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talkpoliticshttp://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2011/12/06/planet_in_sweet_spot_of_goldilocks_zone_for_life/
While at present it is not clear if this is a terrestrial or gas giant planet, this is the first occasion where the prospect of extraterrestrial life goes from hypotheses and science fiction to potentially some version of science fact. There are political ramifications for this, and they have to do with a couple-three fairly obvious points. One, this indicates that assuming FTL can be resolved first in terms of proving it can be done and second in terms of developing it to travel from star to star, that there is a possibility that there could well be other planets that are habitable out there, potentially quite a vast number of them. This means that space colonization could actually be viable as a (very) long-term means of perpetuating human survival, as opposed to a stopgap until the Sun goes Red Giant and burns everything up to Jupiter up.
Second, if there is extraterrestrial life, there's no guarantee of course that this life would have a civilization, or if it did that we'd necessarily know it when we saw it. If, however, it does, then there's the first potential possibilities of a completely different history of/type of civilization out there created by a completely different species. Previously this concept has been only speculative, and until we find some way to know it's there and know how to know it's there, it remains such. The reality that there are now ways to know there are other planets *in* the Goldilocks zone means a new potential type of politics: whether or not to try some means of contacting other intelligent life. I remain convinced that intelligent life is intelligent because it does not contact Earth, not because it does contact us, but this still means that political concepts have to broaden yet again.
And third, since there is now this possibility of alien lifeforms that could actually be found, and since this is the first discovery of an extrasolar planet in an area that could produce life, this indicates that there is a good reason to *increase* exploration of space of the unmanned, computerized probe variety. At least to me this indicates that NASA technology is actually producing results that show not only that they can find other planets but are getting increasingly specific. It would seem to me, however, if there is any other life out there that contacting it should be something all humankind should do with a roughly equal say in, as alien life actually existing and potentially able to be contacted would affect everyone.
Your thoughts?
While at present it is not clear if this is a terrestrial or gas giant planet, this is the first occasion where the prospect of extraterrestrial life goes from hypotheses and science fiction to potentially some version of science fact. There are political ramifications for this, and they have to do with a couple-three fairly obvious points. One, this indicates that assuming FTL can be resolved first in terms of proving it can be done and second in terms of developing it to travel from star to star, that there is a possibility that there could well be other planets that are habitable out there, potentially quite a vast number of them. This means that space colonization could actually be viable as a (very) long-term means of perpetuating human survival, as opposed to a stopgap until the Sun goes Red Giant and burns everything up to Jupiter up.
Second, if there is extraterrestrial life, there's no guarantee of course that this life would have a civilization, or if it did that we'd necessarily know it when we saw it. If, however, it does, then there's the first potential possibilities of a completely different history of/type of civilization out there created by a completely different species. Previously this concept has been only speculative, and until we find some way to know it's there and know how to know it's there, it remains such. The reality that there are now ways to know there are other planets *in* the Goldilocks zone means a new potential type of politics: whether or not to try some means of contacting other intelligent life. I remain convinced that intelligent life is intelligent because it does not contact Earth, not because it does contact us, but this still means that political concepts have to broaden yet again.
And third, since there is now this possibility of alien lifeforms that could actually be found, and since this is the first discovery of an extrasolar planet in an area that could produce life, this indicates that there is a good reason to *increase* exploration of space of the unmanned, computerized probe variety. At least to me this indicates that NASA technology is actually producing results that show not only that they can find other planets but are getting increasingly specific. It would seem to me, however, if there is any other life out there that contacting it should be something all humankind should do with a roughly equal say in, as alien life actually existing and potentially able to be contacted would affect everyone.
Your thoughts?
(no subject)
Date: 6/12/11 19:03 (UTC)I wish we had a little more to go on about what it was composed of. Knowing if the nearby planets were rocky or gaseous would be of some help for my Wild Mass Guessing over here, assuming that galaxy formed the way ours did which is a bit of a jump, but I haven't seen anything.
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Date: 6/12/11 19:07 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 6/12/11 19:08 (UTC)Intelligent life on Earth, you said?
Date: 6/12/11 19:10 (UTC)Re: Intelligent life on Earth, you said?
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Date: 7/12/11 05:49 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 6/12/11 19:46 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 6/12/11 20:06 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 6/12/11 20:13 (UTC)If they were close enough that we could find them with our ungraceful but determined looking, they're close enough that they would find us if they had the capacity. And then there's a couple thousand years while we both arm up, along with the hilarious time delay in actually getting to each other.
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Date: 6/12/11 20:13 (UTC)Moon people. I'm betting we find life on a moon of a gas giant before we find a rocky planet with life.
(no subject)
Date: 6/12/11 20:16 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 6/12/11 20:17 (UTC)Or rather that it doesn't care about an insignificant speck like us. If a civilization is so far ahead of us as we're from termites, perhaps they wouldn't even bother to notice us.
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Date: 6/12/11 20:23 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 6/12/11 20:20 (UTC)It's also strange that a far more advanced civilization would prefer to hide around like spies and "infiltrate" ours before it ever ventures to make a contact. That's not what happened with any of the advanced Western civilizations when they sent expeditions to the New World. The captain would loudly step on the shore and proclaim this land a territory of the king, and anyone who'd dare to disagree with that would meet hard steel, period.
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Date: 6/12/11 20:53 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 6/12/11 23:48 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 7/12/11 00:24 (UTC)Rapturesingularity and we will become immortal.(no subject)
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Date: 7/12/11 01:13 (UTC)http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dac
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