Cobb: Our Ghetto: Earth

� Howard Dean on Race: Put Up or Shutup | Main | Old School Parade �

January 02, 2004

Our Ghetto: Earth

It just occured to me that there is probably a good reason for us not having been discovered by intelligent alien life. We're off the beaten path.

These Aussie scientists have outlined some parts of the galaxy which might be suitable for life. What's notable is this:

According to Charles Lineweaver, writing in Science, there are four ingredients needed to create complex life: the presence of a host star (such as the Sun), enough heavy elements (carbon, oxygen and nitrogen) to form a planet, sufficient time for biological evolution (at least four billion years in the case of Earth) and the absence of life-destroying supernovae (the explosive deaths of massive stars).

If four billion isn't much time, and you add oh 20,000 years of post-nuclear physics, then it is reasonable that some civilization may very well have discovered wormhole travel.

What if we're just not near a wormhole and wormhole travel is the only way to exceed the speed of light? Why would anybody bother with sub-light exploration and discovery? If there were wormholes to 300 habitable systems that would certainly enough for anyone's galactic curiousity.

Posted by mbowen at January 2, 2004 09:16 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.visioncircle.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1296

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Our Ghetto: Earth:

� Bear Flag Review from The Southern California Law Blog
The Bear Flag League has been busy this New Year's. Take a peek: Master of None offers wisdom on gun ownership. The Irish Lass has mistyped her way onto google's rankings for jerrymandering. A&C raises a toast to Tolkien. Lopsided... [Read More]

Tracked on January 3, 2004 05:47 PM

Tracked on January 3, 2004 05:49 PM

Tracked on January 3, 2004 05:50 PM

Tracked on January 3, 2004 05:51 PM