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Fine-Tuning and the Anthropic Principle

In theoretical physics, fine-tuning refers to the high specificity of parametric values in a model in order for it to produce the phenomena under investigation. This may refer to 'given' constants in the model that could *not* produce the phenomena if they had a different value, or to a model in which the physicist adjusts the values in order to make the model work.

In the fine-tuned universe, physics has noted the existence of 26 dimensionless fundamental physical constants which must have the precise value we observe them to have, or the universe would be radically different and probably not capable of supporting life. This may be interpreted naturalistically, but is often used as an argument to design.

When the model is our universe and the phenomenon under investigation is the existence of life, the high specificity of the constant values is sometimes referred to as the anthropic principle, which postulates that the values are what we observe them to be because we are living beings who would not exist to observe them at all if they were not highly specified to allow the existence of life.

Web Resources On Fine-Tuning and the Anthropic Principle

Fine-tuned universe (Wikipedia)
Antropic Principle (Wikipedia)

Book Resources On Fine-Tuning and the Anthropic Principle

The Nature of Space and Time by Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose
Alpha and Omega: The Search for the Beginning and End of the Universe by Charles Seife
God's Universe by Owen Gingerich

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