What do you think about the 'fundamental constants' of nature?

Question

Do you think it is more likely that they must have been purposefully adjusted, or that they exist due to probabilities/statistics?

Answer 1

Your question boils down to appealing to the anthropic principle:

In physics and cosmology, the anthropic principle is an umbrella term for various dissimilar attempts to explain the structure of the universe by way of coincidentally balanced features that are necessary and relevant to the existence on Earth of biochemistry, carbon-based life, and eventually human beings to observe such a universe. It begins with the observation that a specific region of the universe appears surprisingly hospitable to the emergence of life, particularly complex multicellular life, that can make such an observation and concludes with that premise that in only such a fine-tuned universe can such living observers exist. Given the extreme simplicity of the universe at the start of the Big Bang, the friendliness of the universe to complex structures such as galaxies, planetary systems, and biology is unexpected by any normal model of turbulence driven structuring that science has been able to derive.

I share many of the criticisms presented here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principle#Criticisms

in a nutshell, you can ask this question precisely because this universe has those parameters. Who knows? There might be tons of universes where the parameters were wildly different. We are in this one, the constants are there, and I don't see a reason to assume a creator because some constants are in place (because really, some 'creator' is what you are assuming when you mention adjustment) ;)

Answer 2

I've thought about this question, and here's what I've come up with...

If we changed our units, then the constants would change. For instance, in the metric system, g = 9.8m/s². In the English system, g = 32.2 ft/s².

So, maybe we're using the wrong units! Maybe we should really be using a different measurement for distance. We'll call it the Glork system. In the Glork system, g = 1.000 gk/s², where gk is the measure for distance, the glukon.

That's a little farfetched, I know, but I think it's interesting :)

Answer 3

You must be talking about 'Intelligent design' which assumes that there must have been a God to create all we know and see. Evolution assumes that everything just happened. There is good arguments for either but God would still have to follow the laws of psychics.

Answer 4

Chaos and fractals

Answer 5

The what of the what?....lol.....I don't have an opinion on that since I don't know what it is.......lol