[ExI] Drake Equation Musings

[Anders Sandberg]

On 2016-05-20 13:59, BillK wrote:
> So you are agreeing with Carter's Weak Anthropic Principle that the
> universe's apparent fine tuning is the result of selection bias: i.e.
> only in a universe capable of eventually supporting life will there be
> living beings capable of observing and reflecting upon fine tuning.
> And this selection bias provides no information about the likelihood
> of life elsewhere in the universe.

Yes to the first, not necessarily the second. Selection biases can 
produce very nontrivial effects (e.g. see my notes 
http://aleph.se/papers/Observer%20selection%20effects.pdf )

As noted in Barrow and Tipler many aspects of the universe we see - 
relative sizes of stars, animals and mountains - are tied together by 
anthropics-related relations. A universe with a weaker anthropic 
selection effect might have a bigger spread between things.