Large number coincidences

[ercatli]

I am a total layman, but have an interest in cosmology. I have been reading about large number coincidences in some books (by Paul Davies, Leonard Susskind and Martin Rees). Each of them lists a number of evidences of "fine-tuning" (e.g. the cosmological constant, the strength of the strong interaction, the ratio of gravity and expansion energy, etc), although they provide differing explanations.

 

I also came across on the web a book by Roger Penrose (The Emperor's New Mind) where he discusses the fine tuning of the initial phase space volume to produce a low entropy universe, and calculates the fine tuning to the extraordinary figure of 1 part in 10^10^123.

 

Now my question is this. Penrose is a very well-respected mathematician and cosmologist, yet none of the other books mention his calculation (which if correct would add weight to the case each book builds) and entropy is only mentioned briefly in one of them. Does anyone know why this is please? Has Penrose's calculation or concept been shown to be in error, or have I totally misunderstood it as having relevance to the question?

 

Thank you.

[Tormod]

I don't quite understand what your question is.

 

However, the "fine-tuning" idea is only something that can be studied in hindsight. John D Barrow uses it as a foundation for his work on the anthropic principle (ie, the universes is the way it is because we are here to observe it), which is a flip-flop kind of logic and more philosophy than science (IMHO).