It's surprising how hostile people have been to the
Rare Earth Hypothesis -- almost reminiscent of the reflexive reaction which theists have to atheism. I felt its conclusions about complex life being extremely uncommon were pretty much dead on. Especially including the very late and singular range of chance circumstances that might be required to stimulate the emergence of intelligence. Primates resided in South America for millions of years, too, yet nothing like the homo genus and its ancestral precursors evolved there where rain forest diminishes into grass and flatlands.
Unsettling how scientists and their satellite fans believe / accept that there's nothing teleological, inevitable, or goal-oriented about what evolution outputs; and yet some then conflictingly expect alien civilizations or at least low-level sapience to be popping out of the woodwork everywhere in the Milky Way. Isaac Asimov's science fiction was occasionally pointed-out as unique because its futures often featured a galaxy bereft of any intelligent species other than humans. He was even accused of lacking the ability to conceive and handle the unusual possibilities of ET species, which prompted him to write a later work like the "The Gods Themselves".
Neil Rieck: Until we have proof that we're not alone, we should proceed with the assumption that it is the destiny of the biomass of Earth to spread life to the rest of the galaxy with Homo Sapien engineering as an enabler. It is possible that humanity's only purpose in the world is to build and dispatch the monoliths (von Neumann machines) which will seed life and intelligence throughout our galaxy. Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey) was way ahead of his time.
Jan 22, 2016 04:51 PM
