Books by Luke Barnes
“This is a book written by two cosmologists, Luke Barnes and Geraint Lewis, and published in 2016…This book lays out the contemporary evidence for what we call cosmological fine-tuning – the idea that at least in our current best theories for life to be possible at all, certain numbers in physics had to fall within a certain narrow range. The example that has baffled physicists the most has to do with the cosmological constant. This is the number that measures the acceleration of the universe. In 1998, we discovered that the universe is not only expanding, it’s also accelerating in its expansion. Physicists postulate a force that’s pushing the universe apart, which we call dark energy, and the number that measures that force is called the cosmological constant. If that force was a little bit stronger, everything would have been pushed apart so quickly that no two particles would have ever met, so we wouldn’t have had stars, planets, any structural complexity, and therefore, no life, presumably. If it had been a little bit weaker, it would have increased gravity, and everything would have collapsed in the first split second.” Read more...
The best books on Cosmic Purpose
Philip Goff, Philosopher
Interviews where books by Luke Barnes were recommended
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1
Mind & Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False
by Thomas Nagel -
2
A Fortunate Universe: Life in a Finely Tuned Cosmos
by Geraint Lewis & Luke Barnes -
3
Purpose in the Universe: The moral and metaphysical case for Ananthropocentric Purposivism
by Tim Mulgan -
4
God, Purpose, and Reality: A Euteleological Understanding of Theism
by John Bishop & Ken Perszyk -
5
Universes
by John Leslie
The best books on Cosmic Purpose, recommended by Philip Goff
The best books on Cosmic Purpose, recommended by Philip Goff
The likelihood that intelligent life would come to exist on Earth is so improbable, it’s time to re-explore the idea of cosmic purpose, argues Philip Goff, a professor of philosophy at the University of Durham and the author of Why? The Purpose of the Universe. He recommends five books that cast doubt on our post-Darwinian worldview and help us consider the latest findings of science and philosophy more fully.
