Does Fine-Tuning Make God Look Unintelligent?

Some skeptics look askance at the fine-tuning argument for God and ask: “If God had to fine-tune the constants of nature so precisely, doesn’t that show He’s not very intelligent? Shouldn’t a truly smart fine-tuner be able to create a universe that just works without all that tweaking?”

But this objection misunderstands both science and fine tuning. It treats quantities like they are unimportant.

What modern physics has uncovered is that both qualitative laws (like general relativity and quantum mechanics) and quantitative values (like the strength of gravity or the charge of an electron) are essential to producing a complex, ordered, and structured universe. No one knows whether it’s even possible to create a complex universe with different laws or without precise constants. If you think there’s a better way to build a cosmos—one that doesn’t rely on this kind of fine-tuning—the burden is on you to show it. As far as anyone knows, quantities matter. 

Would you criticize Rolex for requiring extreme precision in crafting its watches? Of course not. The very need for that precision is what makes it a masterpiece. It’s only ignorance of horology that allows someone to imagine a perfect timepiece that doesn’t require detailed fine tuning—and it’s the same kind of ignorance about physics that leads people to imagine a universe where the details don’t matter.

Far from being an argument against an intelligent Creator, fine-tuning is exactly what you’d expect from an intelligent God.