Antony's initial response

 

With respect - your reasoning is faulty. Yes - any sequence of the cards is equally unlikely. But if I asked for a specific sequence and you shuffled them well and dealt them out - the chances of getting THAT SPECIFIC SEQUENCE are infinitesimal. This is the situation with the fine-tuning - it is not just any of the unlikely conditions that have to be met - only one set of conditions will do - and lo and behold they occur. The chances of them occuring are less than 1 in trillions time trillions (at least).

 

Another example - imagine dropping a whole set of scrabble pieces on the floor. Any sequence that you get is equally unlikely. However - if you later come into the room and see the sentence: "Iain likes to discuss the fine tuning of the universe arguments" - then you would rightly infer design (someone put them in sequence even if that sequence is no more likely than others) - this is because it is a specified sequence. The universe fine-tuning argument is much stronger because of the much greater odds against it.

 

Antony

 

Next: Iain's reply...

 

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