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Science & Tech Quote by Robert Lanza

"Modern science cannot explain why the laws of physics are exactly balanced for animal life to exist"

About this Quote

There is a sly provocation tucked into Lanza's phrasing: it borrows the prestige of science to announce science's limits. "Modern science cannot explain" isn’t just a descriptive claim; it’s a rhetorical lever, inviting the reader to feel the ground shift beneath the standard story that physics is complete, self-justifying, done. The line taps into the cultural fascination with fine-tuning: those eerie-looking constants and initial conditions that, if nudged, would yield a sterile universe. He frames that precariousness as "exactly balanced", a phrase that carries the perfume of design without naming a designer.

The intent is less about a laboratory gap than a worldview opening. Lanza, known for biocentrism, is arguing that life isn’t a late-arriving accident riding shotgun on physics; it’s central to how reality should be interpreted. The subtext is: if physics can’t account for its own life-friendly settings, maybe physics isn’t the full frame. That nudges the audience toward metaphysical options - multiverse, anthropic reasoning, simulation, teleology - while positioning his preferred move (putting biology/observer at the center) as an intellectually licensed next step.

Context matters because the sentence also performs a common pivot in public science discourse: "cannot explain" stands in for "does not yet explain" or "may not have a unique explanation". In mainstream cosmology, fine-tuning is actively debated, not ignored; Lanza is heightening uncertainty to create narrative pressure. It works because it flatters a modern suspicion: that the most interesting truths begin where confident explanations run out.

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TopicScience
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APA Style (7th ed.)
Lanza, Robert. (2026, January 17). Modern science cannot explain why the laws of physics are exactly balanced for animal life to exist. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/modern-science-cannot-explain-why-the-laws-of-64460/

Chicago Style
Lanza, Robert. "Modern science cannot explain why the laws of physics are exactly balanced for animal life to exist." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/modern-science-cannot-explain-why-the-laws-of-64460/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Modern science cannot explain why the laws of physics are exactly balanced for animal life to exist." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/modern-science-cannot-explain-why-the-laws-of-64460/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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Robert Lanza (born February 11, 1956) is a Scientist from USA.

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