Re: They're Made Out Of Meat!

On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:13:51 -0800, El Castor
<justuschickens@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Rumpelstiltskin <PleaseDoNotReplyByEmail@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 19:48:30 -0800, Sir Frederick
>><mmcneill@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>>On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 18:06:12 -0800, El Castor <justuschickens@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Rumpelstiltskin <PleaseDoNotReplyByEmail@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 01:30:48 -0700, El Castor
>>>>><justuschickens@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>http://www.terrybisson.com/meat.html
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Great! Thanks for sharing, if I'm not being too California by
>>>>>saying that. I sent the URL out to my whole e-mail list.
>>>>>
>>>>I knew there was someone out there with a sense of humor as warped as
>>>>mine.
>>>>
>>>It is both humorous and serious.
>>>We should both laugh and cry at the same time.
>>>
>>>I posted the whole text to alt.philosophy under the title "Philosophical Meat".
>>>All the responses have not come in.
>>>The story is more appropriate today. I saw it 15 years ago, it is more poignant
>>>today with machine intelligence soon.
>>>The books :
>>>"The Artilect War"
>>>and
>>>'The Singularity"
>>>deal with the issue without any ET.
>>>The issues are inevitable, and soon.
>>>
>>>Any ET showing up is a wild card and
>>>unlikely.
>>
>>
>> I'd guess it's hard to say how unlikely. At 1-meter wavelengths,
>>the Earth is hotter than the Sun because of our radio transmissions,
>>but we've only had radio long enough for the waves from Earth
>>to have reached a thousand or so stars so far. If anybody's
>>looking, as we've started looking with Seti, the signals probably
>>won't have reached them yet. I hope we are checking, or soon
>>will check, 1-meter radio waves from other stars, to see if they
>>have a doppler spread that would suggest they come from a
>>rotating planet. Another thing to check for would be an oxygen-
>>rich atmosphere. Our plant life keeps free oxygen in the
>>atmosphere, and there aren't many other processes that will do
>>that.
>>
>I participated in the SETI At Home project for more than a year, and
>was so enthusiastic that I let the computer run 7X24 hoping to be the
>one who discovered extraterrestrial intelligence! Sadly, I failed. )-8
>
>It seems that there are two likely reasons why we have failed.
>
>1. There is probably only a narrow band in the galaxy where life can
>exist. Towards the center of the galaxy, concentrations of stars
>result in high levels of radiation inhospitable to life, and in the
>outer rim, the concentration of heavy elements is so diminished that
>conditions for the formation of life probably don't exist. If most of
>the stars in our galaxy are eliminated as inhospitable, then advanced
>life forms could easily be separated by 1,000 light years, or more.


Yes, I've heard that too and it sounds reasonable.



>2. Advanced civilizations probably pass through a narrow window of
>about 100 years where they rely on the general broadcast of radio
>waves. We are going through a similar process as we transition to
>fiber optics, cable TV, and satellite radio. There has been
>speculation that these more advanced civilizations could use lasers,
>rather than radio waves, to communicate, and last I heard there was
>going to be a project to search for extraterrestrial lasers.


Yes. It's also been suggested we should be looking at a window
that's between H and OH, if I recall aright, where the progress
of waves is least hampered by being captured by interstellar
material, if we want to find others who might be deliberately
looking for companion civilizations. Orbiting telescopes might
be best, since a lot of stuff that can make it through the
interstellar medium is stopped cold by our atmosphere. We just
don't know enough yet to know how to go about things, as your
mention of lasers exemplifies.



>
>"Arguing on UseNet is like competing in the Special
>Olympics. Even if you win, you're still retarded."

.

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