Robert Todd Carroll
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anthropic principle
The anthropic principle is a belief of some physicists that it is virtually impossible that a number of factors in the early universe, which had to be coordinated in order to produce a universe capable of sustaining advanced life forms, could have happened by chance. This belief is taken by some as good evidence that this universe was probably created by a very powerful and intelligent being (probably named God). If the mass of the universe and the strengths of the four basic forces (electromagnetism, gravitation, and the strong and weak nuclear forces) were different or weren't "fine-tuned" to work together the way they do, the universe as we know it would not exist. A delicate balance of physical constants is "necessary for carbon and other chemical elements beyond lithium in the periodic table to be cooked in stars."* In short, a lot of things had to happen together for us to exist (the so-called "anthropic coincidences"). Some physicists find it odd, apparently, that we exist only at a time in the history of the universe when we could exist. Physicist Victor Stenger summarizes the anthropic principle this way:
We wouldn't exist and be conscious of the world around us if the world around us wasn't compatible with our existence. Or, as physicist Bob Park put it: "If things were different, things would not be the way things are." Another way of framing it is popular among those who hope science will quit sledge-hammering their faith:
Yes, if things had been different, we wouldn't be here. But they weren't and we are. Anyway, for all I know, if a few neurotransmitters went north instead of south in my brain, I'd be proclaiming that physics proves Muhammad is God's prophet. But they didn't and I'm not. Still, if things were different, they'd be different. Anyway, the improbability of something that's already happened is a bit misleading and, ultimately, meaningless. As John Allen Paulos says:
It would be even more absurd to declare that a miracle must have happened and that an intelligent force of supernatural dimensions must be at work behind every bridge hand. The expression 'anthropic principle' was coined by physicist Brandon Carter. There are several variations of the anthropic principle, including a version that seems identical to classical philosophical idealism: the universe only exists because we perceive it.* This is true, and extremely profound and trivial at the same time. Since we don't have anything to compare our universe to, however, it seems presumptuous to assert that we know the statistical improbability of the factors occurring that were necessary for it to exist. What if there are many universes? Ours could be quite common and not require a Fine-Tuner of any sort. Or ours could be one of a zillion billion universes of every make imaginable, many of which produce outcomes similar to ours from very different initial conditions. Who knows? Also, it doesn't seem to imply anything about a designer to point out that we exist at the only time in the history of the universe when we could perceive the universe and if a number of factors had been different we would not be here now. Nothing is implied about a designer by the fact that billions of years ago we could not have existed and the universe was as much a pipe dream as we were then. Nor does anything seem to be implied by the fact that in a few billion years this planet will start to die and in a few billion years after that there will be no possibility of life here. However, to note this is to guarantee that one will not be awarded the Templeton Prize. On the other hand, to argue for some variation of the anthropic principle almost guarantees a physicist the prize, "the largest prize for intellectual accomplishment in existence."* Can you imagine the number of conditional probabilities that had to occur for a guy from rural Tennessee to get into Yale and Oxford, make billions in developing mutual funds, and find scientists willing to take a ton of money from him for trying to prove that science supports a world of spirits despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary? Yet, despite the unbelievable odds against such a thing happening, it happened. And it doesn't seem odd at all. further reading
Barrow, John D. and Frank J. Tipler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford, 1988). God: The Failed Hypothesis. How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist. (Prometheus, 2007). |
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©copyright 2007 Robert Todd Carroll |
Last updated 12/11/07 anthroposophic medicine |
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anthropometry