Abstract
JHEP 0408:058,2004 We examine recent claims of a large set of flux compactification solutions of
string theory. We conclude that the arguments for AdS solutions are plausible.
The analysis of meta-stable dS solutions inevitably leads to situations where
long distance effective field theory breaks down. We then examine whether these
solutions are likely to lead to a description of the real world. We conclude
that one must invoke a strong version of the anthropic principle. We explain
why it is likely that this leads to a prediction of low energy supersymmetry
breaking, but that many features of anthropically selected flux
compactifications are likely to disagree with experiment.