Background: I have written a pop-science book explaining quantum mechanics through [imaginary conversations with my dog](http://dogphysics.com/)-- the dog serves as a sort of reader surrogate, popping in occasionally to ask questions that a non-scientist might ask-- and I am now working on a sequel. In the sequel, I find myself having to talk about particle physics a bit, which is not my field, and I've hit a dog-as-reader question that I don't have a good answer to, which is, basically, "What purpose, if any, do higher-generation particles serve?"

To put it in slightly more physics-y terms: The Standard Model contains twelve material particles: six leptons (the electron, muon, and tau, plus associated neutrinos) and six quarks (up-down, strange-charm, top-bottom). The observable universe only uses four, though: every material object we see is made up of electrons and up and down quarks, and electron neutrinos are generated in nuclear reactions that move between different arrangements of electrons and up and down quarks. The other eight turn up only in high-energy physics situation (whether in man-made accelerators, or natural occurances like cosmic ray collisions), and don't stick around for very long before they decay into the four common types. So, to the casual observer, there doesn't seem to be an obvious purpose to the more exotic particles. So why are they there?

I'm wondering if there is some good reason why the universe as we know it has to have twelve particles rather than just four. Something like "Without the second and third generations of quarks and leptons, it's impossible to generate enough CP violation to explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry we observe." Only probably not that exact thing, because as far as I know, there isn't any way to explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry we observe within the Standard Model. But something along those lines-- some fundamental feature of our universe that requires the existence of muons and strange quarks and all the rest, and would prevent a universe with only electrons and up and down quarks.

The question is not "why do we think there are there three generations rather than two or four?" I've seen the answers to that here and elsewhere. Rather, I'm asking "Why are there three generations rather than only one?" Is there some important process in the universe that requires there to be muons, strange quarks, etc. for things to end up like they are? Is there some reason beyond "we know they exist because they're there," something that would prevent us from making a universe like the one we observe at low energy using only electrons, up and down quarks, and electron neutrinos?

Any pointers you can give to an example of some effect that depends on the presence of the higher Standard Model generations would be much appreciated. Having it already in terms that would be comprehensible to a non-scientist would be a bonus.