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The anthropic principle and the duration of the cosmological past

2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 23; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10556790412331335327

1476-3540

Milan M. Ćirković,

Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics

Abstract The place of an anthropic argument in the discrimination between various cosmological models is to be reconsidered following the classic criticisms of Paul C. W. Davies and Frank J. Tipler. Different versions of the anthropic argument against cosmologies involving an infinite series of past events are analysed and applied to several instructive instances. This not only is of historical significance but also presents an important topic for the future of cosmological research if some of the contemporary inflationary models, particularly Linde's chaotic inflation, turn out to be correct. Cognitive importance of the anthropic principle(s) to the issue of extraterrestrial intelligent observers is reconsidered in this light and several related problems facing cosmologies with past temporal infinities are also clearly defined. This issue not only is a clear example of the epistemological significance of the anthropic principle but also has consequences for such diverse topics as the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, epistemological status of cosmological concepts, theory of observation selection effects, and history of modern astronomy. How many kingdoms know us not! Blaise Pascal, Thoughts (207) Keywords: history and philosophy of astronomycosmology: theory Acknowledgements The foremost thanks are due to Petar Grujić and Milo[sbreve] Arsenijević for getting the author interested in the problem of temporal infinity in cosmological models and Plato, RenéMagritte, Philip K. Dick and Jorge Luis Borges for constant inspiration. The author is happy to express special gratitude to Branislav Nikolić, Nick Bostrom, Maja Bulatović, Vesna Milo[sbreve]ević-Zjelar, Srdjan Samurović, Olga Latinović, Milan Bogosavljević, Nikola Milutinović and Vjera Miović for their invaluable help in locating several hard-to-find references, as well as for some useful comments. It is a pleasure to thank KoBSON Consortium of Serbian libraries which finally enabled overcoming of the gap in obtaining the scientific literature during the tragic years of dictatorship in the 1990s. This research has made extensive use of NASA's Astrophysics Data System Abstract Service. Pleasant discussions of the relevant topics with Ivana Dragićević, Nick Bostrom, Mark A. Walker, Zoran Živković, Huw Price, Ma[sbreve]an Bogdanovski, Zoran Knežević, Slobodan Popović, Ken D. Olum, Aleksander B. Nedeljković and Richard Cathcart have helped to improve this manuscript significantly. The author also acknowledges support of the Ministry of Science and Environment of the Republic of Serbia through project no. 1468, “Structure and Kinematics of the Milky Way”. Any eventual merits in this work are due to Irena Diklić, whose curiosity, tenderness and kind support have presented a magnificent source of inspiration and encouragement during work on this project.