SETI Institute NEWS

[SirUlli]

eb. 12, 2004
by Peter Backus - Observing Programs Manager

For most of history, people thought the sky was unchanging and life was as it had always been. Many believed the Earth was the center of the universe and that humans were in some way "higher" than all other creatures. Then along came the Copernican revolution four centuries ago, and suddenly Earth shifted out of the center of the universe to take up its true position among the planets in our solar system. About two and a half centuries later, another revolution took place when Charles Darwin revealed the true relation between humans and all other life on Earth. These revolutions are similar for the way they shift perspective, and better inform us about our origins and our future.

As Carl Sagan said, we are made of "star stuff". We are one result of a process of Cosmic Evolution. There is nothing particularly exceptional about the Earth. The physical and chemical processes that happened here can happen anywhere in the universe. Our modern understanding of the processes driving astronomical and biological evolution gives SETI astronomers great optimism. If intelligence evolved here, it can evolve elsewhere, and we have the technology to find it if our analogues are exploiting the electromagnetic spectrum to communicate as we do.

Spending the 195th anniversary of Darwin’s birth on the grounds of the Arecibo Observatory, I find myself contemplating such things as spider webs, nebulae and the process of contemplation itself. From all of us who carry human voyages of exploration into the cosmos, Happy Birthday, Charles!

Darwins Universe

Sir Ulli

 

[Soggysocks]

As Always...an interesting Post. 🙂

Thanks for the info and the Link. :beer:


Soggy

 

[compudog]

Thanks SirUlli! Great stuff. It's all about the science!😀