Rice Broocks

A common response to the fine-tuning argument is to say that of course the universe is finely tuned, because if it wasn't we wouldn't be here to observe it. That's a truism and a tautology, not an explanation. Think of it this way. You're standing before a firing squad of dozens of skilled shooters, all with loaded weapons pointed straight at you, who all fire at you simultaneously. Yet you walk away unscathed. Your response? Well, if I hadn't survived, I wouldn't be here to observe it. Does that explain this extremely improbable outcome? No. It's a statement of the obvious, but you'd be searching for answers. In the same way, the fine-tuning of the universe to allow conscious life cries out for an explanation. The possibilities are that this happened by 1. Chance 2. Necessity 3. Design Option 1 is the firing squad problem. The odds are so overwhelmingly against this "just happening" that proponents have resorted to untestable and bizarre explanations like an infinite multiverse. There is no evidence for Option 2. Nothing in the laws of nature requires the finely-tuned parameters of the universe to be the way they are. Logically, this leaves Option 3 as the most probable explanation. When I was a physics student coming out of my lifelong atheism, I was deeply moved by this argument. It didn't matter what my prejudices were, the logic was so sound that I couldn't see any way around it.