Self-study
P1
In a typical Hollywood action movie, the hero skirts death to complete a mission. ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███████ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ████████ ████ █ ██████ ████████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ████ █████████
P2
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Analogy ·
Our universe resembles an action movie
In an action movie, one little change in events could kill the hero; in our universe, one little change in laws of physics could make life impossible
Support analogy ·
E.g. of strong nuclear force
Small change in strong nuclear force would have major impacts
Phenomenon ·
Ability of our universe to support life is improbable yet true
We could ask: if such a universe is so unlikely, how did it come to be?
P3
████ ████████████ ████ █████ ██ █████████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███ ███████ █████████████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ███ ██ ████ █████████ ██████ █ █████ █████ ██████ ███ ███████████ ██ ██████ ███ ██ █████ ██████████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ █████ ███ █████ ███ █████████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ████ ██ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████████ ██████ █████ ████ ███ █ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ███ ███████████ ███ ██ ████ ██ █████ █████
Cosmologists' Hypothesis ·
Multiverse theory
Many universes, so better chances of at least one (ours) supporting life
P4
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Basis of cosmologists' hypothesis ·
Hard to identify alternative laws of physics that still support life
If it's hard to identify any other laws of physics that would support life, then a universe that does support life seems unlikely
P5
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Criticism ·
Basis of cosmologists' hypothesis is flawed
Conventional approach is to change only one known feature ("constant") of physics at a time, but this approach is flawed
Author's hypothesis ·
Ability of our universe to support life is not actually improbable
Author's methodology suggests many different sets of physical laws could support life, so the ability to support life is not as unlikely as others think
P6
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Limit criticism ·
Multiverse theory not necessarily wrong
Even if a universe that supports life is more probable than cosmologists believed, there are still reasons to accept the multiverse theory
Passage Style
Critique or debate
Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)
12.
If the multiverse hypothesis as █████████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ ██ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ █████ █████████ █████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ███ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████
a
had a team ██ ██████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███ ████ █████████
This doesn’t engage with the multiverse hypothesis, because it doesn’t involve many different heroes.
b
was actually just ███ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ██████ ███ ██ ███ ██████ ██████
This is most analogous. According to the multiverse theory, a universe that can support life is very unlikely. But given that there are many universes, the chances that at least one of them can support life is high. In P1, the hero survives despite many things that would make his survival unlikely. That hero’s survival is analogous to our universe’s ability to support life — highly unlikely. But if that hero exists in a “multiverse,” then there would be many other heroes who failed. Collectively, the chance at least one hero succeeds is high; but each individual hero has a very small chance of success.
c
had developed the ████████ ██████ ██████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ██████ █ ██████ ██ ████████ ████████
This doesn’t engage with the multiverse hypothesis, because it doesn’t involve many different heroes.
d
was actually just ███ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ███ ████ ██████ █████ █ ██████ ███ ██ ███████
This isn’t the most analogous, because each individual hero should have a very small chance of success, in the same way that each individual universe in a multiverse should have a very small chance of being able to support life.
e
was equipped with █ ███ ████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ██████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ██
This doesn’t engage with the multiverse hypothesis, because it doesn’t involve many different heroes.