Posted on 02/29/2016 7:33:16 AM PST by Salvation
I have written a good bit over the years about what is known as the Rare Earth Hypothesis. A recent blog on discovermagazine.com ponders how high the odds are against the existence of another Earth-like planet. More on that in a moment. But first lets review some of the basics of the Rare Earth Hypothesis.
While most people, including most scientists, believe that there may be billions of inhabitable planets out there a capable of sustaining complex life, the Rare Earth Hypothesis suggests that such a large number is overstated.
This is because there are not just a few things that come together to support life here on Earth, there are many. Here are some:
There are many more items on the list (see the first video below), but let these suffice. The conditions that come together on this planet such that it is capable of sustaining complex life are complicated, remarkable, and some argue rare in the universe. The ability to support life here is the balance of many fascinating things. We cannot but be amazed at the complexity of life and the intricacies it takes in order for it to flourish here. It would appear that for complex life to be sustained, many factors must come together in just the right way. The sheer number of these factors sharply decreases the number of possible Earth-like planets, despite the many billions of galaxies and stars.
All this background information leads us back to the recent blog at discovermagazine.com: Earth-is-a-1-in-700 quintillion kind of place. (700 quintillion is 7 followed by 20 zeros). The blog references a study by Astrophysicist Erik Zackrisson from Uppsala University in Sweden.
Here are some excerpts:
Zackrissons work suggests an alternative to the commonly held assumption that planets similar to Earth must exist, based on the sheer number of planets out there . Current estimates hold that there are some 100 billion galaxies in the universe containing about 10^18 stars, or a billion trillion . Probability seems to dictate that Earth-twins are out there somewhere.
But according to Zackrisson Earths existence presents a mild statistical anomaly in the multiplicity of planets . Most of the worlds predicted orbit stars with different compositionsan important factor in determining a planets characteristics. His research indicates that, from a purely statistical standpoint, Earth perhaps shouldnt exist . Researchers are confident in the broader implications of their model: Earth is more than your garden-variety planet.
I write on this topic more in wonder and awe than anything else. There is no necessary requirement of our faith that we must believe ourselves alone in the whole universe. God can, and even might have, created intelligent beings on other planets, beings with whom He interacts and whom He loves.
But neither should we too quickly assume that Earth is not a rare jewel. Statistically, it would seem that there is good evidence that we and Earth are rare jewels. Humble amazement at all that it takes to sustain life on our planet is a proper stance at this stage of the evidence. The more we learn, the more it seems that the convergence of all the factors we enjoy on Earth is rare rather than commonplace. Consider well all that God and nature, sustained by God, have done so that you and I can exist. Be amazed; be very amazed!
There’s no intelligent life in the White House...
and hasn’t been for over 40 years ...
[He never did promise us more than one.]
He promised us one. “For God so loved the world.”
The Universe goes on forever? Nope. Time and space are both finite; likewise the number of objects in the Universe is finite.
True..very true...
But “the world” doesn’t just mean “planet earth” or even this Universe, in particular. Biblically,”the World” is used to mean the realm of phenomena: what we can perceive with our senses.
Rare. As in non-existant.
GOD gave us knowledge about the earth. It seems that our universe is all He wants us to know about.
Could it be that our planet was the only one that fell to sin?
Boy, I sure don’t know!
This is not news
They just hate admitting it
>Its finite.
Yes, and somewhere past it are the other Universes.
[Boy, I sure dont know!]
Only the FATHER knows. :)
There is no necessary requirement of our faith that we must believe ourselves alone in the whole universe. God can, and even might have, created intelligent beings on other planets, beings with whom He interacts and whom He loves.
Rare? How about UNIQUE.
Even given a 1/10th chance for every factor necessary for “an Earth” to exist,
the odds become higher than the number of atoms in the universe.
Issac Asimov wrote a collection of non-fiction essays published in a book entitled The Tragedy of the Moon (1973).
In it is both an essay called The Triumph of the Moon, and The Tragedy of the Moon. In Triumph, he notes all the many and myriad ways the Moon has contributed to life on Earth and making and keeping the Earth habitable.
In Tragedy, he notes how men have used the Moon as justification for doing evil.
See Ward and Brownlee's book "Rare Earth", and Gonzales' book, "Privileged Planet."
They are also usually flare stars, and planets in the habitable zone are tidally-locked to keep one face (the warm one) pointed at the star. Not my kind of real estate.
The human world stands about midway between the infinitesimal and the immense. The size of our planet is near the geometric mean of the size of the known universe and the size of the atom. The mass of a human being is the geometric mean of the mass of the earth and the mass of a proton. A person contains about 1028 atoms, more atoms than there are stars in the universe... In our 150 pounds of protoplasm, in our three pounds of brain, there may be more operational organization than there is in the whole of the Andromeda Galaxy. The number of associations possible among our 10 billion neurons, and hence the number of thoughts humans can think, may exceed the number of atoms in the universe...
- Excerpt from: A Look at the Fine-Tuned Universe
“I speculate that creatures made up entirely of cohesive magnetic fields exist inside stars.”
So, as usual, you find them “attractive”? :)
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