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The anthropic principle and its implications for biological evolution

Carter, Brandon·1983·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
DOI 10.1098/rsta.1983.0096
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Abstract

In the form in which it was originally expounded, the anthropic principle was presented as a warning to astrophysical and cosmological theorists of the risk of error in the interpretation of astronomical and cosmological information unless due account is taken of the biological restraints under which the information was acquired. However, the converse message is also valid: biological theorists also run the risk of error in the interpretation of the evolutionary record unless they take due heed of the astrophysical restraints under which evolution took place. After an introductory discussion of the ordinary (‘weak’) anthropic principle and of its more contestable (‘strong’) analogue, a new application of the former to the problem of the evolution of terrestrial life is presented. It is shown that the evidence suggests that the evolutionary chain included at least one but probably not more than two links that were highly improbable (a priori) in the available time interval.

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Research works printed but not linked: 17

  1. Bondi H., 1948, 242, 127. Mon.Not. R. astr, Soc., 108, 252
  2. Carr B. J., 1979, Land., 278, 605
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  4. Carter B. 1976 In Atomic physics and fundamental constants 5 (ed. J. H. Sanders & A. H. Wapstra) p. 650. New York: Plenum Press. · DOI
  5. Carter B. 1982 Pour la Science 52 55. · DOI
  6. Demaret J., 1981, Rev. Quest. Sci., 152, 461
  7. Dicke R. H., 1961, Nature, Land., 192, 440
  8. Dirac P. A. M., 1937, Nature, Land., 139, 323
  9. 10.1038/scientificamerican1281-154 · DOI
  10. Gould.. S.J. & Eldredge N. 1977 Paleobiology 3 115. · DOI
  11. Hawking S. W. 1982 Physics Lett. B 115 295. · DOI
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  13. Hoyle F. 1954 Appl. J . suppl. 1 121. · DOI
  14. Nanopoulos D. V. 1980 Physics Lett. B 91 67. · DOI
  15. 10.1098/rsta.1983.0094 · DOI
  16. 10.1103/PhysRev.107.516 · DOI
  17. Wright S., 1931, Genetics, Princeton, 16, 97

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Metadata

Authors
Carter, B.
Affiliations
Observatoire de Paris (FR)
Corresponding author
Carter, Brandon
ORCID
Carter, Brandon
Venue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
1983-12-20
Volume
310
Issue
1512
Pages
347-363
ISSN
  • 0080-4614 (ISSN-L)
  • 2054-0272
DOI
10.1098/rsta.1983.0096
OpenAlex
W2122258450
Cited by
375
References
14
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 15 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 26 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 9
FWCI
4.69
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ (tdm)
Locations
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series A Mathematical and Physical Sciences (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution
Keywords
anthropic principle, evolution

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