Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T10:00:30.742Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - Is the Origin of Life a Fluke? Why the Chance Hypothesis Should Not be Dismissed Too Quickly

from Philosophy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 July 2017

By
Christian Weidemann
Edited by
Andreas Losch
Andreas Losch
Affiliation:
Universität Bern, Switzerland
Get access

Summary

A summary is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content.
Image of the first page of this content. For PDF version, please use the ‘Save PDF’ preceeding this image.'
Type
Chapter
Information
What is Life? On Earth and Beyond , pp. 132 - 155
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2017

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aguirre, A. (2007). Making predictions in a multiverse: conundrums, dangers, coincidences. In Carr, B., ed., Universe or Multiverse? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 367–86.Google Scholar
Albrecht, A. & Sorbo, L. (2004). Can the universe afford inflation? Physical Review D, 70(6), 063528.Google Scholar
Barrow, J. & Tipler, F. (1986). The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Behe, M. (1996). Darwin's Black Box. The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution, New York, NY: Free Press.Google Scholar
Bernal, J. D. (1965). Discussion of Peter T. Mora. The Folly of Probability. In Fox, S. W, ed., The Origins of Prebiological Systems and of Their Molecular Matrices, New York, London: Academic Press, pp. 52–6.Google Scholar
Boltzmann, L. (1897). Zu Hrn. Zermelos Abhandlung „Über die mechanische Erklärung irreversibler Vorgänge“. Annalen der Physik, 60, 392–8.Google Scholar
Bostrom, N. (2002). Anthropic Bias. Observation Selection Effects in Science and Philosophy, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bradley, W. L. (2004). Information, entropy, and the origin of life. In Dembski, W. M. and Ruse, M., eds., Debating Design, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 331–51.Google Scholar
Carnap, R. (1962). Logical Foundations of Probability, 2nd edn, Chicago, Il: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Carr, B., ed. (2007). Universe or Multiverse?, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carter, B. (1974). Large Number Coincidences and the Anthropic Principle in Cosmology, reprint in Leslie, J., ed., Physical Cosmology and Philosophy, New York, London: Prentice Hall, 1990, pp. 125–33.Google Scholar
Conway Morris, S. (2003). Life's Solution. Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Copernicus, N. (1543). On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, trans. Wallis, C. G, Amherst: Prometheus, 1995.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. (1986). The Blind Watchmaker, London: Longman.Google Scholar
Dawkins, R. (2006). The God Delusion, London: Bantam.Google Scholar
de Duve, C. (1991). Blueprint for a Cell, Burlington (N.C.): Neil Patterson Publishers.Google Scholar
de Simone, A., Guth, A. H., Linde, A. et al. (2010). Boltzmann brains and the scale-factor cutoff measure of the multiverse. Physical Review D, 82(6), 063520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. (1972). Darwinian evolution and the problem of extraterrestrial life. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 15(2), 157–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Earman, J. (1986). A Primer on Determinism, Dordrecht: D. Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eigen, M. (1992). Steps towards Life. A Perspective on Evolution, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ellis, G. F. R. (2011). Does the multiverse really exist? Scientific American, 305, 38–43.Google Scholar
Feinberg, G. & Shapiro, R. (1980). Life Beyond Earth. The Intelligent Earthling's Guide to Life in the Universe, New York, NY: William Morrow.Google Scholar
Fry, I. (2000). The Emergence of Life. A Historical and Scientific Overview, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Gardner, M. (1986). WAP, SAP, PAP & FAP. New York Review of Books, 33 (8th May), 22–5.Google Scholar
Gould, S. J. (1985). Mind and Supermind, reprint in Leslie, J., ed., Physical Cosmology and Philosophy, New York, London: Prentice Hall, 1990, pp. 181–8.Google Scholar
Greene, B. (2011). The Hidden Reality. Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos, New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Hacking, I. (1987). The Inverse Gambler's Fallacy: The argument from design. The anthropic principle applied to Wheeler universes. Mind, 96(383), 331–40.Google Scholar
Hanson, R. (1998). Must Early Life Be Easy? The Rhythm of Major Evolutionary Transitions, (unpublished manuscript), http://mason.gmu.edu/~rhanson/hardstep.pdf.Google Scholar
Hart, M. H. (1982). Atmospheric Evolution, the Drake Equation, and DNA: Sparse Life in an Infinite Universe, reprint in Leslie, J., ed., Physical Cosmology and Philosophy, New York, London: Prentice Hall, 1990, pp. 256–66.Google Scholar
Hawking, S. W. & Ellis, G. F. R. (1973). The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hawking, S. W. & Israel, W. (1979). An introductory survey. In Hawking, S. W and Israel, W., eds., General Relativity, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–23.Google Scholar
Hoyle, F. & Wickramasinghe, C. (1981). Evolution from Space, London: Touchstone.Google Scholar
Hume, D. (1779). Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, London: Penguin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Irwin, L. N. & Schulze-Makuch, D. (2011). Cosmic Biology, New York, NY: Springer.Google Scholar
Jones, M. H. & Lambourne, R. J., eds. (2003). An Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Koonin, E. V. (2007). The cosmological model of eternal inflation and the transition from chance to biological evolution in the history of life. Biology Direct, 2(15).Google Scholar
