A Universe Of Life: Maybe Not

spacedaily ^ | 7 Jan 02 | Karl Hill

[RightWhale]

Here goes NASA again. The search for life has been the closest they have come to a mission the last few years. Now one of their hirelings has turned out to be a heterodox, and that's what they get for talking to physicists. "Rare Earth" by Ward and Brownlee is worth the read.

[newwahoo]

Interesting article. I guess I'd fall into the "rare earth" group. But even if advanced life is a billion-to-one shot there are billions of stars. I can't believe our confluence of factors couldn't have come together in at least one other place. And it would only enhance my wonder at the power of the universe's "higher authority" were this to be the case.

At any rate, my hat is off to NASA. As far as government agencies go I think its one of the better ones. No one in their right mind would mess with a country that can put men on the moon and land robots on Mars.

[Crusher138]

Very interesting.

I have recently changed my opinion of what we will find "out there." If we find intelligent life, and that is a BIG if, we may not even be able to recognize it as intelligent or maybe not even as life.

Stumbling across an earth like planet that harbors intelligent life, that is close enough to us to find it, is remote in the extreem.

[denydenydeny]

Implications?

[PatrickHenry]

Bump

[garyhope]

What's happened to the bookmark function? I wanted to bookmark this article. Not enough server disk space?

[RightWhale]

I have recently changed my opinion of what we will find "out there."

I have always been of the opinion that we are alone in the universe. I have been badly outnumbered by those who see billions of stars and think the odds favor intelligent life beyond earth, so I was surprised to see the book "Rare Earth" get even a polite reception.

I think NASA should not be spending money looking for ET, and I would rather they had a different mission such as opening space to development. Mainly that would involve cheaper transportation and a favorable legal environment.

If we stumble across ET sometime, fine, we will deal with it. Until we serendipitously find ET, it is a weak mission to go looking.

[Cincinatus]

The search for life has been the closest they have come to a mission the last few years.

And is partly responsible for the fact that they have made themselves so perilously close to institutional extinction. A "search for ET life" is a mission, all right. the only problem is, it's a mission with a low probability for success.

The book Rare Earth actually claims that bacterial ET life is probably quite common -- Ward and Brownlee claim that advanced, intelligent life is rare (let alone technologically advanced life), mostly because the planetological factors responsible for the creation and evolution of the Earth appear to be unlikely (not impossible) to be reproduced elsewhere.

NASA's mission should be to explore the universe with people and machines. Period. Leave the "search for life" stuff to the Saganite Planetary Society and other California flake groups.

[newwahoo]

"Stumbling across an earth like planet that harbors intelligent life, that is close enough to us to find it, is remote in the extreem."

Absolutely. But look what Columbus found while trying to locate a shortcut to the Orient? I think finding life is a great goal, but it need not be the only focus of exploration. I'm sure we're going to discover many fascinating things that we never expected.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Bump in lieu of bookmark.

[RadioAstronomer]

Interesting. I had a Physics prof. who told us we would never find any extra solar planets either. LOL!! SETI is really the only currently viable means of finding another tool making species and those searches are all privately funded.

[RadioAstronomer]

Leave the "search for life" stuff to the Saganite Planetary Society and other California flake groups.

Flake groups? ROFL! I know I am in good company. :)

[RadioAstronomer]

Bump. :)

[balrog666]

We think this is normal and there should be planets all around the universe like Earth.

Why should it have to be like Earth? Aren't we looking for "life" on Mars and the moons of Jupiter?

[blam]

"Flake groups? ROFL! I know I am in good company. :)"

Be nice.

[Mr. K]

but what about bob lazaar and the spaceships he saw while working at areaa 51

*ducking under my desk for flame protection*

[RadioAstronomer]

Be nice.

Sigh! If I must.

[RadioAstronomer]

but what about bob lazaar and the spaceships he saw while working at areaa 51

ROTFLMAO!! :) Art Bell time!

[cliff630]

RE#14

How did the Ancient Mariner say it?

All, all alone on an empty sea!

All, all alone in a vast, lifeless universe.

Which is more frighteening? A universe teeming with life
or one where we are the ONLY life forms?

[Moonman62]

I think NASA should not be spending money looking for ET, and I would rather they had a different mission such as opening space to development. Mainly that would involve cheaper transportation and a favorable legal environment.

Space tourism is the only market I foresee, but it's still too expensive and the training is still too rigorous for most people.