Re: What Physicists REALLY Think

[Howard Pattee <***>]

At 04:39 PM 12/20/04 -0800, Pete wrote:
> As for the strong anthropic
> principle (SAP) itself, I interpret it somewhat differently than
> Howard summarized it in his original post on that subject:
> > HP: This
> > sounds like the so-called "Strong Anthropic Principle" (SAP)
> > which can be stated: The Universe must have those properties which allow
> > life to develop within it at some stage of its history. (Barrow and
> > Tipler, The Anthropic Cosmological Principle, 1988, p.
> > 21)

HP: This was simply an uninterpreted quotation (he italicized)  from
Tipler. I agree that Tipler regards consciousness as a necessary
evolutionary consequence. His book is a tough 700 pages, a tour de force
that presents many points of view besides his own. I found many arguments
difficult to follow. My own feeling is that it is a metaphysical model
because it does not appear to have any testable (conceptually
falsifiable) consequence, at least I know of none.

Howard