Cosmology and the Origin of Life

Fine Tuning the Cosmos: Identifying its essential Ingredients

600 BC --> Greeks start to dissect the world into component pieces:

ORIGINAL IDEA ALERT:
• All the world can be understood as an interaction between 4 primal elements (variation on the earlier theme)

• Air, Earth, Fire, Water

Now we have CAUSE and EFFECT and the first hints of the physical nature of the Universe.

Next step is to have a contest to see which of the four elements is really the most important (in modern cosmology we call this contest - Grand Unified Theory):

• Thales --> Water: world floats in primordial sea
• Anaximander --> World works through intermingled opposites (light and dark, up and down)
• Anaximenes --> Air is ultimate: stars are fires in the sky

An Alternative to the idea that something is most important:

500 BC:

Democritus: The Universe consists of atoms and the Void; all else is opinion and illusion

--> Collisions between atoms formed the Universe

--> The Universe runs by Itself

ORIGINAL IDEA ALERT

Quantum Mechanics has just been expressed. That is, the universe can exist without anyone in it

Now comes geometry and the concepts of perfection. Culturally this seems like a natural harmonious meld with the Cosmos:

Pythagoras --> Geometry!

• Earth is a sphere (which is a perfect figure)
• Planetary Motion is governed by geometric laws
• Geometry begets Harmony

Aristotle introduces the Two Sphere Universe. This is a FINITE Universe that you can now draw the Universe on a piece of paper!

We have come a long way from the world view that everything had a common origin (e.g. the Cosmic Womb in the Mythic Universe):

Now the Universe has a hierarchy and their are RULERS. Some elements are more important than others. Some things have dominion over other things.

To top it off: The Earth lies at the Center of the Two Sphere Universe and everything revolves around it --> Huge Cultural Bias.

Furthermore, Aristotle tells us that the Universe is perfect and unchanging.

Clearly, imagination has now vanished. We have a deterministic model of the Universe (e.g. two spheres) and we think that all is figured out!

Now all is in harmony, the earth is at the center of the universe and the cosmos revolves around us in perfect contentment

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