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On the Edge: Is Anybody Out There?
space.com ^ | 10/09/03 | Diane Stresing

Posted on 10/11/2003, 1:18:56 PM by KevinDavis

The Earth really unique in its ability to support life? Right now, that’s a $300 million question. When NASA’s Kepler Mission launches in 2007, we may find the answer.

Started more than a decade ago, the Kepler Mission (www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/index.html) is the first program to search for Earth-sized planets. What’s more, it will look for planets that, based on their orbits, are capable of supporting life.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: earth; nasa; space
Very interesting...
1 posted on 10/11/2003, 1:18:57 PM by KevinDavis
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To: Normal4me; RightWhale; demlosers; Prof Engineer; BlazingArizona; ThreePuttinDude; Brett66; ...
Space Ping! This is the space ping list! Let me know if you want on or off this list!
2 posted on 10/11/2003, 1:20:33 PM by KevinDavis (Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)
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3 posted on 10/11/2003, 1:21:49 PM by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: KevinDavis
"If we find out we?re the only Earth, there can never be a Star Trek," Borucki cautioned. There simply wouldn?t be anyone to visit..

B.S.!!!! That's like saying ANWR isn't worth visiting because nobody lives there.

4 posted on 10/11/2003, 1:38:24 PM by sam_paine (X .................................)
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To: KevinDavis
space.com. dateline 2777--
“On the Edge: Is Anybody Out There?”

Ha... hahaha hahaha!

5 posted on 10/11/2003, 1:52:07 PM by johnny7 (Follow-up headline: “Space Shuttle Program Still in Doubt.”)
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To: KevinDavis
Even if it turns out that life is abundant elsewhere, that still doesn't answer the question of whether intelligent life exists. That requires more exacting conditions than just any ol' slime mold.
6 posted on 10/11/2003, 4:50:22 PM by inquest ("Where else do gun owners have to go?" - Lee Atwater)
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To: inquest
intelligent ... requires more exacting conditions than just any ol' slime mold.

Prove it.

Come to think of it, I've known some pretty slimy characters who (thoeretically) pass for intelligent life forms.

7 posted on 10/11/2003, 7:01:37 PM by irv
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To: irv
"Come to think of it, I've known some pretty slimy characters who (thoeretically) pass for intelligent life forms."

The, "world's most intelligent woman," is a form of slime mold!

8 posted on 10/11/2003, 7:06:14 PM by Joe 6-pack (The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: sam_paine
There simply wouldn?t be anyone to visit..

You got it! Where do they find these Carpathians? If they are in America it's only because an ancestor had at least a trace of imagination to emigrate.

9 posted on 10/11/2003, 9:10:22 PM by RightWhale (Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
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To: KevinDavis
I used to buy Sagan's "Billions and billions" argument...until I read Rare Earth by Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee. They argue persuasively that life is common but intelligent life is exceedingly rare.

It is now my belief that we are alone or nearly so. I'd place the upper limit of the number of intelligent species in the galaxy at ~10; certainly no more than ~100.

In other words, we may as well be alone.

The Fermi Paradox and corollaries indicate that interstellar travel is either essentially impossible or completely impossible; otherwise we would already have been visited or contacted by more than one pre-existing species who have conquered the problem. So either there are no intelligent E.T.s with ultra-evolved technologies, or interstellar travel is so daunting that even 10,000-year-old technological civilizations cannot accomplish it.

In any event, we appear to be "alone", which is a very sad thing.

--Boris

10 posted on 10/12/2003, 3:35:53 PM by boris (The deadliest Weapon of Mass Destruction in History is a Leftist With a Word Processor)
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To: boris
I agree; Ward and Brownlee's book was very persuasive. I'd like to see an updated version published in the next 5 years or so.
11 posted on 10/12/2003, 3:38:57 PM by NukeMan
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To: boris
Quit harshin' my buzz man.
12 posted on 10/12/2003, 3:45:31 PM by Gumption
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To: boris
So either there are no intelligent E.T.s with ultra-evolved technologies, or interstellar travel is so daunting that even 10,000-year-old technological civilizations cannot accomplish it.

Or, they're just very good at hiding themselves. Not that the rare-earth hypothesis doesn't have a lot of things going for it, but this really isn't one of them.

13 posted on 10/12/2003, 3:52:55 PM by inquest ("Where else do gun owners have to go?" - Lee Atwater)
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To: inquest
"Or, they're just very good at hiding themselves."

If intelligent life is common and interstellar travel possible, then some of them would not hide themselves. Even if you posit some sort of Twilight-Zone-like "zoo" ("This solar system restricted: Do Not Feed the Autochthons"), there would be a few which chose to ignore the "rule".

If there is a single culture (equivalent to a single E.T. species for our purposes) it might enforce a "must-hide-from-people" restriction. But if there is interstellar "diversity" then this idea is bootless.

--Boris

14 posted on 10/12/2003, 10:27:21 PM by boris (The deadliest Weapon of Mass Destruction in History is a Leftist With a Word Processor)
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