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Copernicanism and the typicality in time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2019

Milan M. Ćirković  and
Amedeo Balbi Open the ORCID record for Amedeo Balbi [Opens in a new window]
Milan M. Ćirković
Affiliation:
Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, Volgina 7 11000 Belgrade, Serbia Faculty of Philosophy, Future of Humanity Institute, University of Oxford, Suite 8, Littlegate House, 16/17 St Ebbe's Street, Oxford, OX1 1PT, UK
Amedeo Balbi*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Fisica,Università di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, Via della Ricerca Scientifica, 00133 Roma, Italy
*
Author for correspondence: Amedeo Balbi E-mail: balbi@roma2.infn.it
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Abstract

How special (or not) is the epoch we are living in? What is the appropriate reference class for embedding the observations made at the present time? How probable – or else – is anything we observe in the fulness of time? Contemporary cosmology and astrobiology bring those seemingly old-fashioned philosophical issues back into focus. There are several examples of contemporary research which use the assumption of typicality in time (or temporal Copernicanism) explicitly or implicitly, while not truly elaborating upon the meaning of this assumption. The present paper brings attention to the underlying and often uncritically accepted assumptions in these cases. It also aims to defend a more radical position that typicality in time is not – and cannot ever be – well-defined, in contrast to the typicality in space, and the typicality in various specific parameter spaces. This, of course, does not mean that we are atypical in time; instead, the notion of typicality in time is necessarily somewhat vague and restricted. In principle, it could be strengthened by further defining the relevant context, e.g. by referring to typicality within the Solar lifetime, or some similar restricting clause.

Keywords

cosmology: theoryextragalactic astronomyastrobiologyfutures studieshistory and philosophy of astronomyCopernicanismanthropic principleextraterrestrial intelligence
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , April 2020 , pp. 101 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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