anthropic principle

British  

noun

1. astronomy the cosmological theory that the presence of life in the universe limits the ways in which the very early universe could have evolved

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Example Sentences

The anthropic principle implies the existence of other universes where the laws of physics are different.

From Scientific American • Feb. 1, 2020

The first result — the anthropic principle — has been accepted by physicists for 43 years.

From Washington Post • Nov. 25, 2016

The idea that physical laws must be the way they are because otherwise we could not be here to measure them is called the anthropic principle.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

The anthropic principle suggests that in some sense we are observing a special kind of universe; if the universe were different, we could never have come to exist.

From Textbooks • Oct. 13, 2016

There are a number of objections that one can raise to the strong anthropic principle as an explanation of the observed state of the universe.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking