So, I occasionally watch a Ted Talk on YouTube. And this one in particular caught me because the speaker, Marc Defant, suggests that the chemical mixture derived from nova and collapsing stellar nurseries, deposited the right elements (or compounds therefrom) within our solar system, and our forming Earth scooped up or absorbed the same right elements and in the right amounts. Further, that the events that led up to us, Homo Sapien Sapiens, are likewise as rare, and were geographic dependent; i.e. early hominids and man arose in Africa because of the right chemical mix, topography that allowed our version of primates to arise. The place for the hominids to develop might have been in North or South America, but that wasn't the case.
Here's the link; https://youtu.be/_nCOhrYV7eg
On the whole I tend to agree with him. In terms of other intelligence out in the galaxy or beyond, what does that mean? Relatively speaking it means the universe probably has a lot of like similar circumstances out there, but that they are so improbable as to regulate intelligent species arising to a very low number on a galactic or local intergalactic scale, but probably a fairly high number on a supercluster scale, and even high for larger sections of the universe. So, there's probably life out there, but not with the kind of density that our beloved scifi genre would like to suggest.
Having said that, this doesn't preclude the possibility that the circumstances that brought us about couldn't happen many times around our region of the galaxy, but it would seem very unlikely given the distribution of elements, and the circumstances for multiple novae and cloud (stellar nursery) collapse to seed forming solar systems. In short, it's all a matter of chance of where stars are, where they're forming, where they're dying, and what arises out of that cataclysm.
So, things like Aslan, Vargr, Humaniti, Hivers and what not, from a real cosmological point of view, aren't likely, and not just because they're fiction, but because of the way life develops.
And, personally, I've posted this on other forums, notably YouTube comments, but we and our planet Earth essentially live in an irradiated shooting gallery; i.e. our spinning molten iron core creates the magnetic field that shields us from the sun, and we have O3 that adds that added bit of protection. Mammals have survived meteor strikes, volcanos, massive climate changes, disease, famine and whatever else that has the potential to make a species go extinct.
So, we're here. But other things like Klingons, Trandoshans, Ford Prefect from Beetlejuice, Wookies, and a whole host of others, even if they could exist, probably wouldn't were it not for our own imaginations.
Having said that, that doesn't mean that some alien race isn't going to make contact the minute I post this latest rant, but, the circumstances for life, on a local galactic level, are rare. On a larger supercluster level, things probably become more likely, but not on a local group nor even cluster level because of the inhospitable nature of space itself, whose odds organized life is trying to beat.
I guess personally I think it's too bad, but otherwise it allows us more elbow room as a species.
In short, we're lucky.
Thanks for reading.
Dim the lights. Prepare to jump. One. Two. Three. JUMP!!!
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The rarity of life
January 23rd, 2019 02:19 PM