4 ms·

It's so cool how far we've come with exoplanet discovery in such a short time! The first one was only in 1992 and it's so neat seeing us go from only picking up

It's so cool how far we've come with exoplanet discovery in such a short time! The first one was only in 1992 and it's so neat seeing us go from only picking up giants to being able to detect smaller and smaller planets. Now to get chemistry from a rocky planet?! Awesome.

hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago
I remember when I talked to my parents and others telling them it's obvious exoplanets exist - since our Sun is a star and there are many stars, it seemed logical that at least some of them do have their planets. They would laugh and say, "Yes, it's not impossible, but for now it's just science-fiction." Again, since life developed on our planet, it seems logical that it also exists at some of the exoplanets. We are just lacking an efficient method of communicating with them.
- rnk 4y ago
  Yes, of course. It must be life is present in other places because of the vast number of suns with planets. We are starting to see that planets are forming around stars in some ways similar to us, other ways different (it's hard to see earth like planets bc of limits of our technology). We already know rocks can get ejected from one planet in our own solar system, and thus have certainly the possibility to spread small bits of dna from earth to mars (and it could go the other way). We have seen the 4 dna bases (plus the one that is different is rna) in space. We have the extremely suggestive but not certain possibility that methane detected on mars is coming from biological processes. There is certainty on life in the universe elsewhere - at least microbial but I think it's certain that higher level life forms are there. We don't know nearly as much about advanced life, like say animals, plants over bacteria, much less intelligent life. But the universe is so huge, I think it's likely there are other places with intelligent life.
  - chrsw 4y ago
    Both things can be true: the universe can be incomprehensibly vast and life can be incalculably rare.
    - throwaway4aday 4y ago
      I still trust in the Copernican principal until proven otherwise.
      - chrsw 4y ago
        Maybe. Or maybe we're not special only in the sense that every place is special. Is any one particlar day special? No. Has any day ever been duplicated? Never.
        throwaway4aday 4y ago
        r/Showerthoughts is that way -->
- _ph_ 4y ago
  The default assumption should be that the solar system is typical and that would lead to numerous earth-like planets in the galaxy and that would give hope to a lot of (intelligent) life. But untiol a few years ago, this was just a very plausible explanation. Since then we have confirmed thousands of planets. So while there are still a lot of unknowns for a good prediction, the planet count is at least consistant with the assumption, that solar-like systems are not an exception.
- Beltalowda 4y ago
  If you accept the possibility of the multiverse as a "solution" to why the laws of the universe allow for life to develop in the first place (in quotes as it's not really a solution as it can never be proven), then it seems to me there is no reason to think that intelligent life can't be so rare that only in 1% of all universes that can support intelligent life, intelligent life actually develops.
  - throwaway4aday 4y ago
    I believe this is the definition of multiplying entities unnecessarily.
    - Beltalowda 4y ago
      That's just a heuristic.
      - throwaway4aday 4y ago
        A very good reason to use it!
est31 4y ago
1992 was 30 years ago. You should probably add for a project with limited military potential. The time between Sputnik's launch and the first manned Moon landings was only 12 years, but there you had the military component. Of course it's still amazing progress and there is a lot of engineering involved in it. I'm definitely a fan.
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago
  This. 1902 vs 1932. 1932 vs 1962. 1962 vs 1992. It's like they're different worlds. Ever since humanity broke out of the "just being a subsistence farmer or serf like my parents" loop a hell of a lot happens in 30yr.

hdjjhhvvhga 4y ago

I remember when I talked to my parents and others telling them it's obvious exoplanets exist - since our Sun is a star and there are many stars, it seemed logical that at least some of them do have their planets. They would laugh and say, "Yes, it's not impossible, but for now it's just science-fiction." Again, since life developed on our planet, it seems logical that it also exists at some of the exoplanets. We are just lacking an efficient method of communicating with them.

rnk 4y ago
Yes, of course. It must be life is present in other places because of the vast number of suns with planets. We are starting to see that planets are forming around stars in some ways similar to us, other ways different (it's hard to see earth like planets bc of limits of our technology). We already know rocks can get ejected from one planet in our own solar system, and thus have certainly the possibility to spread small bits of dna from earth to mars (and it could go the other way). We have seen the 4 dna bases (plus the one that is different is rna) in space. We have the extremely suggestive but not certain possibility that methane detected on mars is coming from biological processes. There is certainty on life in the universe elsewhere - at least microbial but I think it's certain that higher level life forms are there. We don't know nearly as much about advanced life, like say animals, plants over bacteria, much less intelligent life. But the universe is so huge, I think it's likely there are other places with intelligent life.
- chrsw 4y ago
  Both things can be true: the universe can be incomprehensibly vast and life can be incalculably rare.
  - throwaway4aday 4y ago
    I still trust in the Copernican principal until proven otherwise.
    - chrsw 4y ago
      Maybe. Or maybe we're not special only in the sense that every place is special. Is any one particlar day special? No. Has any day ever been duplicated? Never.
      - throwaway4aday 4y ago
        r/Showerthoughts is that way -->
_ph_ 4y ago
The default assumption should be that the solar system is typical and that would lead to numerous earth-like planets in the galaxy and that would give hope to a lot of (intelligent) life. But untiol a few years ago, this was just a very plausible explanation. Since then we have confirmed thousands of planets. So while there are still a lot of unknowns for a good prediction, the planet count is at least consistant with the assumption, that solar-like systems are not an exception.
Beltalowda 4y ago
If you accept the possibility of the multiverse as a "solution" to why the laws of the universe allow for life to develop in the first place (in quotes as it's not really a solution as it can never be proven), then it seems to me there is no reason to think that intelligent life can't be so rare that only in 1% of all universes that can support intelligent life, intelligent life actually develops.
- throwaway4aday 4y ago
  I believe this is the definition of multiplying entities unnecessarily.
  - Beltalowda 4y ago
    That's just a heuristic.
    - throwaway4aday 4y ago
      A very good reason to use it!

est31 4y ago

1992 was 30 years ago. You should probably add for a project with limited military potential. The time between Sputnik's launch and the first manned Moon landings was only 12 years, but there you had the military component. Of course it's still amazing progress and there is a lot of engineering involved in it. I'm definitely a fan.

dsfyu404ed 4y ago
This. 1902 vs 1932. 1932 vs 1962. 1962 vs 1992. It's like they're different worlds. Ever since humanity broke out of the "just being a subsistence farmer or serf like my parents" loop a hell of a lot happens in 30yr.