ABSTRACT

A few years ago, the Anthropic Principle - the idea that the Universe is to some degree designed around us as a huge selection effect - was only discussed in hushed voices, a topic of some embarrassment among physicists, in part because the idea seemed to be either an empty tautology, or, at least, completely untestable.
Today, however, you will find this listing in the indexes of many reputable physics and cosmology texts. What has led to this aura of semi-respectability? Is there any content worth a second look? Should this "principle" be locked away in the cupboard as a hypothesis of last resort, trotted out only when physics can offer no better explanation? Or are there serious implications that deserve more thorough consideration?
I offer a light-hearted opportunity to explore the arguments, the bits of evidence, and the implications that we might live in a universe dominated by anthropic selection effects, a universe in which we have perhaps unwittingly survived a minefield of improbable escapes in order to be here today.