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The extraordinary thing is not that there are laws but that we can understand them. Why should we be able to understand them? Dr David Deutsch
It’s the comprehensibility of the Laws of Physics that makes the Anthropic Principle work. Dr David Deutsch
Why is the universe the way it is? Why does it follow rules and laws? Why is there order instead of chaos? Stephen Hawking’s Grand Design: The Key to the Cosmos, Discovery 2012
It is every one of us that gives meaning to the universe. Stephen Hawking’s Grand Design: The Meaning of Life
The universe is a machine governed by principles or laws – laws that can be understood by the human mind. Stephen Hawking’s Great Design: Did God Create the Universe?
There are two versions of the anthropic principle, the weak and the strong. The weak anthropic principle states that in a universe that is large or infinite in space and/or time, the conditions necessary for the development of intelligent life will be met only in certain regions that are limited in space and time. The intelligent beings in these regions should therefore not be surprised if they observe that their locality in the universe satisfies the conditions that are necessary for their existence. It is a bit like a rich person living in a wealthy area not seeing any poverty. Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time p137
A strong version of the principle ... there are either many different universes or many different regions of a single universe, each with its own initial configuration and, perhaps, with its own set of laws of science. In most of these universes the conditions would not be right for the development of complicated organisms; only in the few universes that are like ours would intelligent beings develop and ask the question: ‘why is the universe the way we see it?’ The answer is then simple: if it had been different, we would not be here! ibid. p138
I do not believe that any physicist who examined the evidence could fail to draw the inference that the laws of nuclear physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce inside stars. Professor Fred Hoyle
Mathematics seem to permeate Nature ... almost as if God is a master mathematician who has constructed the universe in mathematical forms. Horizon: A Mathematical Problem, BBC 1984
This universe we live in: scientists have discovered some remarkably strange things about it. So strange they are having to use the most disturbing principles to describe what’s going on. Horizon: The Anthropic Principle, BBC 1987
The Anthropic Principle: The universe was anthropocentric – the hub of all creation was man. ibid.
Galileo’s masterstroke was to discover that what goes on around us depends on mathematical laws. ibid.
In the 1920s physicist Niels Bohr found that Newton’s Laws break down at the atomic level. The replacement Quantum Theory ... showed that the electron orbiting the atomic nucleus doesn’t look like this at all. It’s more smudged out, more like a ripple or a wave. ibid.
We have to record some kind of measurement to know where an electron is. In fact, until we decide to find out where the electron is by doing an experiment to observe it the electron as a material entity cannot be really said to exist. ibid.
That by our acts of observation we bring things into existence, at least in the realm of the very small, is supported by scientific experiment. ibid.
If we bring the tiny world of the Quantum to existence by our observations, do we need any other mechanism to account for the whole of reality? ibid.
So what are we? A statistical accident. Where are we? Nowhere special. Where are we going? Into oblivion. A meaningless hiccup in the blank procession of matter through time. It’s a tatty destiny. ibid.
The Anthropic Principle seems well named – forget other intelligences; the universe may well have given rise to man alone. ibid.
Weak Anthropic Principle: A universe remarkably in sympathy with our existence. Strong Anthropic Principle: A universe that gave birth to man. Participatory Anthropic Principle: a universe that man helps to create by his observations and understanding. Final Anthropic Principle: A universe in while life will never die out and where knowledge will increase for ever. ibid.
The laws of physics we know have been fine-tuned in order to keep the cosmos fertile for its own reproduction. Morgan Freeman’s Through the Wormhole s3e3: Is the Universe Alive? Science 2012
Our universe certainly seems real. But what if it’s not? We may be nothing more than video game characters designed for someone else’s amusement. But how could a computer juggle every aspect of the cosmos? Maybe what looks random has already been programmed to happen. Can we discover some hidden glitch in the laws of the universe and uncover its hidden code? Do we live in the matrix? Morgan Freeman’s Through the Wormhole s6e4: Do We Live in the Matrix? Science 2015
According to Moore’s Law computer processing power will continue to double every two years. As that power increases, so does the realism of virtual reality systems. ibid.
Are we one of many simulated copies? ibid.
We physicists ... we hope for very simple laws of nature that will account for everything we see. But when we have them there will always be a question – why those laws? Professor Steven Weinberg, interview Professor Richard Dawkins
There’s every reason to expect that in the different big bangs that occur you will have different conditions, different values, for what we call the Fundamental Constants. So the fact that the Constants of Nature are suitable for life which is clearly true we observe may not be a universal fact, may be an accident. ibid.
I am really not impressed with the amount of fine tuning there is, with the exception of this one – dark energy. ibid.
The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless. Professor Steven Weinberg
The effort to understand the universe is one of the very few things that lifts human life a little above the level of farce, and gives it some of the grace of Tragedy. Professor Steven Weinberg
There are reasons to doubt that what we call the laws of physics necessarily apply everywhere in the universe – or that they were applicable to every time in its history. Michael Brooks, 13 Things That Don’t Make Sense
The remarkable feature of physical laws is that they apply everywhere, whether or not you choose to believe in them. After the laws of physics, everything else is opinion. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Death by Black Hole
The universe is a pretty big space. It’s bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So, if it’s just us, seems like an awful waste of space, right? Professor Carl Sagan
The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference. (Science & Universe & Intelligent Design & Creationism & Anthropic Principle) Richard Dawkins
I mean I think the closest is the idea that the fundamental constants of the universe are too good to be true. That does to me seem to need some kind of explanation, if it’s true ... It certainly doesn’t suggest to me in any way a creative intelligence because you’re still left with the problem of explaining where that come from. Richard Dawkins, The Four Horsemen: Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens
The anthropic principle was named by the British mathematician Brandon Carter in 1974 and expanded by the physicists John Barrow and Frank Tipler in their book on the subject. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion p135
It is a strange fact, incidentally, that religious apologists love the anthropic principle. For some reason that makes no sense at all, they think it supports their case. Precisely the opposite is true. The anthropic principle, like natural selection, is an alternative to the design hypothesis. It provides a rational, design-free explanation for the fact that we find ourselves in a situation propitious to our existence. ibid. p136
It follows from the fact of our existence that the laws of physics must be friendly enough to allow life to arise .. If the laws and constants of physics had been even slightly different, the universe would have developed in such a way that life would have been impossible. ibid. p141
Martin Rees, in Just Six Numbers, lists six fundamental constants, which are believed to hold all around the universe. ibid. p141
We could only be discussing the question in the kind of universe that was capable of producing us. ibid. p144
The six numbers may turn out to be no freer to vary than is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. ibid. p144