 cakebelly says: more: Hawking continues: "What is the explanation of why we have not been visited? \One possibility is that the argument, about the appearance of life on Earth, is wrong. Maybe the probability of life spontaneously appearing is so low, that Earth is the only planet in the galaxy, or in the observable universe, in which it happened. Another possibility is that there was a reasonable probability of forming self reproducing systems, like cells, but that most of these forms of life did not evolve intelligence." We are used to thinking of intelligent life, as an inevitable consequence of evolution, Hawking emphasized, but it is more likely that evolution is a random process, with intelligence as only one of a large number of possible outcomes. more: Intelligence, Hawking believes contrary to our human-centric existece, may not have any long-term survival value. In comparison the microbial world, will live on, even if all other life on Earth is wiped out by our actions. Hawking's main insight is that intelligence was an unlikely development for life on Earth, from the chronology of evolution: "It took a very long time, two and a half billion years, to go from single cells to multi-cell beings, which are a necessary precursor to intelligence. This is a good fraction of the total time available, before the Sun blows up. So it would be consistent with the hypothesis, that the probability for life to develop intelligence, is low. In t... more: Hawkling prefers another possibility: that there are other forms of intelligent life out there, but that we have been overlooked. If we should pick up signals from alien civilizations, Hawking warns, we should have be wary of answering back, until we have evolved" a bit further. Meeting a more advanced civilization, at our present stage,' Hawking says "might be a bit like the original inhabitants of America meeting Columbus. I don't think they were better off for it." Posted by Casey Kazan. Image Credit: www.astro.columbia.edu/~astrobio/ProjectsII.html This is the third in a three-part series on Stephen Hawking's views on life in the universe: Stephen Hawking: "Humans Have Entered ... They are already here. The world is teeming with nanoscale robots manipulating our brains and effectively leading the world to organize our own self-destruction. Sounds as plausible as anything. screams It's ok, antara. Logic is an impenetrable antidote. The vaccine, however, is in very short supply. Spread it around. "They are already here. The world is teeming with nanoscale robots manipulating our brains and effectively leading the world to organize our own self-destruction. Sounds as plausible as anything." Sounds like a good basis for a nice meaty conspiracy theory or, better yet, the pitch for a Hollywood blockbuster (starring Will Smith).  "They are already here. The world is teeming with nanoscale robotsIf it were true, how would you know? |
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