Anthropic principle: the view that the ►laws of nature must be reconcilable with the existence of natural scientists. At first this sounds like a truism. However, the anthropic principle is supposed to explain certain properties of the laws of nature. It particularly concerns the values of ►physical constants, the number and type of ►basic particles, and the number of spatial ►dimensions. For these values are tailored to the fact of our existence. Even slight deviations from the numerical values of the physical constants in our universe would rule out all more complex entities including, of course, all possible forms of life. A proton is conceived as being 1836 times heavier than an electron precisely because a world with other mass ratios could not contain any observer to measure the relevant physical values. Our Tailor-Made Universe The current ►standard model of physics -- the theory describing the behavior of physical matter -- does not provide any alternative explanation for these perfectly tailor-made values of physical constants. To be sure, it is possible that the values may be derived independently from some future string theory. However, this would merely shift the problem of the tailor-made universe to another level. In 1973, the cosmologist Brandon Carter offered an alternative theory based on his distinction between two anthropic principles.
A Whiff of MysticismUnfortunately, the anthropic principles are not really helpful in our attempt to understand the laws of nature and the universe. Though they teach us that in our world the mass ratio of protons and electrons must be no less and no more than 1836, we are still in need of a physical theory that would exlain why that is what the ratio in fact is in terms of a set of even more fundamental laws. Nonetheless, such principles are popular with many scientists because they add a metaphysical or even mystical touch to their research. Unsurprisingly, the anthropic principles have also led to a number of controversies, have been hijacked by various religious and ►esoteric groups, and have inspired books that can only be described as eccentric. Supporters of ►creationism have presented the strong anthropic principle as proof of God's interference with nature. Many scientists, however, have taken delight in stimulating further controversies just for fun by publishing additional anthropic principles of a more or less arbitrary character. John Wheeler, for example, developed a so-called participatory anthropic principle: Observers are necessary to bring the universe into being. Links Related to the Topic
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