Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

Revised Count of Single Stars

A new study suggests that the number of single-star systems may be higher in comparison to multi-star systems than previously thought.  This means there may be more Earth-like planets in the galaxy as well.  This is useful if you are looking for places that might have "life as we know it."  I think that's cool, but I also have faith in the universe's ability to assemble life in wildly different ways and in places that most humans might not think to look.
Tags: news, science, space exploration
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  • 4 comments
siliconshaman

siliconshaman

July 23 2010, 19:28:53 UTC 10 years ago

Of course, that just makes the Fermi paradox even more puzzling...I mean, if the place is teeming with life, surely some of it ought to fall into a range of civilisations we can detect.
ysabetwordsmith

Well...

ysabetwordsmith

July 23 2010, 20:07:09 UTC 10 years ago

That presupposes "civilization" is a common, normal, healthy development with long-term survival benefits. Looking at the number of ruined civilizations scattered across our planet's history ... that supposition is questionable. It may be true, but it is not necessarily true.
siege

siege

July 24 2010, 04:03:39 UTC 10 years ago

Even if we can detect such a signal, how can we know that anyone is attempting (or ever did attempt) to send it? Sure, probability dictates that one civilization should have, and that we should receive it before our own collapses.... but even a thousand-sided die can roll a one.
ysabetwordsmith

Thoughts

ysabetwordsmith

July 24 2010, 06:21:19 UTC 10 years ago

>> Even if we can detect such a signal, how can we know that anyone is attempting (or ever did attempt) to send it? <<

Or that they are/were signalling via some medium that we can currently monitor? For all we know, subspace could be roaring with signals.

>>Sure, probability dictates that one civilization should have, and that we should receive it before our own collapses.... but even a thousand-sided die can roll a one.<<

That's if the universe uses a system comparable to games where a botch is merely a 1 on the same die used to roll for success.

If it's more like a system where you have a separate botch die, or Ghu help you, botch dice then the situation may be more akin to the rolling of several pesky polyhedra which keep coming up skulls while you swear and scramble around for the dice that rolled onto the floor and complain that these dice always hated you anyway, and meanwhile the other gamers are eating all the Cheetos and laughing at you.