The Anthropic Principle
Descartes puts it, "things that think," we cannot help but question our
place in the universe; we wonder why our universe allows for "thinking
things" when the specific conditions necessary for life seem so highly
improbable. The anthropic principle considers such questions,
reasoning that "We should not be surprised that, given that we do
observe features of the universe, the features that we observe are
compatible with our own existence. For if the features of the universe
were incompatible with our existence, we should not be here to notice
it." (Craig).
explanation of the anthropic principle might apply to scientific models
such as the chaotic inflationary universe, a model developed by Andrei
Linde. The model says that the observable, life-supporting part of the
universe that we know is "only a tiny fraction of the whole" that expanded
along with many other parts; we view our small part as life-supporting
because if it were not, we would not exist (Ferris, 231). The anthropic
principle and chaotic inflationary universe model explains why the
universe appears to be flat, homogeneous, and isotropic; since we only
observe our region of the universe, we observe characteristics conducive
to our own existence. The model of a chaotic inflationary universe, which
places our universe as only one of many possible universes, allows one to
invoke the anthropic principle, for when we observe a universe that has
all of the "right" mathematical values to support life, we do so because if
it were any different, we would not be here to observe our part of it. Many
scientists, however, remain dissatisfied with the principle, and seek more
substantial answers to their cosmological questions.
model of the universe uphold the anthropic principle. According to the
model, we observe the microwave background radiation as nearly the
same in all directions (which means that light must have traveled from
one distant region of the universe to the other) because of a very rapid
inflation at the beginning of the universe that allowed for both a much
larger universe and our own existence (and thus for our ability to observe
the conditions that allow for that existence!).
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. Analysis of These Results: The results of the microwave backgroundradiation tell us that "since the inflationary model is gigantic, the
observable part of [the univers] is only a tiny fraction of the whole" (Ferris,
231) and therefore when we look at our flat universe and its isotropic
distribution, that which we observe necessarily meets all of the
qualifications for our own existence. The anthropic principle explains that
"the appearance of design in the physical and cosmological quantities
of the universe is just that: an appearance due to the self-selection factor
imposed on our observations by our own existence" (Barrow and Tipler,
1986).
5. What More May Be Found:
We can hardly predict what phenomenaand theories in the future may support the anthropic principle. As of now,
it is a circumstantial explanation at best, and the problems with it are
numerous. As Ferris says, "we need to be careful that anthropic
constraints dont blind us to deeper explanations" (Ferris, 300). If we find
more evidence in support of models such as the chaotic inflationary
universe, however, the anthropic principle may continue to gain support
and attention.
Works Cited:
Barrow, John and Tipler, Frank. The Anthropic Cosmological Principle.
Clarendon Press, 1986.
Ferris, Timothy. The Whole Shebang. Touchstone, 1997.
Hawking, Steven. A Brief History of Time. Bantam Books, 1998.
VERY Interesting Anthropic Principle Websites (Some More Scientific than Others):
The Anthropic Principle
http://www.airtime.co.uk/users/station/anthrop.htm
Anthropic Principle as an Explanation
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cosmology-theology/#5
Anthropic Principle Site
http://cs.bluffton.edu/~berger/essays/impert.html
Rejecting the Anthropic Principle
http://home.wxs.nl/~gkorthof/kortho17.htm
Was Darwin Wrong? The Anthropic Cosmological Principle
http://www.kingsu.ab.ca/~brian/astro/chp19.htm
An Incredible Balancing Act: God, the Anthropic Principle, and Inflation