Alan P. Lightman, ‘The accidental universe: Science's crisis of faith”, 2011:
“…It is perhaps impossible to say how far apart the
different universes may be, or whether they exist simultaneously in time. Some
may have stars and galaxies like ours. Some may not. Some may be finite in
size. Some may be infinite. Physicists call the totality of universes the
“multiverse.” Alan Guth, a pioneer in cosmological thought, says that “the
multiple-universe idea severely limits our hopes to understand the world from
fundamental principles.” And the philosophical ethos of science is torn from
its roots. As put to me recently by Nobel Prize–winning physicist Steven
Weinberg, a man as careful in his words as in his mathematical calculations,
“We now find ourselves at a historic fork in the road we travel to understand
the laws of nature. If the multiverse idea is correct, the style of fundamental
physics will be radically changed.”…
…The multiverse offers an explanation to the fine-tuning
conundrum that does not require the presence of a Designer. As Steven Weinberg
says: “Over many centuries science has weakened the hold of religion, not by
disproving the existence of God but by invalidating arguments for God based on
what we observe in the natural world. The multiverse idea offers an explanation
of why we find ourselves in a universe favorable to life that does not rely on
the benevolence of a creator, and so if correct will leave still less support
for religion.”…”
