Mario Livio - The Anthropic Principle: Meaning & Significance

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We should expect to observe that the universe in which we live must conform to the conditions required for our presence as observers. This is the unremarkable “Weak Anthropic Principle”: our universe has fundamental constants that happen to fall within the narrow range thought to be compatible with life. The “Strong Anthropic Principle” makes the teleological claim that the universe must have those properties that allow or require intelligent life to develop, that the universe is in some sense compelled to bring forth conscious life. Does anything meaningful follow from these ideas?

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Mario Livio is an Israeli-American astrophysicist and an author of works that popularize science and mathematics.

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Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.