Kripke, Saul (1980). Naming and Necessity, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Landsman, K. (2016). The fine tuning argument. Exploring the improbability of our existence. In Landsman, K and Wolde, E. van, eds., The Challenge of Chance. A Multidisciplinary Approach from Science and the Humanities, Heidelberg: Springer, 111–29.Google Scholar
Leslie, J. (1988). No Inverse Gambler's Fallacy in Cosmology. Mind, 97 (386), 269–72.Google Scholar
Leslie, J. (1989). Universes, London, New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Leslie, J. (1996). The End of the World, London, New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Leslie, J. (2001). Infinite Minds. A Philosophical Cosmology, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mackie, Penelope (2006). How Things Might Have Been. Individuals, Kinds, and Essential Properties, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Manson, N. A. (2003). Introduction. In Manson, N., ed., God and Design, London: Routledge, pp. 1–23.Google Scholar
Manson, N. A. & Thrush, M. (2003). Fine-tuning, multiple universes, and the “This Universe” objection. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 84, 67–83.Google Scholar
Mash, R. (1993). Big numbers and induction in the case for extraterrestrial intelligence. Philosophy of Science, 60(2), 204–22.Google Scholar
Mayr, E. (1982). The Growth of Biological Thought, Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Mayr, E. (1994). Does it pay to acquire high intelligence? Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 37(3), 337–8.Google Scholar
Monod, J. (1971). Chance and Necessity. An Essay on the Natural Philosophy of Modern Biology, New York, NY: Vintage.Google Scholar
Narveson, J. (2003). God by design? In: Manson, N. A, ed., God and Design, London: Routledge, 88–104.Google Scholar
Page, D. (2006). Is our Universe Likely to Decay in 20 Billion Years? Web: http://arxiv.org/pdf/hep-th/0610079v2.pdf.Google Scholar
Paley, W. (1802). Natural Theology or Evidence of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, Collected from the Appearances of Nature, reprint Eddy, M. D and Knight, D. eds., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
Pascal, B. (1670). Pensées, trans. Trotter, W. F, New York, NY: E. P. Dutton, 1958.Google Scholar
Raup, D. M. (1985). ETI without intelligence. In Regis, E, ed., Extraterrestrials. Science and Alien Intelligence, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 31–42.Google Scholar
Rees, M. (1999). Just Six Numbers, London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson.Google Scholar
Sagan, C. (1995). The abundance of life bearing planets. Bioastronomy News, 7(4), 1–4.Google Scholar
Salisbury, F. B. (1969). Natural selection and the complexity of the gene. Nature, 224, 342–3.Google Scholar
Schopf, W., ed. (1992). Major Events in the History of Life, Boston, MA: Jones & Bartlett.Google Scholar
Shklovskii, I. S. & Sagan, C. (1966). Intelligent Life in the Universe, San Francisco, CA: Holden Day.Google Scholar
Smeenk, C. (2014). Predictability crisis in early universe cosmology. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 46, 122–33.Google Scholar
Sober, E. (2008). Evidence and Evolution. The Logic Behind the Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Steinhardt, P. (2014). Big Bang blunder bursts the multiverse bubble. Nature, 510, 9.Google Scholar
Swinburne, R. (2003). The argument to God from fine-tuning reassessed. In Manson, N. A, ed., God and Design, London: Routledge, pp. 105–23.Google Scholar
Tegmark, M. (2014). Our Mathematical Universe, New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.Google Scholar
Tipler, F. J. (1985). Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist. In Regis, Jr. E., ed., Extraterrestrials, Science and Alien Intelligence, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 133–50.Google Scholar
van Inwagen, P. (2015). Metaphysics, 4th edn, Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Venn, J. (1888). The Logic of Chance, 3rd edn, London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Vilenkin, A. (1996). Quantum cosmology and the constants of nature. In Sato, K., Suginohara, T. & Sugiyama, N., eds., The Cosmological Constant and the Evolution of the Universe, Tokyo: Universal Academy Press, pp. 161–8.Google Scholar
Vilenkin, A. (2006). Many Worlds in One. The Search for Other Universes, New York, NY: Hill and Wang.Google Scholar
Ward, P. & Brownlee, D. (2003). The Life and Death of Planet Earth, New York, NY: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Webb, S. (2002). Where is Everybody? 50 Solutions to the Fermi Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life, New York, NY: Copernicus.Google Scholar
Weidemann, C. (2010). Zufall, Gott oder Multiversum? Die Feinabstimmung der Naturkonstanten und die Erklärungsbedürftigkeit des Lebens in der modernen Kosmologie. In Nissing, H.-G., ed., Natur. Ein philosophischer Grundbegriff. Darmstadt: WBG, 181–96.Google Scholar
Weidemann, C. (2014a). Paralleluniversen, Gott und unser Platz im Kosmos. Das Feinabstimmungsproblem. Zur Debatte 2/2014, 35–6.Google Scholar
Weidemann, C. (2014b). Christian soteriology and extraterrestrial intelligence. Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 67, 418–25.Google Scholar
Weidemann, C. (2016). Did Jesus die for Klingons too? In Levinson, P. & Waltemathe, M., eds., Touching the Face of the Cosmos: On the Intersection of Space Travel and Religion, New York, NY: Fordham University Press, pp. 119–29.Google Scholar
White, R. (2003). Fine-tuning and multiple universes. Nous, 34 (2000), 260–76, reprint (with a new postscript) in Manson, N. A., ed., God and Design, London: Routledge, pp. 229–50.Google Scholar
White, R. (2007). Does the origins of life research rest on a mistake? Nous, 41, 453–77.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×