Hi Omnivorous
I was thinking more along the lines of an anthropic principle, of a universe which demonstrably, by our existence, is precisely the kind of universe required to produce intelligence/consciousness.
So, no, not a universe made to produce us, specifically, but one made to produce intelligence without further intervention from its creator or creative force--who (or which), by residing outside this universe, would fit the bill as "super" to the nature of our universe and imperceptible from within it. I realize this merely kicks the can down the road, since it does not necessitate the "supernatural" in the sense reflected by our world's religious history, nor does it engage the gallop into ineffability readily tracked in that history.
The anthropic principle is the thorniest of questions to some, but it still doesn't prove anything. If we could prove this universe was the only one that is or ever could or will be, and that in being the only one, was so unimaginably unlikely to be like it is, THEN I think it's quantified unlikeliness would point strongly towards some meddler, even if it be spinoza's god, content to push buttons and twiddle levers.
On the other hand, if our universe is the creation of some other universe's LHC, the very fact of their existence just indeed only kick the can down the road and it solves nothing, just creates for us a recursive riddle.
It's not much use as a proof because it proves nothing (at least yet) - it's something we can neither prove nor disprove and doesn't count either way.
One thing is sure though - wherever the universe came from, it's rules are concise, sane and complete to such a degree of perfection that now it is here (as far as we can tell, and we CAN tell a lot about our universe from inside it), we are assured more and more that it does NOT require somebody at the wheel to make it work.
Indeed, as far as I can tell, life is inevitable in our universe, and intelligent life just as much so, given the space for experimentation.
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