<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/a61cc31e-ee38-4677-8868-66894c8be7ca/A35D8830-9E05-4998-90FC-1BD4364FC3B8/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Filter&oldid=311501707" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Filter&oldid=311501707" style="font-size: 11px;">en.wikipedia.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Filter&oldid=311501707"><SPAN>Great Filter</SPAN></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Filter&oldid=311501707"><P>The <B>Great Filter</B> is an implication of the failure to observe any <A title="Extraterrestrial life" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_life" linkindex="9">extraterrestrial life</A>, despite considerable effort (the <A title="Fermi paradox" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox" linkindex="10">Fermi paradox</A>). One possible explanation is that there is something, the Great Filter, which acts to reduce the great number of potential sites to the tiny number of intelligent species actually observed (currently just one: ours). It might work either by one or more barriers to the evolution of intelligent life, or a high probability of self-destruction.<SUP class="reference" id="cite_ref-0"><A href="#cite_note-0" linkindex="11"><SPAN>[</SPAN>1<SPAN>]</SPAN></A></SUP><SUP class="reference" id="cite_ref-1"><A href="#cite_note-1" linkindex="12"><SPAN>[</SPAN>2<SPAN>]</SPAN></A></SUP> The main counter-intuitive conclusion of this observation is that the easier it was for life to evolve to our stage, the bleaker our future chances probably are.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Filter&oldid=311501707"><OL> <li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">The right star system (including <A title="Organic chemistry" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_chemistry" linkindex="16">organics</A> & <A title="Drake equation" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation#The_equation" linkindex="17">potentially habitable</A> <A title="Planet" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet" linkindex="18">planets</A>)</LI> <li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">Reproductive molecules (e.g. <A title="RNA" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNA" linkindex="19">RNA</A>)</LI> <li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">Simple (<A class="mw-redirect" title="Prokaryotic" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prokaryotic" linkindex="20">prokaryotic</A>) <A class="mw-redirect" title="Microorganisms" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microorganisms" linkindex="21">single-cell life</A></LI> <li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">Complex (<A title="Archaea" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaea" linkindex="22">archaeatic</A> & <A class="mw-redirect" title="Eukaryotic" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eukaryotic" linkindex="23">eukaryotic</A>) single-cell life</LI> <li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;"><A title="Sexual reproduction" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_reproduction" linkindex="24">Sexual reproduction</A></LI> <li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;"><A title="Evolution of multicellularity" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_multicellularity" linkindex="25">Multi-cell life</A></LI> <li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">Tool-using animals with <A title="Intelligence" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence" linkindex="26">big brains</A></LI> <li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;"><A class="mw-redirect" title="Space Colonization" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Colonization#Outside_the_solar_system" linkindex="27">Colonization explosion</A></LI> </OL></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/A35D8830-9E05-4998-90FC-1BD4364FC3B8/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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