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Watch: A Detective Looks at the Multiverse

In considering the multiverse as a solution to the puzzle of cosmic fine-tuning, J. Warner Wallace brings his experience as a police detective to bear very effectively. He compares the situation to the scene of a crime where there is evidence of tampering to be seen by the careful observer:

In the situation he describes, it would be a very complacent and foolish detective who took the circumstances left behind by the criminal as simply natural and failed to ask how they got to be that way. Or as Wallace puts it, regarding the very precisely set laws and constants of physics, allowing for life, “Why is the universe as it is? How did it get to be tuned such as it is? And if there are many options, many different possibilities, why is it that this is the one that actually produces a universe that supports people like you and me?”

“If the multiverse theory is true,” he also observes, “there is a universe in which Elvis is still alive. Well, that’s a very provocative idea, and I think for me it has a certain level of silliness.” For me, too.

David Klinghoffer

Senior Fellow and Editor, Evolution News
David Klinghoffer is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute and the editor of Evolution News & Science Today, the daily voice of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, reporting on intelligent design, evolution, and the intersection of science and culture. Klinghoffer is also the author of six books, a former senior editor and literary editor at National Review magazine, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Commentary, and other publications. Born in Santa Monica, California, he graduated from Brown University in 1987 with an A.B. magna cum laude in comparative literature and religious studies. David lives near Seattle, Washington, with his wife and children.

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