Re: inevitable intelligence

H. M. Hubey (hubey@pegasus.montclair.edu)
18 Nov 1995 18:43:53 -0500

Lorenzo Love <lllove@snowcrest.net> writes:

>Once at lunch, the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi tried to point out the
> absurdity of the favorable estimates of intelligent life elsewhere by asking,
> "If they are so probable, then where are they? They should be here

The closest star Alpha Centauri is four light years away.

We don't know yet if we can travel at those speeds. We don't know if
there's life on any planets around AC. We don't know how far away
the next planet is.

>B: Intelligent life is very, very rare, to the point that humans are unique,
> which shows that intelligence is not determinant; or

This is more like science fiction. It reminds me of Star Trek. They
go everywhere but they don't fiddle with the local civilization.
Hey.. maybe all the people who've been abducted by aliens are
telling the truth :-)..

We don't know how long it would take to travel hundreds or thousands
of light years distant planets.

>C: Intelligent life destroys itself very quickly, every time it's formed.
> Not a pleasant thought.

Maybe, what one of my profs said is true; this has happened before,
many times.

-- 





				Regards, Mark

				http://www.smns.montclair.edu/~hubey