If the resulting cosmic expansion rate happened to be slightly greater than the presently observed value, life-supporting galaxies would have been unable to form if it were slightly smaller, the early universe would have collapsed back in on itself shortly after the Big Bang. This crucial factor is determined by the cooperative interplay between several distinct cosmic parameters, including the mass density of the universe, the explosive vigor of the Big Bang, and the strength of the gravitational constant. This same rationale can also be applied to the expansion rate of the nascent universe. If it were slightly larger, stars would have burned too hot and much too quickly to support the fragile needs of life if it were slightly smaller, the intrastellar process of nuclear fusion would have never initiated, and life would have been incapable of arising on the Earth. The gravitational constant ( G ), for instance, appears to be exceedingly fine-tuned for the existence of life. These anthropic coincidences are noteworthy because they are essential for the existence of life and because they require tremendous "fine-tuning" before they can be operational. When these prerequisites are duly examined, a striking number of "cosmic coincidences" are discovered to exist between distant branches of physics. The Anthropic Principle makes this type of goal-directed argument possible by highlighting the various prerequisites for the existence of life. Several theorists have taken this idea one step further by incorporating the Anthropic Principle into a larger design argument for the existence of God.
The Anthropic Principle is controversial because it implies a teleological link between the structure of the universe and the existence of human beings. Indeed, Carter pointed out that the location of the Earth in space is "necessarily privileged to the extent of being compatible with our existence as observers" (p. However, while the Earth may not be special or privileged in every way, this does not mean that it cannot be privileged in any way. It is this latter form that suggests the possible creative activity of an Intelligent Designer.įormulated in 1974 by the British astrophysicist Brandon Carter, the Anthropic Principle is an attempt to limit the Copernican dogma, which asserts that the Earth does not occupy a privileged central position in the universe. The Anthropic Principle attempts to explain the universe's many life-supporting "coincidences" in two distinct ways: 1) by appealing to an allencompassing selection effect amongst a variety of universes (e.g., the Weak Anthropic Principle) 2) by asserting that the evolution of life is the necessary outcome of the laws of nature (e.g., the Strong Anthropic Principle). It is an ex post facto methodological tool that attempts to relate the structure of the universe to the underlying conditions that are necessary for the existence of observers. The Anthropic Principle asserts that the existence of human life places certain necessary constraints on cosmological and metaphysical theories.
0 kommentar(er)
