The Anthropic Principle

The Anthropic Principle is relatively new idea that states that the universe was fine tuned to make the universe suitable for human life. The “anthropic” comes from two Greek words. The first is anthropos meaning man or human and the second is topis meaning place. This principle points to how the universe seems to be a place designed to sustain life. The anthropic principle points that the universe displays exact precision in order of the universe that without such fine precision life in the universe would be impossible. This can be thought as variant of the Teleological Argument.

Examples of the anthropic principle are numerous through out science. Here is one that does not take much scientific knowledge to understand. Think of the location of the Earth. If it was a little closer to the sun the Earth like Venus would have been to hot for life as we know it. Or lets push the Earth back in the solar system then it like Mars would be to cold to sustain life as we know it. Are we lucky that the earth is in the exact right place it needs to be to support human life? I offer this as a simple example of how to illustrate this principle

Alister McGrath in his book Science and Religion gives four much more complex examples of “fine tuning” of fundamental cosmological constants.(182)
1. If the strong coupling constant was slightly smaller, hydrogen would be the only element in the universe. Since the evolution of life as we know it is fundamentally dependent on the chemical properties of carbon, that life could not have come into being without some hydrogen being converted to carbon by fusion. On the other hand, if the strong coupling constant were slightly larger (even by as much as 2 percent), the hydrogen would have been converted to helium, with the result that no long-lived stars would have been formed. In that such stars are regarded as essential to the emergence of life, such a conversion would have led to life as we know it failing to emerge.
2. If the weak fine constant was slightly smaller, no hydrogen would have formed during the early history of the universe. Consequently, no stars would have been formed. On the other hand, if it was slightly larger, supernovae would have been unable to eject the heavier elements necessary for life. In either case, life as we know it would not have emerged.

3. If the electromagetic fine structure constant was slightly larger, the stars would not be hot enough to warm planets to a temperature sufficient to maintain life in the form in which we know it. If smaller, the stars would have burned out too quickly to allow life to evolve on these planets.

4. If the gravitational fine structure constant were slightly smaller, stars and planets would not have been able to form, on account of the gravitational constraints necessary for coalescence of their constituent material. If stronger, the stars thus formed would have burned out too quickly to allow the evolution of life (as with the electromagnetic fine structure constant).

These are just some of many examples that show how universe shows fine tuning that makes life possible. It is truley amazing how if certain things were only a degree off there could be no life but everything shows how the universe was made for life everything is with perfect precision all showing that we had a master designer putting the universe in order.