THE NATURAL-SELECTION OF UNIVERSES CONTAINING INTELLIGENT LIFE

It is proposed that our universe was created by life of superior intel ligence existing in another physical universe in which the constants o f physics were finely tuned and therefore essentially similar to our o wn. Human beings at their present level of intelligence already see ho w, in principle, universes can be made. More intelligent beings, perha ps our own descendants in the far future, might possess not only the k nowledge to design but also the technology to build universes. This fo rms the basis of a theory of natural selection of universes: intellige nt life in parent universes creates offspring universes, and in the of fspring universes fit for inhabitation, new life evolves to a high lev el of intelligence and creates further universes. Universes unfit for inhabitation lack intelligent life and cannot reproduce. Plausibly, of fspring universes have properties closely similar to their parent univ erses - apart from small genetic variations in the constants of physic s - and the universes most hospitable to intelligent life are naturall y selected by their ability to reproduce. This natural selection proce ss explains why the constants of physics have their observed finely tu ned values, and might even help us to understand why our universe is c omprehensible to the human mind.