From Nathaniel Hellerstein
Michael Slezak says that the universe is fine-tuned for life (2 May, p 32). Balderdash. Inspection of the night sky reveals that the universe is almost entirely cryogenic pitch-black irradiated empty space, void of life, or indeed of anything much. To a high order of approximation, the universe resembles a vacuum.
The universe isn’t 100 per cent lifeless, but 99.9999999999 per cent lifeless is pretty good fine-tuning. I deduce that the universe is fine-tuned not for life, but against it. I call this the Misanthropic Principle.
San Francisco, California, US
