Assignment due for week 6:
Required readings:
"A case against accident and self organization", D. Overmann p 127-150.
Is physics watching over us? Our universe is so unlikely that we must be missing something. Phillip Ball, Nature-Science Update Aug. 13, 2002. view article
A Designer Universe? Steven Weinberg, Skeptical Inquirer, Sept./Oct. 2001.
Optional readings (on reserve at Zimmerman library):
"Our tailor-made universe', Nancy Pearcey view article
"Show me God", F. Heeren, Chap 6
Further assignments:
In the readings for Feb. 18 both Stephen Hawking and Henry Schaefer alluded to evidence of fine-tuning of the universe for life, sometimes referred to as the anthropic coincidences. On Feb. 18 and Feb. 25 we will be looking at some of the evidence for fine-tuning in more detail. There are a variety of lists of such factors, some having to do with characteristics of the universe, and others pertaining more specifically to characteristics of our galaxy and planet. Some of the points mentioned in such lists are discussed in the readings for Week 6.
The required readings for Weeks 5 and 6 assigned for everyone to read are not very long. On the other hand, the selections from Rare Earth and Nature's Destiny, which are on reserve at Zimmerman Library, are much longer. We would like to ask that different individuals look at different portions of these reserve readings so that we can get the benefit of a more discursive treatment on some of these topics. Plan to be able to give a 2 or 3 minute summary of a couple of points raised from one of the chapters in these volumes. Below is a list of individualized assignments to look at some of these sections:
Nature's Destiny (Denton):
Prologue and Ch. 3: Fitness of the Light--Charley KalmLife's Solution (Simon Conway Morris)
Prologue and Ch. 4: Fitness of the Elements--Erica Atkins
Prologue and Ch. 5: Fitness of Carbon--Judith Segall
Prologue and Ch. 6: Vital Gases--Michael Anderson
pg 13-19, Eerie perfection of the genetic code--Grant Howard