Word: cosmically
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...Cosmic Conundrum" [Nov. 29] explored the "anthropic principle," the proposition that the universe is "uncannily well suited to the existence of life." Just as physicists are ultimately baffled by the laws of the universe, physicians and surgeons spend their entire lives trying to comprehend the complexities of the body's systems. The more we understand human physiology, the more we believe that a higher power must be responsible for the body's creation as well as the varying outcomes (good and bad) we see after treatment of seemingly similar diseases. The human body is more complex than the most sophisticated...
...GODLAND By Joe Casey and Tom Scioli This over-the-top, cosmic superhero epic travels to the limits of existence and beyond. (May or June...
From the moment you see the Monty Pythonesque title sequence--all flying pandas and singing geese set against the annoyingly catchy title music--you know you're dealing with the most unusual and original game to hit the PlayStation2. You play a pint-size cosmic prince frantically rolling his Katamari (a sticky ball) around a landscape filled with household objects. At first, the Katamari can pick up only thumbtacks and other small items. But the larger it gets, the more it can pick up, until eventually you've got a ridiculous giant ball of junk that can successfully spear skyscrapers...
...odds--perfectly tuned for life is known as the anthropic principle. And while it has been getting a lot of attention lately, there is no consensus on how seriously to take it. Some scientists are confident that there is a law that dictates the values of those key cosmic numbers, and when we find it, the anthropic problem will go away. Others think the answer is even simpler: if the numbers were any different than they are, we wouldn't be around to argue about them--case closed. "The anthropic principle," complains Fermilab astrophysicist Rocky Kolb, "is the duct tape...
...scientists uncomfortable--and not just because it gives comfort to theologians. That discomfort, says Stanford theorist Leonard Susskind, is all to the good. "In the end," he observes, "it doesn't matter whether the anthropic principle makes us happy. What matters is whether it's true"--that is, whether cosmic numbers really are as arbitrary as they seem. If they aren't, physics may eventually succeed in explaining many features of our world that seem so puzzling today. And if the anthropic principle is true? Well, then, says Aguirre, "the universe will seem even more preposterous and baroque than before...