A new model calculates chances of Intelligent Beings in our own Universe

During Medieval times almost all Christian theologians accepted the Ptolemaic earth centered Greek view of the universe as an absolute universal truth. The Catholic Inquisition punished those who dared to voice other ideas.

Even in America today, many Christians avoid learning about new scientific discoveries according to a (February 2015) completed study “Religious Understandings of Science”. Members of non-Christian religions; 42 percent of Jews, and 52 percent of Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus (taken as a group) are more than twice as interested in new scientific discoveries as Protestant evangelicals (22 percent) because about 30 percent of all evangelicals see the world-views of science and religion as being in opposition to each other.

I do not know why so many Christians believe that the rarity of life in our universe proves that God must have created life only on this planet. Perhaps they believed that if intelligent life were found to exist on other planets; it would diminish the miracle of God’s creation of Human Beings.

For me the opposite is true. That God’s universal creation is filled with life is simply the result of God’s mercy and love of all living things. The Qur’an and the Hebrew Bible teach that the Living God created the whole universe to be conducive to the universal development and evolution of life.

So what are the chances of intelligent life emerging in our Universe? A new insight focuses on the conditions created by the acceleration of the Universe’s expansion and the amount of stars formed. It is thought this expansion is being driven by dark energy, perhaps black holes, that make up more than two thirds of the Universe.

The approach presented in the new paper involves calculating the fraction of ordinary matter converted into stars over the entire history of the Universe, for different dark energy densities.

The model predicts this fraction would be approximately 27 per cent in a universe that is most efficient at forming stars, compared to 23 per cent in our own Universe.

The value of dark energy density we observe in our Universe is not the one that would maximise the chances of life, according to the model.

Lead researcher Dr Daniele Sorini, of Durham University’s Institute for Computational Cosmology, said: “The parameters that govern our Universe, including the density of dark energy, could explain our own existence. Surprisingly, we found that even a significantly higher dark energy density would still be compatible with life, suggesting we may not live in the most likely of universes.”

For life to develop, there would need to be regions where matter can clump together to form stars and planets, and it would need to remain stable for billions of years to allow life to evolve towards intelligence.

The research suggests that the astrophysics of star formation and the evolution of the large-scale structure of the Universe combine in a subtle way to determine the optimal value of the dark energy density needed for the generation of intelligent life.

The Qur’an says, “He is the Lord of all the Worlds” (Quran 41:10) and “We have not sent you but as a mercy for the worlds.” (21: 107) Some commentators say this refers to “the 18.000 worlds created by Allah. Our world is one of them” (Mir’at-e-Kainat, vol.1, p.77).

The Hebrew Bible says in the Zabur of Prophet David, King of Israel; “ Your kingdom is a kingdom of all the worlds; and Your dominion is for all generations.” (Psalms 145:13)

I am a Reform Rabbi who first became interested in Islam 64 years ago, when I studied it at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. I have continued my study of Islam off and on since that time. I now consider myself to be a Reform Rabbi and a Muslim Hebrew. Actually I am a Muslim Hebrew i.e. a faithful Jew submitting to the will of the One and Only God, because I am a Reform Rabbi.

As a Rabbi I am faithful to the covenant that God made with Abraham – the first Hebrew (Genesis 14:13) to become a Muslim, and I submit to the commandments that God made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. Thus, I see scientific things from the perspective of both the Qur’an and the Torah.

In January 2013, astronomers estimated that there could be at least 17 billion Earth-sized exoplanets in just our galaxy; the Milky Way. They also said that one in six stars could host an Earth-sized planet in a close orbit.

Now, almost twelve years later, proof that Allah’s Universe is filled with life is coming closer. Data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has provided evidence of over 5,000 exo-planets; and found more than one planetary system close enough for astronomers to study the planet’s atmosphere to determine if it has enough oxygen to be conducive to multicellular life forms.

The star is a cool red M-dwarf about half the size and mass of our own sun. At a distance of 150 light years, the star ranks among the top 10 nearest stars known to have transiting planets. The star’s proximity means it’s bright enough for astronomers to study the planets’ atmospheres to determine whether they are like Earth’s atmosphere and possibly conducive to life.

For those who believe in the One God of all the habitable worlds, these scientific studies are not shocking. For unlike the Catholic Church inquisition’s condemnation of Galileo, no Muslim or Jewish astronomer was ever condemned by a Muslim or Jewish inquisition, because Jews and Muslims never had an institution like the inquisition.

Also, because both Muslims and Jews had many philosophers who were critics of Aristotle’s and Ptolemy’s science, most medieval Jewish and Muslim religious leaders did not feel they had to prevent new science from disagreeing with Greek science.

Thus, even as new discoveries always change the scientific understanding of God’s universe; the religious belief that the whole universe exalts God and reveals God’s glory remains the same.

As I wrote above; the Zabur of Prophet David says, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” (Psalm 19:2) and the Qur’an of Prophet Muhammad clearly states: “Do the unbelievers not realize that the heavens and the earth used to be one solid mass that we exploded into existence? And from water we made all living things. Would they (then) believe?” (Qur’an 21:30)