31 ms·
> In this universe, where α ≈ 0.007297352569, you’re reading an article about the anthropic principle; in the universe where α ≈ 0.007297352569, at the very lea
by ggambetta 6y ago
> In this universe, where α ≈ 0.007297352569, you’re reading an article about the anthropic principle; in the universe where α ≈ 0.007297352569, at the very least, it’s reasonable to guess that you would not be. (Good news: in that universe, you’re a billionaire playboy philanthropist!)
Both values of α look identical to me, but the text implies that they're subtly different - is this a typo in the article, or am I missing something?
- couchand 6y agoI read this as putting all the weight on the wavy approximate equals; the alternate universe described is incredibly similar to, but not quite the same as, ours.
- leephillips 6y agoI’m sure he must have meant to change the last digit, but something went wrong. We exist because of a typo!
- TheSpiceIsLife 6y agoThereby exposing God as nothing more than an average copy editor.
- coldtea 6y agoThe ≈ means "aproximately", so they might or might not be the same. In this case they're meant as not the same. The author intents to make a point, this values, which approximate to the same degree of x decimals, are supposed to be explained by "if the first wasn't true we wouldn't be here to ask this question".
- srl 6y agoYeah of course this is a typo. I've fixed. (But I appreciate the other commenters trying to interpret this in a way that makes sense.)