Ferrari Mailing List: Re: OIL

[Rick Lindsay (rolindsay]

Nice!

Ken, you MUST write a novel.

One of the things I find interesting is that we find
it frustrating that we have not measured life
elsewhere in the universe.  And then we assume it
can't happen. Let's see:

+ We've been looking actively for about 80 years - out
of the almost 12 billion years the universe has been
around.  That's pretty poor sampling.  The odds of
contacting another lifeform that is radio-mature at
the same time as humans is minuscule.

+ We assume that any extra-t life will be about the
same size as us.  That's just silly.  They could be
microscopic or freekin' huge.

+ We assume they experience time at the same rate as
us.  That's just silly.  Why should any extra-t match
our life speed.  Couldn't they be more like that of a
microbe?  ...a firefly?  ...or a reef?

+ Or I could just have a little too much spare time on
my hands this afternoon...

rick

--- Ken Rentiers <rentiers [at] me.com> wrote:

> 
> On Aug 9, 2008, at 2:05 PM, Rick Lindsay wrote:
> 
> > + The only viable solution is nuclear.
> >
> > rick
> 
> You're right there, Rick. The way I see it, humanity
> is a happy  
> accident in a vast and hostile universe. We have the
> ability to choose  
> our destiny. We can sit around waiting for the
> lights to go out, or we  
> can reach for the stars.
> 
> Oh I know how much energy it takes to go anywhere
> close to lightspeed,  
> and how far away the stars are; but the nearest is
> only four light  
> years. At only 20% of lightspeed that's twenty years
> to the nearest  
> star as measured here on earth, much less for the
> crew. Enormous  
> amounts of energy, but think - if the process of
> atomic fusion  
> releases as much as it does, what vast amounts of
> energy may be  
> released when we learn how to split sub-atomic
> particles?
> 
> Impractical. Difficult. Outrageous.
> 
> In 30 years of listening SETI hasn't heard a damn
> thing. Everyone  
> talks about where. What about when? How many other
> intelligent life  
> forms flourished among the billions of planets, only
> to be overcome by  
> time and a changing environment? The moon is
> leaving, the sun is  
> burning out. Long before then some gigantic rock
> will blow us all to  
> smithereens. We need to get the hell out of the
> nest.
> 
> Or stay here, eat seaweed and walk to work.
> 
> I pick "A".
> 
> ken
>