Anthropic principle
From EvoWiki
The Anthropic Principle in its most simple form simply states that, because humans exist, we know that the universe has the properties that allow humans to exist. There exist many different variations and interpretations of this principle. Although anthropic principles were used earlier for reasoning (e.g. Leibniz, Fred Hoyle) the first use of term "anthropic principle" was by Brandon Carter in 1973.
The two primary versions of the principle, as stated by Carter (1974) are as follows:
- Weak Anthropic Principle (WAP): "We must be prepared to take account of the fact that our location in the universe is necessarily privileged to the extent of being compatible with our existence as observers."
- Strong Anthropic Principle (SAP): "The Universe (and hence the fundamental parameters on which it depends) must be such as to admit the creation of observers within it at some stage."
The above versions are obvious truths, as long as the word "must" is not taken to imply that the universe could not have been any other way, but rather means "we can prove it, therefore it must be so".
Some authors, such as Barrow and Tipler (1986) try to extend the Anthropic Principle beyond what is strictly logical, and instead define their own anthropic principles, which are in fact empirical hypotheses about the way the universe will turn out. This is one such example:
- Final Anthropic Principle (FAP): "Intelligent information-processing must come into existence in the Universe, and, once it comes into existence, it will never die out."
Such anthropic principles are dubious - why exactly will life never die out?
Although creationists sometimes try to base their arguments on anthropic principles, the Weak Anthropic Principle, anthropic bias and an infinite universe (or many-world theories) in fact can be used to refute creationists arguments.
