Thread by @perseus1977

@alucard_nogard @doofgeek4011 @sygarte @_phenomonaut_ @Lionheart213072 @BrassVon @DoulosChristou7 @travisdon1981 @theistthinker @DeusBryant505 Here’s the problem that Hossenfelder is running into… The main thrust of her argument against fine-tuning is that we don’t know (and can never know) how unlikely the constants & quantities of our universe actually are. We don’t have other universes with which to compare our own.

@alucard_nogard @doofgeek4011 @sygarte @_phenomonaut_ @Lionheart213072 @BrassVon @DoulosChristou7 @travisdon1981 @theistthinker @DeusBryant505 She argues that any attempts to explain the perceived fine-tuning of our universe, whether God or multiverse, are not scientific and beg the question. They can’t be empirically verified. However, her own field, theoretical physics, is rife with theoretical models…

@alucard_nogard @doofgeek4011 @sygarte @_phenomonaut_ @Lionheart213072 @BrassVon @DoulosChristou7 @travisdon1981 @theistthinker @DeusBryant505 If our quest for knowledge is limited to only what we can subject to the scientific method, then we might need to scrap Hossenfelder’s own field of study, along with string theory, multiverse hypotheses, interpretations of quantum mechanics, etc.

@alucard_nogard @doofgeek4011 @sygarte @_phenomonaut_ @Lionheart213072 @BrassVon @DoulosChristou7 @travisdon1981 @theistthinker @DeusBryant505 In essence she’s not offering a naturalistic explanation for fine-tuning, rather she’s saying we shouldn’t even ask the question why the universe appears finely-tuned.

@alucard_nogard @doofgeek4011 @sygarte @_phenomonaut_ @Lionheart213072 @BrassVon @DoulosChristou7 @travisdon1981 @theistthinker @DeusBryant505 As she says, asking *why* the fundamental constants and quantities of our universe have the values they do isn’t a scientific question…rather it’s a philosophical question.

@alucard_nogard @doofgeek4011 @sygarte @_phenomonaut_ @Lionheart213072 @BrassVon @DoulosChristou7 @travisdon1981 @theistthinker @DeusBryant505 However, implicit in her statement is the assumption that scientific questions are the only questions worth asking. In making this assumption, Hossenfelder herself is inadvertently making a philosophical statement.

@alucard_nogard @doofgeek4011 @sygarte @_phenomonaut_ @Lionheart213072 @BrassVon @DoulosChristou7 @travisdon1981 @theistthinker @DeusBryant505 She further states that the constants of nature cannot be changed by any physical process, but she neglects to mention that no physical theory requires the constants to be as they are in our universe.

@alucard_nogard @doofgeek4011 @sygarte @_phenomonaut_ @Lionheart213072 @BrassVon @DoulosChristou7 @travisdon1981 @theistthinker @DeusBryant505 Hossenfelder has said in various interviews that she’s not even interested in asking philosophical questions about the nature of the universe.

@alucard_nogard @doofgeek4011 @sygarte @_phenomonaut_ @Lionheart213072 @BrassVon @DoulosChristou7 @travisdon1981 @theistthinker @DeusBryant505 In order to appeal to Hossenfelder’s position as a defense of naturalism, you need to follow her lead that scientific questions are the only ones worth asking. The problem is that you already appealed to philosophy (Occam’s Razor) to explain your naturalistic view. 🤷🏻‍♂️