Is there anybody out there? [Book review]

The Daily Camera ^ | 16November 2003 | David Grinspoon (Clay Evans, reviewer)

[PatrickHenry]

I can outrun a clam.

[edwin hubble]

"My very rough guess is that the "rare earth" factors are cancelled out by the "abundant planetary systems" factor. "

Yes... It is interesting while our further studies of Earth make it seem rarer and rarer (just because of a whole string of 'unique' phenomena), at the same time the sheer number of 'terrestrial' planets seems to grow at an explosive rate.

Most will be like either Venus (dry) or Mars (cold). For the 'just right' orbit some may have higher life forms.

I think of the 'intelligent alien' here on Earth, the octopus.

My hope and wish is for many (peaceful and wise) life forms, of course. Carl Sagan's writing and his 'billions and billions' lured me to my line of work decades ago.

[longshadow]

I can outrun a clam.

Not if it has a thousand year life-span.....

;-)

[edwin hubble]

"Not very stimulating company, but at least they might taste good."

This recalls the wise alien in the movie who walked around with a serious-looking book entitled "To Serve Man".
He was lionized by the liberal press.

Turned out to be a cookbook.

[PatrickHenry]

I think of the 'intelligent alien' here on Earth, the octopus.

We have quite a few large-brained species on earth. Those in the oceans (octopi, whales, dolphins) will never develop technology, of course. No fire, thus no metallurgy. No metals, not much else. No language that we can detect. But on land, where a technological species can emerge, we have a few to think about: apes and elephants, for example have rather large brains. But alas, no technology, no language. Thus, no inter-species intercourse (in the traditional sense of the word).

So we may, perhaps, encounter some amazing creatures out there, some with very large brains; but we may still find ourselves alone. That's not necessarily bad.

[longshadow]

Turned out to be a cookbook.

It was an episode of the "Twilight Zone"..... a classic, I might add. At first, only the title ("To Serve Man") was translated, and this convinced most people that the aliens were benign. Only at the last moment, as earthlings who had accepted the aliens' invitation were boarding the space ship to "visit" the alien world, was the rest of the book deciphered, and it was realized that it was a recipe book. By then it was too late -- the appetizers had already left!

[anguish]

It would be somewhat disappointing if the intelligent races of the universe were more interested in the unique oropendula than in yet another boring old language-using species ;)

LOL! I must admit, that I sometimes find animals like the oropendula more interesting than some (allegedly) intelligent people.

[PatrickHenry]

Not if it has a thousand year life-span....

Only you and Zeno think I can't outrun a clam.

[edwin hubble]

Yes, Twilight Zone. I was thinking of The Day the Earth Stood Still. I'll have to rent that one or look up the plot again.

I must say I enjoyed adding the reference to the the 'benign' alien being 'lionized by the liberal press'.

[VadeRetro]

You can not only outrun a clam, but you're better at math than the typical gazelle.

[longshadow]

Only you and Zeno think I can't outrun a clam.

Are you trying to turn this discussion into some sort of slugfest? Slimes! Slimes!

</ end G3k Memorial whiner mode>

[PatrickHenry]

Thanks for the praise. You can dance better than a sloth.

[PatrickHenry]

The SlimeCube.

[VadeRetro]

You can dance better than a sloth.

You are handsomer than the typical male mandrill, if not quite up to warthog standards.

[PatrickHenry]

G3k was right. You're trying to get the thread pulled!

[VadeRetro]

OTOH, that could have been me in my Air Force days after a bad night out.

[Poohbah]

The aliens are probably saying, "Okay, people, RADIO SILENCE! Those earthlings have just figured out fission and fusion weapons, and they're a trigger-happy lot!"

[PatrickHenry]

You are as industrious as this little fellow:

[VadeRetro]

Actually, I would never try to roll anything home that much bigger than me. And if that ball is what I think it is, it already rolls downhill in my experience.

[RadioAstronomer]

The only issue I have is that it is automatically assumed that life must evolve in our exact niche. When you see the diversity of the environments that life exists on this planet alone, it lends credence to life evolving elsewhere. If planets are as abundant as it is now believed, and life seemed to have started quite early (like it is a natural progression), this universe maybe teeming with life.

Rare Earth assumes life must be just like us. Remember, we evolved to fit the niche, not the other way around.

The other issue is the distances involved. Since relativity does not appear to lend itself to FTL, it would be terribly difficult to travel from star to star.

IMHO, SETI is our best bet for discovering if another tool building species is out there. You may have noticed I did not say intelligent. There may be lots of intelligent races, however, if they never build tools or use EM for communications, it will be nigh too impossible to discover they exist. Using spectroscopy, we can find the signature of life, however, if they don’t build tools we will never realize their intelligence.