Posthuman Blues

Cosmic Conundrum

"The proposition that the cosmos is -- against all odds -- perfectly tuned for life is known as the anthropic principle. And while it has been getting a lot of attention lately, there is no consensus on how seriously to take it. Some scientists are confident that there is a law that dictates the values of those key cosmic numbers, and when we find it, the anthropic problem will go away. Others think the answer is even simpler: if the numbers were any different than they are, we wouldn't be around to argue about them -- case closed."

The anthropic "dilemma" is ample turf for philosophical debate. But really -- what's so unreasonable about the idea that if things were any different we wouldn't be here to observe them? This concept has always seemed perfectly lucid to me. I certainly don't discount the possibility of a multiverse in which all permutations of our universe are physically manifested. But that doesn't really change anything; given an infinite number of universes, it's inevitable there will be (at least) one with us observing from within, thinking we're somehow privileged.