or the charge of the electron&period; Change them even slightly&comma; and the universe collapses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">But beneath those numbers lies an even deeper mystery&colon; the laws of nature themselves&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Gravity pulls&period; Opposite charges attract&period; Particles collide in predictable patterns&period; These aren’t just quantities — they’re the rules that structure reality&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">But here’s the riddle&colon; Why these laws&comma; and not others&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Since science explains everything in the world as consequences of the laws of nature&comma; it’s natural to ask if science can explain the laws themselves&period; Physicist Lee Smolin put it this way&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Facts about the world need to be explained&comma; and a fact most in need of explanation is why particular laws are observed to hold in our universe&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Scientists once hoped they would find a simple answer that would be consistent with their prior beliefs&period; Maybe there was a unique &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;final theory” — a logically inevitable set of laws that could explain everything and rule out all alternatives&period; If that were true&comma; then the laws of physics wouldn’t be one possibility among many&period; They would be the only possible laws a universe could have&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">But that hope didn’t pan out&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">After years of effort&comma; scientists came to a sobering realization&period; The dream of a unique final theory was just that — a dream&period; There’s no logical reason why our universe had to follow the laws we observe&period; In fact&comma; scientists have constructed many alternative sets of laws that are mathematically consistent — they just don’t describe our universe&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">In Smolin’s words&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Looking back&comma; it is clear that the assumption that a unified theory would be unique was no more than that — an assumption&period; There is no mathematical or philosophical principle which guarantees there to be only one mathematically consistent theory of nature&period; In fact&comma; we now know that there can be no such theory&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">With the dream of an inevitable set of laws off the table&comma; the fundamental question returns with even more force&colon; Why do these laws govern our universe&comma; and not others&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">While the question might seem unanswerable&comma; the solution begins to emerge once we recognize that our laws of nature are not arbitrary or random&period; They’re extraordinary&period; They’re tailored to produce order&comma; structure&comma; and complexity&period; Among all the ways a universe could be governed&comma; our laws are remarkably well-suited for creating atoms&comma; planets&comma; stars&comma; galaxies&comma; and life&period; In the words of physicist Paul Davies&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;You might be tempted to suppose that any old rag-bag of laws would produce a complex universe of some sort&comma; with attendant inhabitants convinced of their own specialness&period; Not so&period; It turns out that randomly selected laws lead almost inevitably either to unrelieved chaos or boring and uneventful simplicity…in some sense we live in the most interesting possible universe&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">It’s a profound idea&period; And it carries significant implications&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">If almost all combinations of laws lead to lifeless chaos or dull simplicity&comma; but our laws produce order&comma; complexity&comma; and life&comma; then the laws of nature are not random&period; They’re clearly designed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">When one specific outcome is chosen from a range of possibilities to achieve a result&comma; we instinctively recognize what that means&colon; intelligence at work&period; That is&comma; after all&comma; the very definition of intelligence&period; Intelligence selects&period; It aims for a purpose&comma; which is why the design embedded in the laws of physics points so powerfully to a mind behind them — an <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;physicstogod&period;com&sol;post&sol;intelligent-design-laws-of-nature" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener" data-saferedirecturl&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;google&period;com&sol;url&quest;q&equals;https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;physicstogod&period;com&sol;post&sol;intelligent-design-laws-of-nature&amp&semi;source&equals;gmail&amp&semi;ust&equals;1758912070748000&amp&semi;usg&equals;AOvVaw3NL-agPZclwf1LtzbMiOEj">intelligent designer<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">This is not a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;God of the gaps” argument&period; It is not based on ignorance about why we have these laws instead of others&period; It is based on scientific knowledge&colon; only this specific set of laws produces a universe with structure&comma; complexity&comma; and life&period; That points directly to design and an intelligent choice of laws&period; This conclusion arises from what we know&comma; not from what we don’t&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr"><b data-stringify-type&equals;"bold"><a class&equals;"c-link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;get&period;dailywire&period;com&sol;subscribe&sol;plus&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;fall40&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;content&equals;fallsale&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;website&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;editorial" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;get&period;dailywire&period;com&sol;subscribe&sol;plus&sol;&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;fall40&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;content&equals;fallsale&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;website&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;editorial" data-sk&equals;"tooltip&lowbar;parent">Get 