Miracles And The Anthropic Principle Save page

Micah Redding wrote an essay entitled Miracles and the Anthropic Principle, which takes the position that the Anthropic Principle applies to history, just as it does to physical constants, and other possible Fine-Tunings. This in turn suggests that miracles may be expected in history, and that miracles may be evidence of constraints on possible universes, and/or evidence of near extinction events in our past.

Central concept

• A corollary of the Anthropic Principle is that we can only observe ourselves to be in histories which are compatible with our current existence
• There is nothing which prevents such histories from being rare
• In fact, the Great Filter interpretation of the Fermi Paradox suggests such histories are rare
• The rarity of such histories implies one or more close calls or seemingly impossible events
• Thus, we may have reason to expect miracles in history

Miracles as Close Calls

• Miracles do not break the laws of physics
• Miracles can be defined as events which are improbable and significant
• Close calls are the prime example of events which are improbable and significant
• Many claimed miracles appear to be such close calls
  • eg, The parting of the Red Sea
• Many other claimed miracles may be close calls, when understood in a large enough context
  • eg, perhaps the Resurrection of Christ is necessary for the rise of a technological civilization, or to otherwise escape the Great Filter

Implications

• Miracle claims may provide evidence of close calls in history
• Miracle claims may be corroborated by theories which entail close calls