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Large Number Coincidences and the Anthropic Principle in Cosmology

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Confrontation of Cosmological Theories with Observational Data

Part of the book series: International Astronomical Union / Union Astronomique Internationale ((IAUS,volume 63))

Abstract

Prof. Wheeler has asked me to say something for the record about some ideas that I once suggested (at the Clifford Memorial meeting in Princeton in 1970) and to which Hawking and Collins have referred (Astrophys. J. 180, 317, 1973). This concerns a line of thought which I believe to be potentially fertile, but which I did not write up at the time because I felt (as I still feel) that it needs further development. However, it is not inappropriate that this matter should have cropped up again on the present occasion, since it consists basically of a reaction against exaggerated subservience to the ‘Copernican principle’.

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© 1974 The International Astronomical Union

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Carter, B. (1974). Large Number Coincidences and the Anthropic Principle in Cosmology. In: Longair, M.S. (eds) Confrontation of Cosmological Theories with Observational Data. International Astronomical Union / Union Astronomique Internationale, vol 63. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2220-0_25

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-2220-0_25

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-277-0457-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-2220-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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