X-Message-Number: 21634
Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2003 22:11:21 -0700
From: Olaf Henny <>
Subject: Discussion on Singularities
References: <>

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?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. :^)

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