HRG

This thoughtful person probably has information about the probability of firing squads missing, which was derived from earlier observations of people firing guns and not missing.

However, we have no idea how probable a universe which doesn't sustain life might be, or whether it is even possible. After all, all universes we have been able to observe are compatible with life (at least in one googolth of ther total volume).

Regards,
HRG.

Aquila ka Hecate

I guess I am, after all, a little simple (read:naive) in re this issue.

Tercel, firing squads don't come into this-this is the universe we're talking of, and 100% of all observable universes support 100% of all known life.

(why isn't there a handy icon for self-deprecating shrug?)

Synaesthesia

A rich person is rich largely through circumstances. Most people will acknowledge that there are far fewer scenarios ending with wealth than there are ending up dead, poor or middle classed.

Because he finds himself in such an unusual situation, can the rich man reasonable conclude that the universe was created so that he could be rich?

Tercel
Let us assume, for example, that it is known that the bullet comany was skimping on costs by putting power without a shell. It may still not be totally clear why the prisoner wasn't shot, but the situation which led to his reprive were not there because it would save the prisoner.

This is a bad analogy, of course, because of the prominent role played by the prisoner. In the universe, humans are a very tiny and very secondary consequence of the way things are.

There is good theoretical reason to believe that the current state of the universe was annealed into. The fact that we live in a universe that stabalized into complex systems cannot be reaonably assumed to be centered around our existence.

At least, no more than the number 3's existence can be attributed to our position in the solar system.

Pomp

Tercel,

I think the standard analogy given as a reply to your question is the firing squad:
You are sentenced to death by a firing squad.
The firing squad all miss.

You might say "If the squad hadn't all missed then I wouldn't be here to observe it. They did, and I am. Big hairy deal."
A more thoughful person might be inclined to wonder why the firing squad missed... (Was it chance? Or is there a plot afoot to save you? etc.)

You miss the point.

Again, you are assuming groundlessly that life as we know it is something special that needs explaining. As Vorkosigan has asked you several times, why life and not the rings of Saturn, or black holes, or the arrangement of stars in this galaxy? The only reason that we would be surprised if a firing squad missed its target is that we have the prior specification that the firing squad was aiming at its target. Without such prior specification (i.e. if someone in your general vicintiy fired a gun and didn't hit you, you wouldn't be surprised at all unless you believed that you had been the target), we would not be surprised at all.

In order for your analogy to really work, and for us to be as surprised at a Universe that supports life as we would be at a firing squad that missed its target, you would have to have some prior specification that the Universe was "aiming" at conditions that would not support life as we know it. Without such prior specification, one could, theoretically, find some feature of any possible Universe that was unlikely to occur (i.e. required "fine tuned" Universal laws) and declare that that Universe was designed to allow for that feature.

As it stands, the situation is more akin to a firing squad that shoots blindly into a crowd. We have no reason to be surprised that any given individual was hit because someone had to get hit.

Clutch

Pompous, Very nicely said.