I think the article fails to make a crucial point about the Anthropic Principle, which can be stated something like this:
"OK, so all these natural constants are precisely (not to say miraculously) tuned so that we can exist. And what do you know, we seem actually to exist.
Now, what if these constants were not tuned this way? Well, we'd all be sitting around pissing and moaning about the fact that we can't and therefore don't exist, right? Of course not! If the constants weren't exactly right, we wouldn't exist, and there would of course be no discussions on the subject.
So, to say that it's wonderful that all these eager-to-please constants are just right for our existence is scarce wonder. The mere fact that we exist proves that the constants are good-to-go for us to exist, but it says nothing about whether it might have been otherwise but for the intervention of some Creator, or might be otherwise in proposed parallel universes."
Ed, check me on this. Is this a statement of the "Strong Anthropic Principle?"
Erasmus,
Here are some notes on Anthropic Principle(s):
Tipler in his The Physics of Immortality (1995) dealt with variations of the Anthropic Principle.
Weak Anthropic Principle (WAP):[Barrow and Tipler]
The observed values of all physical and cosmological quantities are not equally probable but they take on values restricted by the requirement that there exist sites where carbon-based life can evolve and by the requirement that the Universe be old enough for it to have already done so.
Strong Anthropic Principle (SAP):
The Universe must have those properties which allow life to develop within it at some stage in its history.
Because:
1. There exists one possible Universe 'designed' with the goal of generating and sustaining 'observers'. Or...
2. Observers are necessary to bring the Universe into being (Wheeler's Participatory Anthropic Principle (PAP)). Or...
3. An ensemble of other different universes is necessary for the existence of our Universe (which may be related to the Many_Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics).
Final Anthropic Principle [Barrow and Tipler]:
‘Intelligent information-processing must come into existence in the Universe, and, once it comes into existence, it will never die out.’ They believe that intelligent life-forms have cosmological significance by virtue of their future capacity to understand and manipulate matter on a cosmic scale.
Here is one site that discusses Anthropic Principles at the level of a college lecture:
http://www.physics.sfsu.edu/~lwilliam/sota/anth/quantum.htm