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10 - How biofriendly is the universe?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2009

By
Christian de Duve
Edited by
John D. Barrow ,
Simon Conway Morris ,
Stephen J. Freeland  and
Charles L. Harper, Jr
Christian de Duve
Affiliation:
de Duve Institute and Louvain Medical School, Catholic University of Louvain
John D. Barrow
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Simon Conway Morris
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Stephen J. Freeland
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, Baltimore
Charles L. Harper, Jr
Affiliation:
John Templeton Foundation
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Summary

Introduction

We live in a biofriendly world. Were it otherwise, we wouldn't be around. The question is, therefore, how biofriendly is it? Physicists have addressed this question and have come to the conclusion that if any of the fundamental physical constants were a little smaller or a little larger than they are, the universe would be very different from what it is and unable to produce or harbor living organisms. Not everyone, however, subscribes to the concept of “fine-tuning” embodied in the so-called Anthropic Principle, some preferring instead the notion of a “multiverse,” in which our universe is only one in trillions of trillions, perhaps the only one that, by mere chance, happened to have the right combination of constants to enable it to serve as our birthplace and abode.

In contrast, biologists and other scientists interested in biology generally take the universe for granted and ask instead to what extent the manifestations of life, including humankind, fit within the existing physical and cosmic framework. Nothing could better illustrate the depth of their ignorance on this subject than the diversity of answers they have given, which cover virtually the whole array of possibilities. Many agree with the late Jacques Monod, who, in his best-seller Chance and Necessity (1971), expressed his skepticism in the oft-quoted sentence: “The Universe was not pregnant with life, nor the biosphere with man.”

Type
Chapter
Information
Fitness of the Cosmos for Life
Biochemistry and Fine-Tuning
 , pp. 169 - 196
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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