The final anthropic principle (FAP) is defined by physicists John D. Barrow and Frank J. Tipler's 1986 book "The Anthropic Cosmological Principle" as a generalization of the anthropic principle as follows: John David Barrow FRS (born November 29, 1952, London) is an English cosmologist, theoretical physicist, and mathematician. ... Frank J. Tipler (born in 1947 in Andalusia, Alabama) is a professor of mathematical physics at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... In physics and cosmology, the anthropic principle states that we should take into account the constraints that our existence as observers imposes on the sort of universe that we could observe. ...

• Final anthropic principle (FAP): "Intelligent information-processing must come into existence in the Universe, and, once it comes into existence, it will never die out."

Barrow and Tipler state that, although the FAP is a purely physical statement, the "validity of the FAP is the physical precondition for moral values to arise and so to continue to exist in the universe: no moral values of any sort can exist in a lifeless cosmology." Furthermore, the FAP seems to imply a melioristic cosmos (a tendency throughout nature toward improvement). Meliorism is the idea in metaphysical thinking that progress is a real concept leading to an improvement of the world. ...

The FAP does not imply stability of the proton: it is possible to process information using the quantum number and spin state of positronium atoms (although the positronium half-life of 100 nanoseconds would require other, more stable, particles to also exist). For other uses, see Proton (disambiguation). ... Quantum numbers describe values of conserved quantity in the dynamics of the quantum system. ... Positronium (Ps) is a system consisting of an electron and its anti-particle, a positron, bound together into an exotic atom. The orbit of the two particles and the set of energy levels is similar to that of the hydrogen atom (electron and proton). ... Half-Life For a quantity subject to exponential decay, the half-life is the time required for the quantity to fall to half of its initial value. ... A nanosecond is an SI derived unit of time equal to 10-9 of a second. ...

Barrow and Tipler make a "very tentative prediction" that the FAP appears to imply that the Universe is either flat or closed (and not open; see topology of the universe). The shape of the universe is a subject of investigation within cosmology. ...

Critics of the Final Anthropic Principle claim that its arguments violate the Copernican Principle, that it incorrectly applies the laws of probability, and that it is really a theology or metaphysics principle made to sound plausible to laypeople by using the esoteric language of physics. In cosmology, the Copernican principle, named after Nicolaus Copernicus, states [1] More recently, the principle is generalised to the relativistic concept that humans are not privileged observers of the universe. ... Probability is the likelihood that something is the case or will happen. ...

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