Question from a reader
I haven’t read the whole book, did read the introduction. I have a solid grip on Newtonian physics and a decent grip on particle/wave dualities, quantum branching/multiverse, and physical chemistry, including enough calculus to have calculated electron p-orbital interference patterns at one point (although that was a decade ago, and since then an unused skill.) Does the size of the universe (whether nonclassical physics turns out to be mostly correct or totally wrong or whatever) tend to cut against the idea of a *personal* God who cares about our choices?
Answer from Stuart Allen
Thank you very much for your question and your interest in Quantum Genesis.
The argument presented in Quantum Genesis strongly implies that the physical size of the universe is pretty much irrelevant to our relationship with God. One of the speculations the book offers is that, as many physicists have proposed, our reality might be a mathematical simulation. In a computer model or something like a computer model, “physical” size is not nearly as intimidating as it would be in a “real”, “solid” universe (the quotes are added because our universe is, according to physics, neither real nor solid).
The book also makes the argument that the very low probability of habitable planets like our Earth occurring in a random, Monte Carlo simulation of our universe might imply that the universe is reasonably sized to ensure that there is at least one Earth in it.