Life on Mars? I hope not. [Archive]

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Lincoln

1 May 2008, 4:57pm

Why life on Mars could foretell our own doom (http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20569/page1/). Really good essay on probability and E.T. life.

Lincoln

6 May 2008, 5:16pm

And maybe that Great Filter is oil. (http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2008/05/fermi-paradox-and-end-of.html)

6 May 2008, 5:52pm

The article in the OP doesn't impress me. It skims over several possible alternative explanations for life on both planets, and he strikes one of my pet-peeves: "other solar systems". For some reason, anytime I hear someone say that, it makes me think a lot less of their ability to understand things about the galaxy.

The idea that the solution to Fermi's paradox might involve learning to properly use the non-renewable resources of our home planet, presented in the second article, makes sense, but I'm not sure I agree with it.

GHoosdum

6 May 2008, 5:54pm

Interesting set of articles.