Scientifically speaking, is the existence of the universe necessary for human life on earth.?

Question

Most, if not all would agree, that the sun is vital for human life to exist on earth. The sun with its solar system rotates around an arm of the Milky Way Galaxy composed of many stars, which in turn rotates around the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy composed of millions of stars. The Milky Way Galaxy
itself rotates around the local group of galaxies, which in turn probably rotate around a larger group. Perhaps this continues indefinately. It appears to mean that for life to exist on earth all these billions of heavenly bodies must exist as part of a great clock perhaps to infinity. If this is true, it is an awesome thought. The cost of our existence is beyond calculation. Is this true, using the facts of science alone ?

Answer 1

the universe is required for human life, altho the universe could be constructed in other ways still suitable to life...if u kno what i mean

Answer 2

Yeahhh....umm the earth is in the universe so i would imagine without the existence of the universe there would be no earth

But to answer your question more seriously ...

There are a number of ways to approach this.

From the point of view of astronomy:
The fact that we orbit the sun and the sun is part of a galaxy that contains millions of other stars is very important. Without these conditions we would not exist. Our sun can only fuse elements with atomic mass 12 (carbon) and below. Heaver elements that are also necessary for life such as iron are only created in much larger stars (tens of solar masses).
But I don't see any reason why other galaxy's and clusters are a requirement.

From a purely physics point of view:
The matter and energy of those clusters and galaxys is necessary for the stability of the Universe.

Answer 3

This may be a non-answer, I'll let you decide.

The scientific method can't really be applied to this question, since knowledge of the entire universe and all of its interactions with life on earth would need to be known and understood before one could answer definitively.

It's possible that a universe with only our solar system could exist. But think of all of the cosmic rays and quantum particles that pass through us every day, not to mention the gravitational effects of all that visible and black matter out there. What happens when all that is gone?

Even if we could live without all of those things, could we have come into being in the first place without all that crazy interaction?

If I were to hypothesize, which I really shouldn't, given the abhorrent lack of information and perspective, I'd tend to go with the idea that there is probably something going on in this big universe that we don't even know about, but that our existence depends upon, nonetheless.

Answer 4

The sun is part of the universe. All the precursor chemicals for life on earth have been churned up during stellar evolution. So life would exist with out these basic elements and chemicals. The universe would be here if it hadn't started with a (big) bang and the sun, the earth, you and me are all elements of the universe.
"We are all made of stars" - Moby

Answer 5

The answer to the question is yes, of course. Real space-time--the universe--is reality. For us to exists as real beings, on real worlds and in reality, we have to be the product and the dwellers in, participators in that virtually-closed master system.

Ignore for the moment speculations about alternate dimensions.
The interesting thing to do is to look at the converse of your statement.
"Are we necessary to the existence of the universe?"

The answer being "of course not", it then presupposes that
we earn our place in reality by HOW we think, conduct ourselves and create man-made improvements to reality, at a necessary cost of some smaller destruction. if we do
Life correctly, as capitalist investors of individual life-positive qualities and possessions in creating something better in cooperation with others, out of our efforts we get a happy, productive and beautiful life.

Do it wrong, the way anyone must who rejects reality for fantasized or falsified "other universes", and you get a life scarcely worth living, one filled with unhappy events, lack of productive results or wasted time, and a life of ugliness.

We need to be grateful every day for the universe, the Milky Way's meta-galactic family, the Milky Way, the Earth and our existence. And we need to work much harder to make a worthwhile life happen.

Answer 6

I thought "universe" meant the whole uh, universe. Since the earth is in the universe, I'd say yeah, you need the existence of the universe for human life on earth.

Answer 7

I read the question as : If there were only the sun and earth, and nothing else, would be be able to live here? Never mind how the sun and earth were formed. I don't see why we wouldnt have everything we need. We wouldn't have stellar navigation.

bja

Answer 8

Without the universe, which is everything, down to a single grain of dust, humans wouldn't exist.
The universe contains everything we need. No universe = nothing. The universe is vital to the existence of humanity. (Maybe not the harmful gasses we have created.)

Answer 9

Yes. Universe is a great ecosystem, and so it's sistemic. This means that all in Universe plays together with a unique finality, like earth's ecosystem.

Answer 10

You are absolutely right, if our physical laws that dominates our universe were only sligthly different, life on Earth could have never been possible!! So we are quite lucky to say the least!!