Science, Bitches | Issue 13

Science, Bitches | Issue 13

The Anthropic Principle

About 13.8 billion years ago, a small bundle of matter expanded to form the universe. In that single expansion, the stars, the moon, the Earth, oceans, land and life all saw their beginning. The theory of the big bang, which has been pieced together by scientists over nearly a century, explains what happened, but it doesn’t explain why.

Science has proven that we, as humans, are somewhat insignificant. Aristotle’s model of an Earth-centred universe has long since dissolved and, after all, there are stars much larger than the one we orbit. In comparison to everything that exists, the Earth is nothing more than a particle of dust floating among other equally insignificant dust particles.

Recently, though, some scientists have taken a step back, realising that even though we are small, we are also unlike anything else we know. We are alive. We have hypothesised that other life may exist somewhere, but we haven’t found proof. As far as we know, nothing like us exists.

Our uniqueness is accentuated by our intelligence. We are conscious. We have complex emotions. We form bonds and study and intentionally change the world. The conditions under which we evolved are so particular that some scientists think the universe may have been created specifically for us.

This idea is called the Anthropic Principle. It is based on the fact that life would not have existed if a few important physical laws (like electromagnetic force) were even just slightly different. Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute, explains on his website: “It’s as if we’re balancing on a knife’s edge.” A little too far to one side, and we would have never existed.

Theories that fit the Anthropic Principle range from the theological (an intelligent creator consciously created Earth) to the astronomical (some features of the cosmos are driven towards life). Either way, the Anthropic Principle puts humans back in the centre, even if it’s a less physical centre than that of Aristotle’s model.

The big bang was a supernatural event — meaning that it occurred outside what we have defined as the functioning laws of physics for our world. Though scientists normally base theories on procedural logic, they have realised that it is time to ask the question: Why? Now, they are finding that the answer might be us.

This article first appeared in Issue 13, 2015.
Posted 2:13pm Sunday 24th May 2015 by Emma Cotton.