Hi, Phil, List,
You're forgetting the "Assumption of Mediocrity."
This is also referred to as the "strong" Cosmological
Principle, which is "The universe, observed from
every point, in every direction, and every time,
looks the same." The Strong CP developed in the
20th Century from the Weak CP of Copernicus,
which is that the Universe, observed from any
planet, looks the same.
We ARE Mediocre, say Copernicus (and Kepler
and Galileo and Newton, Bruno, Kant, Hubble,
Einstein, and...), just one more lousy star, nothing
special about us, not a preferred location in any
way. This was a revolutionary idea, virtually never
expressed before by humans. Historically, we've always
thought of ourselves as the Center and the Purpose
and the Most Magnificent Thing in the whole Universe!
(As well as being the sole focus and single-minded
obsession of the Divinity and/or Divinities).
The Strong CP is not merely a shift in attitude. It
produces (and predicts) significant scientific results,
at least in cosmology in the historical sense and
astronomy in the observational sense. If you want
a nice quick set of flash cards, go to:
http://www.slideshare.net/millerco/a1-24-the-big-bang
The "Life" Question is an obvious application of the
Strong CP -- "The universe, observed from this point, in
all the directions we can see, and in every time frame,
looks and IS the same, including life." For 560 years,
every major discovery about the Universe has been
predicted by the Strong CP or ended up confirming
the Strong CP.
The reason it's called a "Principle" and not a Law, not
a Proof, in that it is an extreme generalization over a
very broad regime, a vast spread of data, the broadest
possible range of data -- ALL of it. So, there are stars
younger and older than ours, bigger and smaller, hotter
and colder, with some planets, with no planets, with a
gob of planets, one asteroid zone, five asteroid zones,
and the same for Jupiters and all the other types of
planets we can conceive, and some we can't. But it's a
VERY finite array of possibilities, encompassing a VERY
small number on the scale of the Universe. And we are
talking about the ENTIRE Universe here.
For the Universe, as a WHOLE, the Strong CP IS strong.
You can bet against it, on the grounds of "No Proof" but,
if so, I know a lot of casino operators who want you as a
client. Betting against the Strong CP is betting Against
The House.
Just keep playing; I'll go get you another free drink...
Sterling K. Webb
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "JoshuaTreeMuseum" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2009 10:16 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] They're Leprechauns!
Oh wait, leprechauns aren't little green men, they're little men with
beards that always wear green! Close enough.
Just once, I'd like to read one of these articles that doesn't include
the grains of sand analogy.
Phil Whitmer
http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20090910/News01/909100311&template=247art
September 10. 2009 6:59AM
Notre Dame panelists ponder: Is there life out there?
Experts talk about possibility, why it fascinates people.
By MARLYS WEAVER
Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND - There's a good chance there are more living things in
this universe than just us. The trouble is finding them.
A panel of four specialists met for a discussion on extraterrestrials
Tuesday at the University of Notre Dame, mostly addressing the
possibility of extraterrestrials and humans' fascination with life
"out there."
Seth Shostak, host of "Are We Alone?" on National Public Radio and
senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Institute (SETI), opened the discussion. Michael Crowe, philosophy of
science professor; Kenneth Filchak from the department of biological
sciences; and Philip J. Sakimoto, former NASA scientist, completed the
panel. Matthew Dowd, liberal science professor, moderated.
Shostak explained that the major reasons many scientists believe there
is life on other planets is largely because there is "simply a lot of
habitat, a lot of real estate."
He explained that maybe a half to two-thirds of all stars have
planets.
"And planets are like kittens; they come in litters," he said,
estimating there are as many planets as grains of sand on the Earth.
"But this is the only one with life?" he asked the crowd. "This is
fundamentally why we think there might be life out there."
Life on Earth "could be an enormous accident," he said, but suggested
that instead intelligent life is an evolutionary survival tactic and
happens on many planets.
Sakimoto reminded the audience that though extraterrestrial life might
be present in the universe, we have yet to find it.
"We would all like to believe that it could happen," he said, "but we
don't know yet."
"See something once, that's an anomaly," he said, sharing a science
motto. "See something twice, that's a theory."
Life on Mars?
Sakimoto was part of the science crew observing the findings of the
first Mars Viking Mission, the first successful landing on Mars in
1976. He shared of the entire crew's enthusiasm and excitement, and
the "depression" that lingered after nearly finding life there. An
experiment with Martian dirt produced oxygen, but stopped a few days
later.
After that disappointing day, the crew realized the oxygen production
was because of other factors, not life on Mars.
Sakimoto thinks people need to continue looking for life, but is less
certain that it exists.
"Is there one example of life anywhere other than here?" he asked.
"And can life arise even when conditions are right?"
Without answers to one of those two questions, Sakimoto said he was
skeptical about life on other planets.
Humans' fascination
The discussion also touched on why humans are so preoccupied with
finding other life.
"Why do we want life out there?" Crowe asked the audience, pointing
out that it's especially strange to want to find extraterrestrials
when literature and film often portray them as destroying our world
and society.
He hypothesized that people would like to make contact with
intelligent extraterrestrials in the hopes that "they could help us
not screw it up," and teach humans everything we don't understand.
Shostak said in an interview after the discussion that he became
enamored with the idea of other worlds when he was 8 years old.
"The idea that there were other worlds out there - it was a very
romantic idea," he said. "How many people (in their job) get to
address a question that everyone wants to know the answer to and have
(wanted to know) for thousands of years?"
In response to a question from the audience, Shostak explained,
however, that becoming aware of intelligent life elsewhere, such as
hearing an alien radio transmission, would be little more than a "big
news story" for the general population.
It's "one of those interesting things to know, like that the universe
didn't always exist," he said, but not much more.
Sakimoto disagreed, saying that it "colors everything" and changes a
person's view of the world to think of it as "teeming with life" or
not.
Shostak also gave his opinion on the idea that extraterrestrials are
among us on Earth today.
Shostak said that "there is very little evidence for it," though
especially when it comes to the cases of Roswell and Area 51, there is
plenty of evidence for other activities there.
In an interview later, Shostak said he receives phone calls and
e-mails from people with UFO and alien sightings all the time.
"A message just the other day was from a woman who said she was an
alien," he said.
Shostak doesn't mind taking these calls and believes that these people
have really seen something they believe is otherworldly, but has yet
to hear or see something that would make him agree.
"People feel empowered to 'know' something the experts won't address,"
he said during the discussion.
Near the end of the discussion, Sakimoto asked Shostak for a clear
answer.
"What odds would you bet that there is life out there?" Sakimoto
asked.
"Quite a bit," Shostak answered, "less on intelligent life. And you?"
"Fifty-fifty," he responded. "I just don't know."
After the discussion, Shostak signed copies of his new book,
"Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist's Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence."
You can listen to Seth Shostak on "Are We Alone?" on WVPE-FM (88.1) at
7 a.m. Sundays.
Staff writer Marlys Weaver
[email protected]
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