Common misconceptions of the Anthropic Principle

In 2015, I completed my extended essay on the Anthropic principle. Five years later, I find myself curious again, only this time better informed.

Coined by Brandon Carter in the 1970s, the Anthropic principle simply states: observers exist in the universe, therefore the laws of the universe must in some way allow for existence. Carter’s original version included the weak and strong anthropic principle, though recent years have seen the developments of the ‘Participatory Anthropic principle’ and the ‘Final and Anthropic principle’.The word ‘anthropic ‘meaning “relating to mankind or period of mans existence”, infers an intrinsic link to humanity. Many philosophical arguments emphasise fundamental constraints of nature that make human life possible. Better explained, if cosmological constants were to differ by even a fraction of a value, the universe and life as we know it would cease to exist. Herein lies the first and most common misconception. The weak version (and most common interpretation) follows the form previously defined; life exists, therefore the constraints must allow for life. It is important to understand that humans are not required, we are simply an observable fact. On the other hand, the strong version tries to build a causation relationship between intelligent life and fundamental laws; life is inevitable and a necessity. Although this is not limited to human life, it implies that all laws of physics must align to eventually allow for the existence of conscious life. The strong version is widely rejected and criticised.

Carter himself extends the anthropic principle to the multi-verse theory and it has since dominated papers and discussion. The misconception is that the principle proves the existence of multiverses when in reality, the multi-verse extension is not a direct prediction, but a rationalisation of the ‘luck’ and privilege predominantly implied in the strong principle. Thus,, if multiple universes exist, we are a product of seemingly infinite possibilities. There is still widespread misinformation and criticism of the anthropic principle, however, useful real-world applications have resulted from it . For example, Fred Hoyle’s discovery of resonance in carbon isotopes, informed by the observations that we are carbon-based life forms. The anthropic principle is simply another method of forming theories about the world. One that places importance on the observer as a measuring tool in the universe.

A timeline of the history of the universe. (June 2009). NASA / WMAP Science Team