Multiverse Musings – Evidence Against a Level I Multiverse
One central component of RTB’s creation model posits that the universe is designed to support life. Various documents from RTB articulate the growing body of evidence that buttresses this idea. Hugh Ross’s book The Creator and the Cosmos describes a number of features of the universe and Earth that exhibit design while two Web articles give a more expansive list of finely tuned features—one for the universe and one for planet Earth.
Ultimately, all the evidence for design boils down to probability arguments and I discussed how the multiverse impacts probability arguments in a past Multiverse Musings post. To summarize the main point, if the sample size (of universes) grows sufficiently large, the strength of the probability argument diminishes.
The size of the universe depends both on its geometry and its topology. In a past TNRTB, I discussed the latest results for the geometry of the universe. Most cosmologists assume a simple topology for the universe, but some build models based on more complex topologies. For example, one model argues that the universe assumes the topology of a Poincare dodecahedral space. If the universe exhibited such a topology, WMAP data (which “maps out” the universe by measuring tiny variations in its microwave background radiation) indicates that the size of the universe is actually smaller than the observable universe! Another paper argues that this more complex topology matches the WMAP data better than simpler topologies—especially at the low multipole values.
These models do not prove that we live in a small (by multiverse standards) universe. Rather, this research highlights that the size and shape of the universe remain open questions that the next generation of cosmic microwave background experiments will address. RTB anticipates the new data from these investigations and fully expects it to provide further evidence that we live in a universe designed to support life.