Slog

News & Arts

Line Out

Music & the City
at Night

« Looking At Naked Ladies Makes You G… | What It Said/What It Meant »

Monday, September 21, 2009

Science In Our Place

Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Sep 21, 2009 at 11:43 AM

There is no life on this planet...

[F]or the first time, astronomers have found a rocky planet outside our solar system. But don't start thinking about little green men. This planet, called Corot-7b, has a surface temperature of about 3,600 degrees, which scientists think is too hot for anything to live. Still, it's a huge discovery among scientists searching for signs of life out in the universe.

Corot-7b might be too hot for life but at least it is in the right universe for life. Yes, I follow those thinkers and cosmologists who believe there are more than one universe. Also, these other universes are not the same as this one. Some have values, laws, constants that are completely different from the we find ourselves in and looking at. These constants may result in universes with too much helium or too much hydrogen or some other composition that makes it impossible for stars to form and manufacture the heavier elements needed for life. (In this theory of the multiverse, which is really nothing more than a Copernican expansion or inflation, there are no universes identical to or mirroring this one.) So, if you are looking for life, this is the universe to look for it. This carbon-rich universe that inflated from nothing, from a virtual particle.

Comments (5) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

on the other hand if multiverse is real then we are most likely collections of particles spontaneously forming consciousness through pure stochastic chance, i.e. boltzman brains. Not that I actually believe that, but its an interesting conundrum.

Posted by matt! on September 21, 2009 at 12:03 PM

Read Lee Smolin's "Life of the Universe." Also, Charles, you should really stop writing about science. You sound like a 5th grader when you do.

Posted by Lilting Missive on September 21, 2009 at 1:07 PM

Seriously. Charles, go look at some photos of naked women instead. But be careful it doesn't turn you into a homosexual.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on September 21, 2009 at 1:16 PM

Dude, you shouldn't hit the bong before ruminating about science.

Posted by Scholar of violence on September 22, 2009 at 6:04 AM

You are assuming that all possible life is carbon based and would appear like the life we are familiar with. Call me a Star Trek nerd, but I suspect it is possible that there are other non carbon based life forms that exist somewhere in the universe, multiverse, etc.

Posted by zephsright on September 22, 2009 at 9:09 AM