X-Message-Number: 21634 Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 22:11:21 -0700 From: Olaf Henny <> Subject: Discussion on Singularities References: <> --Boundary_(ID_d8JyH9lST/hce69tusIjUA) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT ?In Message #21607 Francois <> wrote in part: Subject: Musings on the Singularity >This process has been called the Singularity, and it will result in a "humanity" that will, >for all intents and purposes, have all the attributes of the Divinity. The question that >comes to mind is, why has it not happened already? I mean, we live in a big universe, >a universe that contains plenty of stars, planets and, presumably, lifeforms. If we limit >ourselves to what we know for a fact, then we should focus our attention on stars like >the Sun. We know that such stars can have planets on which intelligent life evolves >because here we are. In our Galaxy, there are millions of such stars. Their ages >currently range from a few million years to about 8 billion years. Younger stars have >not yet stabilized and older stars were formed at a time when not enough elements >heavier than helium were available. And in Message #21617 Keith Henson <> wrote: >To put bluntly, if technophilic life is common, none of them survive their >local Singularity. Lastly in Message #21626 Mike Perry <>wrote: >Actually, I happen to think technophilic life is probably uncommon, and >even quite possibly unique--we may be the only such life in our universe. I have pondered the question of other civilizations not so much in view of emergence of hyper-technical societies through singularity, but simply by asking myself, why we have not seen any signs of any technological societies through their emission of radio waves etc., and I have come to a conclusion, which agrees with Mike's assumption of exclusivity of human civilization. Here is why, starting with a review of what happened on earth: It is widely agreed, that 65 million years ago we had a cosmic event strike the earth, which wiped out all dominant life forms on land. There is also some evidence, that a similarly disastrous event occurred some 250 million years prior to that. On hand of these two data we may speculate, that out here at the outer periphery of our galaxy such a dominant life form/civilization ending event may occur once every 50 to 300 million years. As we move closer toward the centre of the galaxy, mutual proximity of solar systems increases and thereby the gravitational turbulence they exert on each other. This would prevent any solar system to achieve the relative stability and tranquillity, which would allow civilizations to emerge. So back to the outer rim. The nearest star system to us. The Centaury, is 4 light years away. However that is a biennial system. The gravitational turbulence of two suns fighting for dominance within that system cannot possibly provide the settled environment required for the emergence of a civilization, life possibly, civilization - no. There may be millions of G- type stars in our galaxy, but those with the right conditions for the evolution of civilizations are surely precious few. And bear in mind, it does not only require the right type of star and relative stability within its system, but also a planet of properly proportioned size and position relative to the star to provide a reasonably nurturing environment for the unfolding of civilizations. Best, Olaf Women will only then be equal to men, when they are able to stride down the street bald, with a beer gut hanging over their belt and think that they are beautiful. :^) --Boundary_(ID_d8JyH9lST/hce69tusIjUA) Content-type: text/html; charset=us-ascii [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=21634