Anthropic impact is the footprint that human activities produce on an ecosystem.
The Greek term ánthrōpos (which can be translated as “human being” ) derived from anthrōpikós ( “human” ), the closest etymological antecedent of anthropic . This adjective is used to describe that which is generated or transformed by an activity carried out by man .
The anthropic, therefore, is something resulting from human actions . The term is usually used with respect to the consequences caused by the processes carried out by people on the environment .
The anthropic impact
The anthropic impact or environmental impact , in this way, is the effect of human action on ecosystems and biodiversity . The vast majority of tasks carried out by individuals leave environmental consequences, although certain tasks are more harmful than others.
Mining , for example, is an activity with great anthropic impact . The extraction of minerals usually threatens aquifers, underground strata and the surface since, within the framework of the work linked to this industry, the topography is modified, vegetation is eliminated, particles are emitted into the atmosphere and water is contaminated. .
The felling of trees to obtain paper and the circulation of motor vehicles are other anthropogenic actions. These operations modify the habitat and affect the climate change that, according to numerous scientists, our planet is experiencing.
Beyond the strictly environmental, there are other anthropic risks linked to what human beings do. A war , in fact, gives rise to an anthropic catastrophe : thousands or millions of people can lose their lives due to bombings and attacks carried out by fighting forces.
A war can be mentioned as an anthropogenic catastrophe.
The concept according to cosmology
On the other hand, we have the concept of the anthropic principle , according to which the world is a certain way because there are beings who have the ability to wonder why it is this way. For cosmology , the study of the universe as a whole, this principle ensures that theories about the universe must maintain consistency with our existence.
Put another way, the mere attempt to verify a condition for our existence verifies it, given that we exist. Many scientists have tried to put this principle into practice to develop different theories about cosmology, and this has led to controversy and confusion.
The anthropic principle according to Hawking and other physicists
Acclaimed British physicist Stephen William Hawking explains in his work The History of Time our existence justifies our seeing the universe as it is. Furthermore, he points out that the anthropic principle has two versions: the strong and the weak. The first postulates that the universe must have certain characteristics that give rise to the development of life in some phase of its history.
The weak version of the anthropic principle, on the other hand, says that the values we observe of cosmological and physical magnitudes do not have the same degree of probability, but are restricted by the possibility that at certain points in the Universe carbon has given rise to the development of life, which is accentuated with the age of the Universe itself.
In 1986, physicists Tipler and Barrow categorized these two versions, as well as a third: the final one . According to this version, an intelligent form of information processing must acquire existence in the Universe and never lose it.
It should be noted that the weak version has received negative criticism for not contemplating the existence of other forms of life, a lack that is attributed to not having been conceived with a sufficient level of creativity. Likewise, it is said that the range of possible values for the physical constants that give rise to carbon-based evolution is not as restricted as the one proposed in it. In any case, the strong one is considered "unscientific" due to the impossibility of indicating its validity.