A universe without weak interactions is constructed that undergoes big-bang
nucleosynthesis, matter domination, structure formation, and star formation.
The stars in this universe are able to burn for billions of years, synthesize
elements up to iron, and undergo supernova explosions, dispersing heavy
elements into the interstellar medium. These definitive claims are supported by
a detailed analysis where this hypothetical "Weakless Universe" is matched to
our Universe by simultaneously adjusting Standard Model and cosmological
parameters. For instance, chemistry and nuclear physics are essentially
unchanged. The apparent habitability of the Weakless Universe suggests that the
anthropic principle does not determine the scale of electroweak breaking, or
even require that it be smaller than the Planck scale, so long as technically
natural parameters may be suitably adjusted. Whether the multi-parameter
adjustment is realized or probable is dependent on the ultraviolet completion,
such as the string landscape. Considering a similar analysis for the
cosmological constant, however, we argue that no adjustments of other
parameters are able to allow the cosmological constant to raise up even
remotely close to the Planck scale while obtaining macroscopic structure. The
fine-tuning problems associated with the electroweak breaking scale and the
cosmological constant therefore appear to be qualitatively different from the
perspective of obtaining a habitable universe.Comment: 27 pages; 4 figure