This chapter provides the starting point for the study of the coincidences. A classification system is defined. Candidate coincidences are to be classed as Type A, B, C or D according to the numerical precision of the coincidence (from Type A defined as precision to a very large number of decimal places, to Type D defined as an order of magnitude coincidence only). Double-sided coincidences (equalities) are distinguished from single-sided coincidences (inequalities). This classification scheme will provide a convenient means of summarising the Critique.
A list of all the candidate coincidences to be examined in the Critique is provided.
The coincidences are defined by their production of an environment suitable for life. The conditions sufficient for the emergence of life are unknown. Conditions proposed to be necessary for the emergence of life are highly contentious. The assumed conditions necessary for life are specified in this chapter. These are based on an unashamedly parochial view: carbon based life in an aqueous planetary environment.
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Geminid Fireball Meteor, Mojave Desert, 2009: The background includes bright star Sirius at the left, and Aldebaran and the Pleaides star cluster at the right side of the image. The meteor itself blazes through the constellation Orion. Its greenish trail begins just left of a yellow-tinted Betelgeuse and points back to the shower's radiant in Gemini, just off the top of the frame. [Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (AstroPics.com, TWAN)]