The
weak anthropic principle can be summed up as the belief that, were the universe not
suitable for
intelligent life, no
inteliigent life would be around to question at all.
Anthropic principle, as
terminology in
reference to this
idea, appears to have originated with
Brandon Carter, in the 1970s.
Anthropic, as used by
Carter, referred to all
intelligent life, and not merely
humankind, as the technical definition of the word would lead one to
believe. By his delineation, the
weak anthropic principle applies only to distinct
spaciotemporal areas around the
observer in question, and not to the whole of the
universe or
multiverse. Any claims made about all possibility, or the
universe/
multiverse are not necessarily references to the
strong anthropic principle, though they are generally treated as such. The problem that
Carter faced in these instances is that, for any given writer, the delineation between "
universe" and "
spaciotemporal area" is almost entirely arbitrary, and two authors may be referring to the same thing while using different
terminology.
This
concept is often
misrepresented by those who wish to prove or argue
intelligent design of
existence. The most common mistake is the
assertion that the
observation that
life exists proves that the
universe/
multiverse was designed to harbor
life. As described,
Carter's
anthropic principle does not require that any form of
deity exist, or that there be
intelligence behind
existence.
See also:
Strong Anthropic Principle
Special and Inevitable Anthropic Principle
http://www.bluffton.edu/~bergerd/essays/anthropic.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cosmology-theology/index.html#5