This principle, which is quite difficult to understand, was formulated, first of all, as an argument for explaining some complex relationships between phenomena occurring in the world, including for explaining the very fact of its origin and development. The initial hypothesis for its explanation is the assertion that the world seems to us exactly as it is, as we see it, because in it we arose and are present as an observer. From the point of view of natural science, the anthropic principle is intended to explain what the relationships between the fundamental physical and chemical parameters should be in order to contribute to the emergence of intelligent life.
The term "anthropic principle" was first used in 1973 by the British physicist B. Carter. However, after its publication, many scientists noted that a similar idea in several other interpretations was formulated earlier. In particular, first of all it was voiced as an anthropic principle in cosmology back in 1955 in the USSR at a scientific conference on extragalactic astronomy. Among the scientists who proposed this idea were Soviet scientists G. M. Idlis, A. L. Zelmanov, American R. Dicke.
But it was Carter’s work that became the subject of general attention and laid the foundation for a detailed scientific understanding of this principle and its role in cognition. At the same time, the scientific community did not find a single point of view on the possibility of applying the idea in practical science. Only in 1988 did a conference take place in Venice, where for the first time the main subject of consideration was the anthropic principle, and which attracted the attention of a very wide circle of interested people - from physicists to religious philosophers. After that, this topic became the subject of discussion at numerous scientific forums, and one way or another, even at conferences on narrow scientific issues, the discussion touched upon the question of what the anthropic principle affirms. Today its application is extended to a very wide range of problems - from theology to extrapolar cosmology.
B. Carter in his famous article identified two options for the manifestation of the principle - the strong and the weak. The weak version assumes that in the Universe there are some constant values that a person can observe only because he is present there. And the opposite: there are values of world constants that differ from our usual ones where there is no observer (person) there at the moment. The intuitive-everyday perception of this principle is somewhat expressed by the common saying: "it is good where we are not."
From the understanding of the strong version of the manifestation of the principle, the conclusion must be drawn - the universe potentially has parameters that allow the mind to develop.
The anthropic principle in strong manifestation was well formulated by J. Wheeler, arguing that "observers are necessary for gaining the universe of being."
The difference between strong and weak options is that the strong characterizes the world at all stages of its existence, and the weak only at those where the mind can only be hypothetically born.
The practical expression of the anthropic principle is the assumption that the reality we observe and its laws are not the only ones, and therefore there is a possibility of the existence of realities with other laws. At one time, the principle of anthropism in this interpretation manifested itself in the discovery of non-Euclidean geometry, where classical laws do not work. Manifestation of anthropism can also be assumed in situations described by Einstein: the dependence of the flow of time on speed.
Physicists who studied options for a hypothetical existence in time and space of other Universes came to the following conclusions:
- in the course of constant changes that occur in the Universe, its parameters also constantly change, and therefore there may be such a combination of these parameters in which the appearance of intelligent life becomes inevitable;
- the same can happen within the framework of one universe, in those places where its properties will form in a favorable ratio;
- the hypothesis about the existence of a certain “multiverse” cannot be denied on the grounds that we do not observe it.
Thus, an attempt is made using the principle of anthropism to expand the field of scientific knowledge, taking it beyond the existing laws of nature and the usual methodologies for their explanation.