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The world surrounding us is organized, coherent and sophisticated. It also has evolved in a way that life can appear in it and humans can roam at least the planet earth. The history of the universe also shows that at the side, a path to more organization and sophistication has been followed. From elementary particles to hydrogen and helium atoms and heavier elements, from simple inorganic molecules to complex organic ones, the history of our world is full of wonders. These wonders create lots of questions. Why out of all of the possibilities the world followed such a sophisticated path and why it should be so compassionately hospitable to human beings? Why the world is anthropic (human friendly)?

The following is some of the evidences derived by Patrick Glynn that show the universe is anthropic ,

• Gravity is roughly 10³⁹ times weaker than electromagnetism. If gravity had been 10³³ times weaker than electromagnetism, "stars would be a billion times less massive and would burn a million times faster."
• The nuclear weak force is 10²⁸ times the strength of gravity. Had the weak force been slightly weaker, all the hydrogen in the universe would have been turned to helium (making water impossible, for example).
• A stronger nuclear strong force (by as little as 2 percent) would have prevented the formation of protons--yielding a universe without atoms. Decreasing it by 5 percent would have given us a universe without stars.
• If the difference in mass between a proton and a neutron were not exactly as it is--roughly twice the mass of an electron--then all neutrons would have become protons or vice versa. Say good-bye to chemistry as we know it--and to life.
• The very nature of water--so vital to life--is something of a mystery (a point noticed by one of the forerunners of anthropic reasoning in the nineteenth century, Harvard biologist Lawrence Henderson). Unique amongst the molecules, water is lighter in its solid than liquid form: Ice floats. If it did not, the oceans would freeze from the bottom up and earth would now be covered with solid ice. This property in turn is traceable to the unique properties of the hydrogen atom.
• The synthesis of carbon--the vital core of all organic molecules--on a significant scale involves what scientists view as an astonishing coincidence in the ratio of the strong force to electromagnetism. This ratio makes it possible for carbon-12 to reach an excited state of exactly 7.65 MeV at the temperature typical of the centre of stars, which creates a resonance involving helium-4, beryllium-8, and carbon-12--allowing the necessary binding to take place during a tiny window of opportunity 10^-17 seconds long. ^80,81
  

There are many other wonders as well. For example, if oxygen concentration in the air was a just a few percent higher, everything would combust. A lower ratio could kill us because of asphyxiation.

One of the possible answers for anthropic principle is called Strong Anthropic Principle. It states that in order for the cosmos to be as it is, somehow it requires the influence of an intelligent designer. Religion advocates normally use this kind of interpretation to prove the existence of god. But there are scientific extrapolations using this principle as well. One of the views speculates that the macro world that we are observing is that portion of reality that we can see, measure and have the knowledge about. The actual reality is deeper and exists in quantum level in superposition of states. We, according to our state of mind can see a portion, which suits us. So in a way we may say that without us the universe does not exist as we see it.

The other answer is called Weak Anthropic Principle. It states that for us being here, all of the complexity established during the history of the universe had to take place. If it didn't we wouldn't be here. Because it happened as it happened, we are here and can['nalogy, if we open the box few days later and see the cat either alive or dead (reduce superposition to one state), we also notice that the cat is either very hungry or we face an almost decomposed cat body. Our act of observation, not only changes the multiple and simultaneous states of reality to one state, it also create an appropriate history. In other words, not only we create objective reality but we also generate a suitable history for it.  Based on above, Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner proposed the following explanation.

“We create the universe………  The universe is hospitalized to us because we could not create a universe in which we could not exist.”⁸²

None of the above answers offers a strong argument. Lee Smolin believes,

"There is so-far-unknown mechanism that will both explain the bio-friendliness of our universe and make testable predictions by which it can be confirmed or falsified." ⁷⁴

In my opinion, we have to look for an answer within dualistic character of reality context.  If we confine ourselves to space-time and limit our physical understanding to it, many problems remain unsolved or we have to travel far to the outskirts of logic, in order to offer an explanation for them. Quantum physics as the most precise science that humans have access to, proposes a fundamental role for consciousness in forming the objective reality. However defining this consciousness remains a formidable task. Does it mean individual awareness? Does it point to collective consciousness of humans or living things? Does it mean a universal consciousness or field where our awareness originates from?

Do I propose to accept the intelligent creator of traditional faiths? Not necessarily. We have been dwelling within the old frames of spirituality for too long. Old definitions for spirituality challenge our wisdom and common sense.  A new definition and model for spirituality based on human being's current knowledge and understanding is long overdue.

It is understandable if scientists try to avoid theological approach to reality. That kind of approach is not scientific or logical. However, avoiding a big portion of reality, just because we are afraid that it may be interpreted as presence of God, is not acceptable either. I do not understand how developing theories, which include out of our space-time elements, can disprove science. Are we scared of unknown just like fifteenth century priests? Are we hiding in our caves? I believe, understanding the laws of entity beyond our space-time are attainable and we do not have to refer to the God of the Gaps to find a solution for our questions.
We have enough scientific means to explore the out of universe entity and build theories in the basis of dual nature of existence. It seems that we need to look for the answers in such a dualistic setting.

The arguments presented are open for debate. The reader is encouraged to email his/her inputs to correct, modify or develop the contents. Please send your emails to; zpfields@yahoo.ca

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