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absent life this is fake news

All seven planets in this system — TRAPPIST-1b, c, d, e, f, g and h — are similar in size to Earth and Venus, or slightly smaller. At least the innermost six are probably rocky in composition.

conspiracy theory - why is NASA covering up TRAPPIST-1a?

TRAPPIST-1a is actually a beer

equal to 40 light beers imo

So the whole system is made of alcohol? I'm down.

absent life this is fake news

afawk life is an extraordinarily rare event (that we cannot replicate it yet scientifically suggests as much imo) so figuring out interstellar colonization still seems slightly more probable to me than discovering life, nb that life might be more common but intelligent life exceptionally less common? idk been a while since i thought deeply about fermi.

i never clicked this thread, never knew it was about space. I have a 5 year old who will have some questions later. specifically about the cosmic web and the limen alpha blob, whatever the hell that it.

HI DERE

imo life either started 0, 1 or many, many times. there aren't going to be 2 civilizations in the galaxy. the unknown parameters would have to be juuuuust right for that.

(and we know it's not 0)

0 option presumably the God option

I'd say there is a big difference between "life" and "civilizations" and the first does not imply the second. There are (very conservatively) a quarter million species on earth atm, and life has existed here for approximately a billion years, so the number of species that have ever lived is enormously larger, but only one earth species has created civilizations and our best understanding says it has only existed as a species for perhaps 200,000 years.

Do we have any idea how likely it is we'll find water on one of these planets?

xp i find arguments about odds or scale unconvincing in either direction because the number of times the dice got rolled is so large and uncertain. the choices of rates at which happen that result in a number of civilizations other than zero, 1 or very many are too few.

nasa out the gate with hipster art

https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/2159/

https://i.imgur.com/XlJ3iiQ.jpg

https://twitter.com/NASA/status/834487010773581824

@InasAhmed16 We think they are tidally locked to their host star, which means they would have permanent night/day sides.

fuck this, not going, ever

xps I agree that, if life arose independently at least twice in the universe, then the number of times it has arisen must be some very large number. Arriving at any sound prediction regarding the number of times life has independently formed civilizations seems impossible to me. Two civilizations would be an extremely improbable number, but any other number you could name would be equally improbable.

dark side is calling me

Arceon is a man-made satellite that has been re-purposed by an order of reclusive monks who rejected all modern technology. Originally constructed of metal, it was largely clad in wood and turned into a giant floating monastery by the monks. Inside, it consists of numerous levels, some as much as 100 metres high, that are, according to writer Vincent Ward, "layered like an ant's nest, or bee's nest".[1] The small planet contains an abbey, libraries, mess halls, communal lavatories and a large glass works, as well as open fields where crops are grown and sheep are reared, lakes and even an extensive sea on one of its lower levels, which acts as a reservoir supplying water to the population. Arceon maintains a thin atmosphere, while at its center a "technology room" is said to maintain and refresh this atmosphere, allowing the monks to survive. Entry to this room is strictly forbidden.

tbf civilization has developed independently multiple times on this planet alone, depending on which historical models you consider

xp is that from the rejected alien 3 pitch?

tbf civilization has developed independently multiple times on this planet alone, depending on which historical models you consider

presumably "civilization" developed independently multiple times tho bc something about advanced primates have the capability built in (in which case civilization might be an easy problem but developing the right animal to achieve civilization a difficult one). it's not even clear tho to me that making the leap from inorganic material to organic material is an easy problem bc if it could happen randomly w/ the right inputs then we should certainly be able to crack it in our labs (or do i misunderstand something here?). that we can't suggests that there's some variable or dynamic that isn't even on our radar. also we should assume that if the big step is from inorganic to organic material then there could be other planets that have inorganic to some other non-organic but still life-equivalent form.

(also if it wasn't obvious my explanation for why we can't replicate this transition is metaphysical in nature)

Two civilizations would be an extremely improbable number, but any other number you could name would be equally improbable.

yep, but there are lots more numbers that are much greater than 2 than there are exactly equal to 2.

caek otm on his thread in his corner

(And the Exo-Planettes sing)

Sometimes I wonder if there have probably been species from the fossil record who were as clever as humanity, but lacked the dexterity to make basic hand tools - so just chilled and tread water for entire geological epochs. Civilisation could actually be an extremely rare aberration in this universe imo. It seems too reliant on hard work, good luck, countless environmental + genetic factors. And if civilisation did repeatedly occur within the universe, maybe it uniformly has a 50000 or less years shelf life.

Mordy yeah i'm not arguing with the scarcity of creatures capable of creating civilizations i was just being a history pedant hohoho

as far as life/not life is concerned tho my understanding is that rather than a binary there are scientists who think in terms of a scale of increasingly complex molecular arrangements where there's clarity on "this is/is not life" at the ends of the scale but where it mayn't be possible ever to determine a precise point at which something can be defined as a living organism?

http://pbfcomics.com/archive_b/PBF111-Reset.jpg

there are fairly bright line definitions of life that work with the life we've encountered so far, but assume a lot.

I'm a little skeptical at our level of intelligence and civilization being the pinnacle of the whole process, which humans seem to think they are.

We're only the first self-conscious talking thinking monkeys here, would we even recognize types of intelligence that are different or further evolved than ours?

imo our intelligence is a highly evolved mechanism used by bacteria colonies to eventually find their way to other galaxies

Life on earth is just a trick by DNA to get copied imo

We aren't the pinnacle of anything. We just happened, the same as jellyfish or skinks. But civilization is a very specific kind of behavior and evolution can easily chug along for hundreds of millions of years without producing organisms that choose to behave this way. We were never necessary or even very likely. All we can safely say is that we are a strange species that produces such varied phenomena as mathematics and ice capades.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcRzLAX0yZ8

http://68.media.tumblr.com/870af47dd0a72f7390e9d90c2f52ee98/tumblr_nltlg6mALF1qi66kho1_500.gif
Root beer!

tbf civilization has developed independently multiple times on this planet alone, depending on which historical models you consider

it depends at what point you call something a civilization (a strange term with a dubious history imo); did ppl develop tools separately? i would respect any and all aliens with tools

what's all this about https://phys.org/news/2017-02-distant-asteroids-clue-planet.html

so...do the aliens fuck?

one thing about aliens that is not widely understood is that they are fucking all the time, and i mean ALL the time, with their minds, telepathically

thanks Karl, that's what i thought just wanted to make sure

i every direction you look someone is fucking https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Olbers%27_paradox

caek during the election did u share on one of the politics thread a website that aggregated all the betting sites?

Predictwise? Or do you mean the one that just lists all the different bookmakers odds?

I think the latter and it included predictwise? Or was that just predictwise

http://gizmodo.com/wild-new-theory-suggests-radio-bursts-beyond-our-galaxy-1793130515

https://twitter.com/astrokiwi/status/839881414984282112

Hi caek

Wtf is a time crystal and how can one be 'created' is it a physical thing or a theoretical structure that can be modelled

Any and all other info appreciated

Ta

wait are you telling me you've made it all these years without making a time crystal? i am very surprised and impressed, it's not easy out there without one.