Editing Lee Smolin (section)

===Cosmological natural selection {{anchor|Fecund universes}}===
{{main|Cosmological natural selection}}
Smolin's hypothesis of [[cosmological natural selection]], also called the ''[[Fecundity|fecund]] universes'' theory, suggests that a process analogous to biological [[natural selection]] applies at the grandest of scales.  Smolin published the idea in 1992 and summarized it in a book aimed at a lay audience called ''[[The Life of the Cosmos]]''.

Black holes have a role in this natural selection. In fecund theory, a collapsing{{clarify|reason=How exactly did he think black holes can "collapse"?|date=December 2013}} [[black hole]] causes the emergence of a new universe on the "other side", whose fundamental constant parameters (masses of elementary particles, [[Planck constant]], [[elementary charge]], and so forth) may differ slightly from the universe where the black hole collapsed.  Each universe gives rise to as many new universes &mdash; its "offspring" &mdash; as it has black holes, giving an evolutionary advantage to universes in which black holes are common, which are similar to our own. The theory thus explains why [[fine-tuned universe|our universe appears "fine-tuned"]] for the emergence of life as we know it. Because the theory applies the evolutionary concepts of "reproduction", "mutation", and "selection" to universes, it is formally analogous to models of [[population biology]].

When Smolin published the theory in 1992, he proposed as a prediction of his theory that no neutron star should exist with a mass of more than 1.6 times the mass of the sun.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}  Later this figure was raised to two solar masses following more precise modeling of neutron star interiors by nuclear astrophysicists. Smolin also predicted that inflation, if true, must only be in its simplest form, governed by a single field and parameter.