Is Our Universe a Big Schrödinger’s Cat—Where It’s Alive Is Where We Live? | The Crux | Discover Magazine | Science News | Scoop.it

Some time ago, I interviewed Weinberg about his work and the anthropic principle, which led him to this striking prediction. “The universe,” he told me, “could well be like a giant Schrödinger’s Cat. There are parts of the universe where the cat is alive, where the cosmological constant is just the right level and there are scientists there observing it and asking questions. And there are parts of the universe where the cat is dead—where the cosmological constant is too small or too large and therefore there is no life and no scientists asking questions about the universe.” To me, this image of the giant cat is the best analogy for a universe governed by the powerful, and yet perhaps disturbing, idea of the anthropic principle.