The document discusses different perspectives on the origin and purpose of the universe and human life. It summarizes the views of cosmologists that the universe began 13.3-13.9 billion years ago with the Big Bang. Some believe God created the universe and determines humanity's destiny, while physicists Lawrence Krauss, Stephen Hawking, and Leonard Mlodinow argue the universe can exist without God and arose from basic physical laws. The document also discusses how all life in the universe will eventually die out as the universe expands and concludes that for life to have meaning, individuals must work to build a cooperative world with shared economic and social progress.

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UNIVERSE, GOD AND THE MEANING OF HUMAN LIFE
Fernando Alcoforado *
Cosmologists believe that the Universe began with the "Big Bang" around 13.3 to 13.9
billion years ago and the Earth has approximately 4.6 billion years that for a long time
remained an inhospitable environment. Many people believe, based on their religious
beliefs, that the Universe, including planet Earth and all humans beings were created by
God. Some believe that the destiny of the Universe and every human being would have
been drawn by God and, others, admit that God would have granted the "free will" to
humans beings. Although they believe that God created the Universe, there are few
people who wonder about their purpose in creating it. In opposition to the idea that the
Universe had been created by God, have recently emerged the theses of physicists
Lawrence Krauss, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow that the Universe does not
need God to be created.
According to Lawrence Krauss, an American physicist, author of The Universe from
nothing (Publisher Simon & Schuster, New York, 2012), nothing has produced not just
one universe, but multiverses (different universes) past, present and future. This thesis is
based on quantum mechanics shows us that even in an empty space, there are particles
coming out of nowhere, constantly. The Universe would therefore be an accident that
happened without the supervision of a higher being, God. In his book, Krauss speculates
that perhaps there are no universal laws of physics and the laws of physics can be
different for each universe. Krauss does not identify any goal or purpose clear to the
Universe we live in and he affirmed that the emergence of life in our Universe may have
been just an accident. This means that our lives can be guided by each of us, instead of
being ruled by a superior being (God) that was supposed to be the creator of life.
The physicists Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, author of the book The Grand
Design (Bantam Books, New York, 2010), claim that you do not need a God to create
the Universe, as the "Big Bang" would be a consequence of the laws of physics. The
fact that our Universe seems miraculously set in its physical laws, so that there is life,
there would be a conclusive demonstration that was created by God with the intention
that life exists, but a result of chance. Hawking and Mlodinow say that modern physics
rule out the involvement of God in the origin of the Universe and says that apparently
the "Big Bang" was a natural consequence of physical laws and that the spontaneous
creation is the reason why there is something rather anything and that because of the
existence of a law such as gravity, which is a fundamental force of attraction that acts
between all objects because of their masses that are made, the Universe created itself
from nothing.
Hawking and Mlodinow say that natural laws tell us how the Universe works, but these
do not respond to questions in the book The Grand Design: Why is there something
rather than nothing? Why do we exist? Why is there this particular set of natural laws
and not another? Some people would ensure that the answer to these questions is that
there is a God who chose to create the Universe in this way. When presented with the
question of who created God, the response of several religious currents is that it is an
entity that needs no creator. This is the familiar argument of various religious beliefs
about the existence of God. In contrast, physicists Lawrence Krauss, Stephen Hawking
and Leonard Mlodinow challenge the thesis of the Universe as God's creation by stating
that it was created from scratch based on the laws of gravity.

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Scientifically, it is known that all life on Earth will be wiped out when our Sun reaches
the end of their existence within 5 billion years to become a red giant that will swallow
the Earth. Finally, the Universe will become unable to allow the existence of any life
due to its eternal expansion, leaving only residual heat and black holes, , fusing all
matter and energy into a Big Crunch. Anyway, all life in the or contracts back on itself
Universe will disappear forever. This means that, beyond death on the individual, we
shall meet with the death of our species with the disappearance of the Sun, Earth and the
Universe itself.
The book The Grand Design addresses the ultimate questions of the human condition,
such as "why we exist?", "What is the Universe, the nature and reality as we know it?".
It is worth noting that in the time scale of Earth history, we are born, live and die. Given
the inevitability of death, life will only make sense for some, when the individual can
enjoy everything the life offers positive during its existence. For others, in a Universe
created by God, the sense of an individual's life, from the perspective of various
religious currents, would materialize in good deeds to gain access to the "heavenly
paradise" after his death. What is the meaning of human life if the Universe was not
created by God and there is no prospect of the "heavenly paradise" after the death of the
individual?
To have meaning in our lives, not just enjoy what life offers good, or wait for death to
come to reach the "heavenly paradise" as advocated by various religious currents. We
must build the "earthly paradise" in life with all individuals striving to build a new
world based on cooperation between all human beings in order that the economic and
social progress is shared by everybody and the defense of the natural environment of the
planet Earth that will benefit all living beings that inhabit it. Life has no meaning if
every individual and all human beings remain the barbarism that has characterized the
history of mankind until the contemporary era.
* Alcoforado, Fernando, engineer and doctor of Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the
University of Barcelona, a university professor and consultant in strategic planning, business planning,
regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo,
1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do
desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,
http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel,
São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era
Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social
Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG,
Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora,
Salvador, 2010) e Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global
(Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011), among others.