This is a common objection to the Fine-Tuning of the universe. But lets take a closer look at this false analogy, astronomers Geraint Lewis and Luke Barnes explain why this analogy fails.
1. Consider more closely the puddle’s reasoning. Let’s name our puddle Doug. He has noticed a precise match between two things:
1) his shape and
2) the shape of the hole in which he lives. Doug is amazed! What Doug doesn’t know is that, given
A) the fluidity of water,
B) the solidity of the hole, and
C) the constant downward force of gravity, he will always take the same shape as his hole. If the hole had been different, his shape would adjust to match it. Any hole will do for a puddle.
This is precisely where the analogy fails: any universe will not do for life. Life is not a fluid. It will not adjust to any old universe. There could have been a completely dead universe: perhaps one that lasts for 1 second before recollapsing or is so sparse that no two particles ever interact in the entire history of the universe. For a puddle any hole will work, there is no fine-tuning needed. this is not the case with life.
