Worlds without end
Subtitle: the many lives of the multiverse ... in which are discussed pre-, early-, and postmodern multiple-worlds cosmologies : the sundry arguments for and against them : the striking peculiarities of their adherents and detractors : the shifting boundaries of science, philosophy, and religion : and the stubbornly persistent question of whether creation has been "designed"
By: Mary-Jane Rubenstein
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 343
ISBN-13: 9780231156622
Subjects: Popular works; Cosmology
Description: Beginning with ancient Atomist and Stoic philosophies, Rubenstein links contemporary models of the multiverse to their forerunners and explores the reasons for their recent appearance. One concerns the so-called fine-tuning of the universe: nature's constants are so delicately calibrated that it seems they have been set just right to allow life to emerge.  In their very efforts to sidestep metaphysics, theoretical physicists propose multiverse scenarios that collide with it and even produce counter-theological narratives. Far from invalidating multiverse hypotheses, Rubenstein argues, this interdisciplinary collision actually secures their scientific viability.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: How to avoid the G-word; title: A single, complete whole; title: Ancient openings of multiplicity; title: Navigating the infinite; title: Measuring the immeasurable; title: Bangs, bubbles, and branes: atomists versus stoics, take two; title: Ascending to the ultimate multiverse; title: Unendings: on the entanglement of science and religion.