Throughout human history, every time we think we know what the universe is, it turns out that there is not just one of those things, but a lot of them.

起初，我们认为宇宙是地球、太阳和月亮，天空中有许多神秘的光点。后来发现有很多行星都有自己的卫星。还有很多太阳，它们有自己的行星:很多太阳系。

For a while the universe was what we now call our galaxy. And then, it was a number of galaxies. Maybe five. Maybe five hundred. Maybe five million. However many galaxies we think, at any given time, make up the universe, it turns out that there are a million times more!

我f our universe is our planet, plus everything we can see from here with our most powerful telescopes, then there are zillions of similar universes that are not our universe. Hence a multiverse. In that sense, at least, we live in a multiverse.

But now physicists are telling us, or at least asking us to consider, that we live in a multiverse of a much different sort.

All the galaxies we have just been talking about obey the same physics; the same basic laws, and the same constant values, like the speed of light. But what is called a “type 2” multiverse consists of universes where the fundamental constants have different values. Maybe e=mc³．也许光以糖蜜的速度移动。这不仅仅是更多相同种类的星系。这是一堆不同的宇宙，它们以不同的方式运作。

为什么在这个世界上，或者为什么在多元宇宙中，会有人相信这一点?原因有很多。一种说法是这样的:大爆炸产生的基本常数的值足以形成行星，没有行星就不会有生命，也不会有人类。这似乎是一种运气。

But if you suppose that there were zillions of universes, with different values for the fundamental constants, it wouldn’t be a matter of luck, but of statistics. Given enough universes, the odds are that there is sure to be one was that is hospitable to human life. We couldn’t very well say it wasluckthat we live in one of them, because where else would we live?

One universe, hospitable for human life—call it luck. Or maybe intelligent design. But physicists don’t like luck, or depending on a benevolent God. With enough universes, a hospitable one is an inevitability.

That’s some argument. I’m afraid it doesn’t move me much. Between Intelligent Design and a type-2 multiverse, I’d go for Intelligent Design. I’d pick luck over either of them. But maybe I am missing something.