Why does opencv on Canopy downgrade numpy, scipy, and other packages when I try to install it?
You haven't provided any version or platform information. But perhaps you are using an old Canopy version (current is 2.1.9), or perhaps you are using the subscriber-only "full" installer, which is only intended for airgapped or other non-updateable systems. Otherwise, the currently supported version of opencv is 3.2.0 (build 3.2.0-4) which depends on numpy 1.13.3, which is the currently supported version of numpy.
On my package manager for canopy, every time I try to download opencv it downgrades several other important packages. I am then not able to upgrade those same packages or run my code. How can I download opencv without downgrading my other packages?