fundamental laws of physics cannot, in principle, explain why the constants of proportionality have the values that they do. As I explained in Chapters 7 and 8, (1) the structure of the laws allows them to have other values and (2) the specific values of the constants represent features of the laws themselves, not aspects of nature that the laws could conceivably explain. Similarly, the laws of physics do not explain why the universe had the precise set of initial conditions it did. The laws apply to those material conditions, and the laws must presuppose them to describe the universe
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