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MENTAL MODEL · M7362

Anthropic Principle

Anthropic Principle
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

The universe appears to have such regularities because only such a universe can harbor intelligent life capable of observing it (the anthropic principle).

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In cosmology and philosophy of science, the anthropic principle (also known as the observation selection effect) is the proposition that the range of possible observations made about a universe is limited by the fact that observations can only be made if that universe is capable of developing observ…

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The existence of observers itself constitutes an extremely strong constraint / selection effect on the parameters of the universe; the universe we observe is of the type that 'allows observers to exist', not a random sample.

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropic_principleZH · Explicit
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