Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Finance, the economy & Economics You Are A Fluke Of TheUniverse

Seriously, I don't think humanity is a fluke, and I doubt very much we are alone in the universe or even in the Milky Way. There is a whole field of theory around the Drake Equation that multiplies all the probabilities of things like planets of the right temperature range, and so forth. Recently we have found a whole bunch of things that stand the Drake Equation on it's head. Like the fact that we have found tons of planets around other stars. But here is my thinking on it:

First of all, we are NOT exceptional. We are NOT "God's Special Creation in his Image". That is primitive theology based on primitive superstitions.

Second: The Second Law of Thermodynamics IS universal and says a local system will always move from more concentrated energy to less concentrated energy. This is important because it drives everything.

Third: Catalysts, enzymes, and life are driven by the Second Law (like everything else). All of these make the Second Law work better. So that's why they exist. It's like predicting a certain chemical reaction will run in the direction that frees the most energy as heat.

Fourth: Evolution is also universal, so that means that anything that can evolve WILL evolve so it can make the Second Law work better. It may take a very long time, but the universe has plenty of time!

Fifth: Intelligence is just more evolution. Intelligent beings are very good at exploiting situations that less intelligent beings could not. For example coal and oil. Second Law on speed!

Now, on another important topic, we know the sequence of element creation and what kinds of stars make what specific elements out of primal hydrogen. That is also universal. Not the same within every star, since different generations of stars make elements up to oxygen, iron, or all the higher elements. But certainly within a group of stars. So while all of Earth's elements will not exist on all planets in the same proportions, Earth-like planets are not at all rare in the galaxy. If the stellar processes have made a lot of silicon, they have also made a lot of carbon. Since we see no silicon-based life on Earth, it seems carbon-based life has the advantage evolution-wise. So life on Earth-like planets is probably carbon-based, and intelligent once enough time has passed to let the Second Law and Evolution work their machinery.

So where are they? The speed of light seems to be another universal constant. They are mostly too far away to get here, or even to communicate their existence.

Too far away for carbon based life, but if by some bizarre happenstance there was silicon based life somewhere, chances are good that it would be much more long-lived than carbon based life forms. Fifty years is a long time for us, but fifty thousand years might be the blink of an eye for silicon based life.

As I explained in my original post, the way elements higher than helium are created by stellar fusion are well known. The process that makes elements up to oxygen includes carbon. Then a second process makes elements up to iron, That one includes silicon. So any where you find silicon, there are already carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen. Water is just oxidized hydrogen, and is a lower energy state than pure hydrogen and oxygen. So The Second Law requires water to be present. Those are the basic ingredients for carbon-based life. Earth is a great example of what happens when you have carbon and silicon in abundance: Carbon wins a billion to zero.

I'm not saying silicon-based life can't exist. Just not by "natural" processes. It probably does exist, but was created by carbon-based intelligent species.

So, The Borg.
Resistance is futile.

I like to think silicon-based life would all be extreme libertarians rather than coercive collectivists like the Borg. Star Trek has such unsophisticated plots: Borg are Communists. Ferengi are antisemites' fantasy of Super-Jews. And so on.

Give me an immortal silicon body, and I'm going off to do whatever I want to do. Screw those a-holes who want to turn everybody into more a-holes.

If you're damn near immortal it's easy to be a libertarian.