Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Rejoice -- Earth-like Planet Found!
A planet that could be covered with oceans, and harboring life, perhaps even intelligence. Wow! So cool!!
Of course, it lies some 20 light years from here, so even if we could send a message at the speed of light, it would take 40 years to get a response from whoever might possibly be living there (assuming there were such a thing and that they recognized our message as one and were inclined and able to respond to it.) So, I'm not expecting confirmation of alien civilization within my lifetime.
Still, it adds a layer of plausibility to all those first contact/first colony sf novels (including my own.)
And a layer of possibility that my descendants could one day walk on a planet in another solar system, conversing with aliens. I always believed that was plausible, even inevitable if humanity survives long enough. Now it seems almost imminent. (on the geologic time scale, just a drop in the bucket!)
I just hope that no one uses this as an excuse for not worrying about global warming and resource depletion. I can just hear the argument now -- when we use up this Earth, we'll just move to another planet like that one they just discovered around Gliese 581. Uh-huh, assuming we have the technology to do so, which is a big assumption. Better to keep this world clean and regulate our consumption.
Of course, it lies some 20 light years from here, so even if we could send a message at the speed of light, it would take 40 years to get a response from whoever might possibly be living there (assuming there were such a thing and that they recognized our message as one and were inclined and able to respond to it.) So, I'm not expecting confirmation of alien civilization within my lifetime.
Still, it adds a layer of plausibility to all those first contact/first colony sf novels (including my own.)
And a layer of possibility that my descendants could one day walk on a planet in another solar system, conversing with aliens. I always believed that was plausible, even inevitable if humanity survives long enough. Now it seems almost imminent. (on the geologic time scale, just a drop in the bucket!)
I just hope that no one uses this as an excuse for not worrying about global warming and resource depletion. I can just hear the argument now -- when we use up this Earth, we'll just move to another planet like that one they just discovered around Gliese 581. Uh-huh, assuming we have the technology to do so, which is a big assumption. Better to keep this world clean and regulate our consumption.
