Life Beyond III - Alien Worlds

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Space thread? Space thread.

If you haven’t already seen this, the Life Beyond series, three of them, are remarkable for their imaginative and ‘sciency’ take on alien life. I recommend watching #3 first because it’s beautifully done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saWNMPL5ygk

I’ve been watching a lot of Lex Fridman recently because he touches on AI, alien life, philosophy, and various topics of interest with the academic luminaries of our time:

https://youtube.com/c/lexfridman

Also, The Expanse season VI dropped. It’s another remarkable production that tells the tale of humanity when we’ve achieved Type I civilization on the Kardashev scale.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

Anyone have some cool or interesting shows, books, or podcasts with regard to hard science and hard science fiction they’d like to share?

- Doc

Also, a must read, The Three Body Problem:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thr ... em_(novel)

It’s one of those series that stays with you, and you’ll find your mind drifting back to the premise and storyline often (especially the Dark Forest, which is the second book of the series).

[Gunnar]

Thanks for introducing us to those gems, Doc! I love them. But I can't help questioning whether the human brain is really the most complex object known to man. Are the large brains of dolphins, and the even larger brains of elephants and cetaceans really any less complex than human brains? The intelligence of those creatures is demonstrably remarkable. What would they be able to accomplish (particularly bottle nose dolphins) had they also had the advantage of our highly dexterous hands and/or not bound to an aqueous environment where they could not master the use of fire? By some indications, dolphins' intelligence (in particular) might even rival (or perhaps even exceed) human intelligence.

I have long admired the famous Arthur C. Clarke quote from episode I:

Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying>

[Moksha]

Also, The Expanse season VI dropped.

I hope we will get to see the Nauvoo complete its terraforming of planets Deseret and Joseph.

[Father Francis]

Also, The Expanse season VI dropped.

I hope we will get to see the Nauvoo complete its terraforming of planets Deseret and Joseph.

I think the OPA already ruined that plan.

[Res Ipsa]

I’ll have to add Life Beyond to my to watch list. I can’t add anything better than The Expanse for TV and the Three Body Problem books for reading. The Dark Forest changed the way I think about intelligent life on other planets. It’sa trilogy I suspect I’ll read again.

[doubtingthomas]

The Dark Forest changed the way I think about intelligent life on other planets. It’sa trilogy I suspect I’ll read again.

I don't agree with the Dark Forest theory. The most likely explanation is that intelligent life isn't very common.

[Gunnar]

I don't agree with the Dark Forest theory. The most likely explanation is that intelligent life isn't very common.

Maybe you're right about that, but I have to question it. Think of the number of big-brained creatures evolved on our planet. Elephants have much bigger brains than we do, and have often demonstrated remarkable intelligence and prodigious feats of memory. Whales also have much bigger brains and have demonstrated great intelligence. Hump backed whales, for example, have developed "songs" of remarkable complexity and beauty and seem likely to be an extremely sophisticated language and communication system. Some dolphins (in particular bottle nosed dolphins) brains as large or even somewhat larger in proportion to their own bodies than our brains are, and few if any, dispute their awesome intelligence, and that they also seem to have a highly developed language and communication system between themselves. Some species of birds, most notably parrots (like the famous Alex, who not only mimicked human speech but understood what he was saying) and birds of the corvid family (like Crows, that actually invent and use their own tools).

What could some of these creatures have become or accomplished had they not been constrained to environments where they could not discover and learn the use of fire, and had had appendages as versatile as human hands? Thus just on this planet, there are several species that seem to have developed near human intelligence. This leads me to suspect that it is likely that on any planet suitable for life, evolution, given enough time, some kind of sentient species would eventually arise.

See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAf7eMHKvmc

[doubtingthomas]

This leads me to suspect that it is likely that on any planet suitable for life, evolution, given enough time, some kind of sentient species would eventually arise.

I hope intelligent life is common in the galaxy, but it is doubtful.
I suggest you watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFx3r32r-GU

If intelligent life is very rare in the galaxy, then it means there is no dark forest.

[Gunnar]

I hope intelligent life is common in the galaxy, but it is doubtful.
I suggest you watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFx3r32r-GU

If intelligent life is very rare in the galaxy, then it means there is no dark forest.

Yes, I understand what they are saying and the sound logic of their conclusions, but all I am really contending is that if intelligent life in the universe is exceedingly rare, it is only because life is itself exceedingly rare. If any planet exists on which life has appeared and has existed for billions of years under conditions anywhere similar to earthlike conditions, I think it highly probable that at least one sentient species will eventually emerge on such a planet.

[Philo Sofee]

The Dark Forest changed the way I think about intelligent life on other planets. It’sa trilogy I suspect I’ll read again.

I don't agree with the Dark Forest theory. The most likely explanation is that intelligent life isn't very common.

At least not on our planet....