Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to To think it was all made just for us is hubris.

The Pigeon Principle
ER — (archived)

It is difficult to prove conclusively that all physical laws are invariant througout space, and even more difficult to prove this for time. But we do have some very persuasive arguments that at least the former assumption is true, and that both assumptions have been true for a long time.

Spectra of the most distant galaxies reveal the same chemical elements and physical processes there (and then, because of a finite c) as here. Astronomical observations of gravitational interactions also reveal the same mechanics and gravitation at a distance as locally. There are still some puzzles to be worked out (like Dark Matter), but right now it is not unreasonable to assume that the rules are the same everywhere and anywhen. At least, on a galactic scale this appears to be the case.

As for your anthropic comment ( "if the physical laws of the universe were ever so slightly tweaked in one way or another... "we" wouldn't be here." I can only offer a counter-exampler:

A hundred thousand spectators are in an athletic stadium, and a pigeon flies overhead, defecating on one of the fans. He looks up in reverence and thinks, "now why did that bird pick ME? I must be really special"

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