Why have things worked out so well for us. It seems that the universe was designed for the existence of human beings? Many of the fundamental forces and constants of nature are such the we can exist. Even relatively small changes in these values would result in a universe that is not compatible with our biological existence. IF gravity were just a little stronger there would be nothing but black holes. If it were weaker stars and planets would not form. If the mass of the electron was different chemical reactions would not be possible.
The weak anthropic principle says that the reason things look so good is that if they were different we wouldn’t be here to ask the question. So there is self selection in that other universes with other values for critical forces and masses wouldn’t support us. The strong anthropic principle says the somehow something designed the universe to be just right for us. The book “The Anthropic Cosmological Principle” by John D. Barrow, Frank J. Tipler uses almost 700 pages to go into the alternatives in great depth. It describes each of the forces and critical constants in great detail to firmly establish uniqueness of our situation. It does this with multiple differential equations and level three tensors so a little mathematical expertise helps in understanding the arguments. I recommend this book to anyone with a lot of interest and a lot of time.
1 comment:
I'd say that the weak anthropic principle is about being environmentally enabled, whereas the strong anthropic principle is about "why" we are here, not because something designed the universe.
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