40&percnt; off new DailyWire&plus; annual memberships with code FALL40 at checkout&excl;<&sol;a><&sol;b><span class&equals;"c-message&lowbar;&lowbar;edited&lowbar;label" dir&equals;"ltr" data-sk&equals;"tooltip&lowbar;parent" aria-describedby&equals;"sk-tooltip-14866"> <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">But for many in the scientific community&comma; that conclusion is unacceptable&period; Not because the evidence rules it out&comma; but because their philosophy forbids it&period; Scientists committed to atheism cannot allow that an intelligent God created the laws of nature&period; So they look for another way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Their solution&quest; The multiverse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Faced with the challenge of explaining why our universe has the right laws&comma; some physicists propose an infinite number of other universes&comma; each with entirely different laws&period; MIT physicist Max Tegmark calls this the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Ultimate Ensemble” — a radical claim that every mathematically possible structure exists as its own physical universe&period; As Tegmark himself writes&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The only postulate in this theory is that all structures that exist mathematically exist also physically&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Let that sink in&period; According to Tegmark&comma; for every imaginable set of laws — no matter how bizarre — there is a universe that follows them&period; Some universes have laws like ours&period; Others operate under rules where everything moves only in triangles&period; Some have seventeen dimensions&period; Others have 242 million&period; The possibilities are endless&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">So why&comma; out of all possibilities&comma; do we find ourselves in this rare universe with its particular laws&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Their answer is simple&colon; because only a universe like this could host observers like us&period; The lifeless universes can’t be observed&comma; so of course&comma; we’re not there&period; We exist here only because this is the kind of universe where existence is possible&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">At first glance&comma; the multiverse might sound like an answer&period; But it quickly unravels&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">We observe one universe&period; Scientists have discovered that it’s governed by specific laws that give rise to structure&comma; complexity&comma; and life&period; Instead of using these discoveries to illuminate reality&comma; the multiverse strips them of their significance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">If every possible law of nature is real somewhere&comma; then the laws we discover in our universe lose their value&period; They’re not universally true&period; They’re just one set among an infinite collection of every imaginable possibility&period; Newton&comma; Einstein&comma; and Feynman didn’t uncover the ultimate truth&period; They only described a local chapter of reality&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Within that distorted framework&comma; science no longer seeks universal truth&period; It simply catalogs accidents&period; The very idea of a &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;law of nature” collapses&period; There is no foundation&comma; no explanation&comma; no reason&period; If everything possible exists&comma; then nothing in our universe is more real than any fantasy world&period; A theory that explains something by positing everything explains nothing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Of course&comma; atheist scientists can always shrug and say&colon; Too bad&period; Reality is meaningless&period; Everything possible exists&comma; and nothing is more real than anything else&period; But even that bleak position collapses on its own terms&period; Although it’s a more extensive discussion&comma; it can be demonstrated that the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;physicstogod&period;com&sol;is-the-multiverse-real" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener" data-saferedirecturl&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;google&period;com&sol;url&quest;q&equals;https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;physicstogod&period;com&sol;is-the-multiverse-real&amp&semi;source&equals;gmail&amp&semi;ust&equals;1758912070748000&amp&semi;usg&equals;AOvVaw0CgniyX8XEcAT2W&lowbar;Ir-XDH">multiverse fails<&sol;a> by the very standards of science itself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p dir&equals;"ltr">Ultimately&comma; the choice is stark&period; Either we believe in an infinite carnival of imaginary universes where anything goes and nothing means anything&comma; or we accept the clear evidence that the designed laws of our universe have an intelligent cause&period; One path empties science of truth&period; The other balances both science and reason&period; The laws of nature are designed&comma; and the only real question is whether we <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;physicstogod&period;com&sol;does-god-exist" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener" data-saferedirecturl&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;google&period;com&sol;url&quest;q&equals;https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;physicstogod&period;com&sol;does-god-exist&amp&semi;source&equals;gmail&amp&semi;ust&equals;1758912070748000&amp&semi;usg&equals;AOvVaw1JFywVeUSR7fT&lowbar;V0-iLlsG">acknowledge the Designer<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>Rabbi Elie Feder&comma; PhD&comma; and Rabbi Aaron Zimmer host the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Physics to God” podcast&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i data-stringify-type&equals;"italic">The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire&period;<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p><br &sol;>&NewLine;<br &sol;><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;dailywire&period;com&sol;news&sol;why-do-we-have-laws-of-nature-and-why-arent-they-different">Source link <&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><&excl;-- END THEIA POST SLIDER --><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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