"The Anthropic Principle in Cosmology and in Biology"
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ABSTRACT:
The Anthropic Principle may be stated: "The observed values of all
physical and cosmological quantities of the Universe will have values
restricted by the requirement that carbon-based life can exist, and that
the Universe be old enough for this to have already occurred". This
principle places very narrow limits on the physical constants such as
the electronic charge and mass, and on the initial expansion rate of the
Universe. The reactions of various scientists to this state of "fine
tuning" will be discussed. In Biology this state of affairs has
recently been labeled "Intelligent Design" and has been a major
subject of discussion. The concept of Information has played a
crucial role in this discussion, and progress may be expected as
Information Theory is applied to the process of Natural Selection.
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I gave them two books as reference:
Barrow and Tipler _The Anthropic Cosmological Principle_ (1986), Oxford
Press -- very complete history and exposition; their "out" is the Many
Universes idea, fairly easy to deflate, a' la Dembski. A very thick book,
not a page turner.
Roger Penrose _The Emperor's New Mind_ (1989), Penguin Books
-- Mostly about why Artificial Intelligence will not work. But it has several
brilliant chapters on Cosmology, and the Anthropic Principle.
I used the wonderful figure on page 343 which shows the Creator
using a very sharp pin to choose the teeny point in cosmic "Phase
Space" at which to start out the Universe with such a low entropy. It
points out in the legend of this figure that this point has the very small
probability of ten to the minus ten to to the 123 power. Worth noting -
- Penrose was the thesis advisor for Steven Hawking.
The talk was rather well received, one person wondered about
Chaos Theory on origin of life, another one had read Behe and wondered
if that was related. No gnashing of teeth. About 30 attended, but
unfortunately none of them appeared to be students.
Of course I could claim biological naivete, since I was a mere
physicist, from outside their sandbox. And most of it was about
Cosmology, where I was at home, and which they appreciated. Most of
them had not heard of the Anthropic Principle before.
I would happily email a transcript to any interested. Send an
email off-list.
Blessings, Larry
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Lawrence H. Johnston 917 E. 8th st.
professor of physics, emeritus Moscow, Id 83843
University of Idaho (208) 882-2765
_http://www.uidaho.edu/~johnston/_ ==================