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+--- Thread: Research The odds that space aliens exist just got worse (/thread-16206.html)
The odds that space aliens exist just got worse - C C - Jul 22, 2024
https://nautil.us/the-odds-that-aliens-exist-just-got-worse-716615/?_sp=b6f326d1-5fe7-4b2b-a7e2-8f63f497ef35.1721605875818
INTRO: The question of whether humanity is alone in the cosmos creates strange bedfellows. It attracts astronomers and abduction conspiracy theorists, pseudoarchaeology enthusiasts and physicists. And loads of science-fiction writers, of course, who have conjured extraterrestrials from Klaatu to Doctor Who. Douglas Adams imagined a galaxy so full of life that its interstellar travelers needed a Hitchhiker’s Guide.
Given the diversity of voices that have weighed in on the possibility that other civilizations may be out there, it is surprising that few geoscientists—people who study the one planet known to host life—have weighed in on the cosmic conundrum. Physicist Enrico Fermi’s famous question, “Where is everybody?” has long lacked a geological perspective.
That’s what Earth scientists Robert Stern and Taras Gerya offer in a recent paper published in Scientific Reports. Earlier speculations about extraterrestrial civilizations were based primarily on astronomical and technological considerations like the number of planetary systems in the galaxy and how long it might take an intelligent species to discover and begin using radio waves. That left little attention for the specific attributes of potential host planets—other than the presence or absence of water.
Stern is a geologist at the University of Texas at Dallas who studies the evolution of the continental crust, and Gerya is a geophysicist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology who models Earth’s internal processes. Their conclusion may disappoint extraterrestrial enthusiasts: The likelihood that other technologically sophisticated societies exist is smaller than previously thought, because basic amenities we take for granted on Earth—continents, oceans, and plate tectonics—are cosmically rare... (MORE - details)
RELATED: Rare Earth Hypothesis
RE: The odds that space aliens exist just got worse - Zinjanthropos - Jul 23, 2024
Quote: One group is substantially more prosperous than the other. Once again, the Tamils, who are the minority, are much more prosperous. Again, they're particularly good in things like science and mathematics.
There are historical reasons for this. In colonial times, the British and the Americans sent missionaries to Sri Lanka.
Stole this from another CC post because it’s something else that may have to happen for intelligent life to be discovered in the universe/galaxy. One group has to discover and teach the other groups technology. If left on their own would tech be eventually discovered by other segments of the intelligent species that hadn’t bothered with the science previous. Would certain groups of humans still be in the Stone Age if not aided by their tech brothers/sisters, idk?