  This is the first part of a survey whose ultimate purpose is to clarify the
significance of the famous coincidence between the Hubble age of the universe
and a certain combination of microphysical parameters. In this part the way is
prepared by a discussion of the manner in which familiar local phenomena depend
qualitatively, and in order of magnitude, quantitatively on the fundamental
parameters of microphysics. In order to keep the account concise while
remaining self contained, only the barest essentials of the standard nuclear
physical and astrophysical calculations involved are given. Only six of the
fundamental parameters play a dominant part, namely the coupling constants of
the strong, electromagnetic, and gravitational forces, and the mass ratios of
the proton, neutron, electron and pi-meson. Attention is drawn to the important
consequences of three coincidental relationships between these parameters. It
is shown that most of the principle limiting masses of astrophysics arise (in
fundamental units) simply as the reciprocal of the gravitational fine structure
constant, with relatively small adjustment factors. The dividing point between
red dwarf and blue giant stars turns out to be an exception: this division
occurs within the range of the main sequence stars only as a consequence of the
rather exotic coincidence that the ninth power of the electromagnetic fine
structure constant is roughly equal to the square root of the gravitational
fine structure constant.
