[OT] Light from a distant sun

[Piratecat]

If that type of stuff piques your interest talk to Fayredeth about "sparticles."

Are you sure you don't mean "Spartacus"?

 

[William Ronald]

Sparticles. Are those atomic particles that keep on fighting?

There is a lot which seems to be falling into place to fill in the missing elements of Drake's Equation (which estimates the number of technological civilizations). It is interesting to see more data showing up.

 

[Mark]

Am I made up of Sparticles?!?

 

[Zhure]

Re: Life...

My interest will be more piqued when science eventually figures out that the requirements for life are much less strict than they think. It's starting, but not quite complete. If the moon can support some bacteria, certainly many other places can as well. Maybe a minority, but a signifigant one....


....and then, speculation begins about what life would have been like....

....of course, there's all this terraforming and genetic alterations....


...gives me a picture of a future where homo sapiens alters itself based on what planet it lives on. Superhumans living comfortably on Mercury due to special genetic tweaks that make the temperature no more than warm to them....

I read a great sci-fi comic story about this very concept. If memory serves it was in the late 70's (78ish) and in Heavy Metal. Called "Paradox." The lead character could change his genetic structure so his body would mimic a normal Terran, a Martian, a Lunan, etc. Each of the nine planets were colonized with sub-races of humans. Damned if I can remember the plot, but that bit stuck with me.

As for the requirements for life*, I'm beginning to accept the paradigm that proto-life amino-acids are common throughout the universe and need only stumble into a suitable planet for life to evolve. I tend to think we'll find life in a lot of different places. It's degree of evolution may not be as "high" as ours, but I think it'll be out there.

Greg
*Insert "I'm no scientist disclaimer" here

 

[William Ronald]

Bump!

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Of course if one concedes that life on other planets is possible, no matter how infinitessimally small that chance, and that if one also concedes that the universe is infinite, then it is a mathematical certainty that there are not only other life-bearing planets out there, but there are life-bearing planets out there with highly-evolved life forms.

It also means there is a planet full of monkeys with a script for Hamlet.

Wulf

 

[Umbran]

Some interesting points to consider. ...
Also, Earth was rocked by an enormous impact early on (which was the impact that most probably created the moon), the result of which is tectonic activity, continental plates and so forth. This brought heavier minerals, particularly iron, to the surface that wouldn't be present there otherwise.

Um, Number 47, where did you get these "points"? 'Cause I have to tell you, a number of them are at best shaky, as far as science facts are concerned....

Point the first - We do not know the Moon's exact origin. The jury is still out on it. Impact is one theory, but not the only one. If we are not sure the ipact actually happened, then said impact is a weak candidate as the source for other effects.

Point the second - We can have tectonic activity without massive impact. In fact, the best theories I know of call for any and all rocky planets to have tectonic activity for some time in their history. It's a product of having a cooled outer shell over a molten core. Until the planet cools, it will have tectonic activity. And the best estimates I've seen suggest that the Earth would still be hot enough for tectonics even without tidal friction heating of the core.

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

Jeeze, I thought Fayredeth would jump onto this thread as soon as he saw it. I'm counting on him to explain what the hell "sparticles" are. They're sorta like particles...just different. Thats as best as I can remember what they are. (And no, I'm not makin this up, and no, I ain't talkin about Spartacus! LOL)

 

[Hand of Vecna]

are Sparticles like Midichlorians?

 

[Zappo]

IIRC; they are particles theorized in the supersymmetry theory (sparticles = symmetric particles), according to which there is a symmetric for each particle. Combine this with the whole antimatter thing, and you'll find out that, for example, there are four different thingies with the same mass as an electron, two being negatively charged, and two positive.

Either that, or I made it all up.

Another theory on the Moon's origin is that it detached from the Earth due to gravitational effects while the solar system was forming and the Earth was fluid enough for that. Yet another is that it's a proto-planet that got into Earth's way and entered orbit instead of crashing.