The Universe Is As Finely Tuned As A Symphony Orchestra

By Ronald H. Brady

Frank Sinatra, according to his biographers, seldom played his own
recordings while entertaining at his home. Instead he more often played his
favorite classical recordings. Actually many of the arrangements for Sinatras
music prominently featured the string section: the mainstay of the symphony
orchestra.

What does all of this have to do with a finely tuned Universe? Many
cosmologists believe that if any of the, 26 or so, fundamental physical
constants had been only slightly different from their actual values then the
formation of the Universe as we know it would have been virtually
impossible.

Therefore, in the opinion of many astrophysicists, the original fine tuning of
the fundamental physical constants made it likely that the Universe as we
know it would eventually form and lead to the evolution of life on earth. And
ultimately this fine tuning would make it possible for mankind, among many
other things, to fine tune the instruments of symphony orchestras so that
they would be able to perform the finely crafted symphonies of Brahms,
Beethoven, Mahler and others.

I once accidentally witnessed the consequences of the fine tuning of the laws
of mathematical physics in connection with music (arguably the noblest of all
of the art forms). It was a wintry day in the early sixties when most radios
still had electron tubes. After a long day at high school I lay across the bed
and turned on the radio. It was an old radio and the back cover had been
removed and for some reason I turned it around so that I could watch the
movement of the tuning condenser as I searched the radio dial for something
interesting. The warmth of the radio in my hands brought a measure of relief
from the cold that I had experienced outside.

The 60 Hertz AC hum was prominent and reminded me of the math of
alternating current theory. And I contemplated on how fortunate we were
that the governing equations of electromagnetism, Maxwells field equations,
made it possible for the radio waves to be transmitted from the radio station
antenna to the receiving antenna of my radio.

It was about this time, as I watched the glow of the filaments of the electron
tubes, that I smelled the faint odor of the warming plastic of the radio
casing. Then something utterly magical happed. The string section of an
orchestra, following the musical dictation of a Nelson Riddle arrangement,
majestically leaped toward the stratosphere as they provided part of the
accompaniment for the silky smooth vocals of Frank Sinatra (in fine tune as
always). The song was Talk to me, by E. Snyder, S. Kahan and R. Vallee,

Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me
Your magical kiss can take me just so far
Talk to me, talk to me, talk to me Don't leave me like this dangling from a
star

For me, at that time and place, the juxtaposition of pleasant stimuli for four
of the five senses in addition to my intellectual appreciation of the cleverness
of the lyrics of the song was something that was very special. The lyrics were
great, the music magnificent, the singing wondrous, the glow of the
electrons in the tubes was fascinating, the heat of the radio helped to warm
winter chilled hands and the faint smell of the plastic all combined to create a
singular moment of awareness of the beauty and mystery of creation.

But this was just one episode that took place in the virtually infinite vastness
of space and time that was made possible by a Universal Governing Equation.
Many theoretical physicists imply the existence of such an equation by their
search for the mathematical formulation of a THEORY OF EVERYTHING.

So who should we thank for the wonders of an apparently very fine tuned
Universe: the coincidence of the Big Bang or the Infinite Power and Intellect
from which it all evidently sprang?