Stories, News, Books, and Videos on Science, Technology, Computers, Environment and the Realites of Life, for the general, smart public
Science
Topics about anything that is science
Why aren’t aliens here? The genesis of life in the universe and the evolution of intelligence
May 10th
This documentary presented by Royal Astronomer Sir Martin Rees explores the science that provides the models, theories, and evidence for the evolution of intelligent life in the vastness of the universe we live in.
The first part analyzes the probability that Earth-like planets are likely to be found in out galaxy but also in the rest of the universe. The search for exoplanets yielded until 2010 over 400 planets, but the vast majority of them are gaseous giants like Jupiter. Finding an Earth-like planet in the billions of solar systems in our galaxy is a hard challenge, but even if we find it, it is going to have to be from a rare breed: it must lie within the habitable zone, that is, the distance from the sun where an Earth-like planet can maintain liquid water on its surface. Why is that? Carbon based life needs water.
The second part of the documentary goes into a thorough analysis of the limitless forms life is supposedly going to evolve to, if it manages to bootstrap itself from the ordered and stable chemical constructs found on an Earth-like planet. Contrary to the traditional view, which says evolution is only a blind watchmaker that randomly evolves lineages of creatures with no limits or constraints on their forms, some scientists say that there exists an “invisible landscape” on which evolution is taking place so that only specific lineages of organisms (with universal morphological and functional systems throughout the universe) are developed by being constrained to evolve only on specific “evolution landscape channels” universal to all life in the universe.
There are several examples in nature of what is called convergence, that is, evolution being able to separately find the same solution for a similar problem that two different species have. Flight, fur, photosynthesis, and sex are examples of such solutions that evolved separately in different lineages. One more obvious example is the eye that evolved separately in humans and octopuses – worth noting is that the most recent common ancestor of humans and octopuses lived 500 million years ago and it was blind. In this video scientists go so far as to say photosynthesis and hemoglobin might be universal solutions to similar problems, and we should expect to find them in life forms that habit Earth-like planets.
The third part of the documentary tries to answer the question of how probable it is that life might evolve into intelligent, technological beings like us. It might be that life on Earth is such a contingency that it may never have happened elsewhere in the universe. Others argue that there are some universal principles of chemical and physical organization which combine chemical elements in such a way that life is inevitable all over the vastness of space.
The possibility of Panspermia is considered, that is, the possibility that the “seeds” of life exist already all over the Universe. The methane on Mars, if it is found to be generated by organic life that evolved separately from life on Earth, may shed light on the aspect of life’s probability all over the universe.
Scientists present evidence to support the idea that intelligent life is going to evolve rather easily if a certain evolutionary boundary has been passed. Dolphins have their more recent ancestor with humans some 100 million years ago, but evolved a brain that is bigger than ours separately. Maybe self-awareness, consciousness, and intelligence is inevitable after all.
But here comes the Fermi PARADOX. Why, if there are millions of intelligent civilizations out there, isn’t there any evidence to support this idea? The answer to this question my friend, i will leave it for you to find out.
Enjoy this Must See Documentary!
More >
Почему не инопланетяне здесь? Бытие жизни во Вселенной и эволюции интеллекта
May 10th
(Потому что наши русские читатели очень важны, мы сейчас в поисках профессионального переводчика. Мы приносим свои извинения, что на данный момент, мы можем лишь предоставить текст на английском языке.)
This documentary presented by Royal Astronomer Sir Martin Rees explores the science that provides the models, theories, and evidence for the evolution of intelligent life in the vastness of the universe we live in.
The first part analyzes the probability that Earth-like planets are likely to be found in out galaxy but also in the rest of the universe. The search for exoplanets yielded until 2010 over 400 planets, but the vast majority of them are gaseous giants like Jupiter. Finding an Earth-like planet in the billions of solar systems in our galaxy is a hard challenge, but even if we find it, it is going to have to be from a rare breed: it must lie within the habitable zone, that is, the distance from the sun where an Earth-like planet can maintain liquid water on its surface. Why is that? Carbon based life needs water.
The second part of the documentary goes into a thorough analysis of the limitless forms life is supposedly going to evolve to, if it manages to bootstrap itself from the ordered and stable chemical constructs found on an Earth-like planet. Contrary to the traditional view, which says evolution is only a blind watchmaker that randomly evolves lineages of creatures with no limits or constraints on their forms, some scientists say that there exists an “invisible landscape” on which evolution is taking place so that only specific lineages of organisms (with universal morphological and functional systems throughout the universe) are developed by being constrained to evolve only on specific “evolution landscape channels” universal to all life in the universe.
There are several examples in nature of what is called convergence, that is, evolution being able to separately find the same solution for a similar problem that two different species have. Flight, fur, photosynthesis, and sex are examples of such solutions that evolved separately in different lineages. One more obvious example is the eye that evolved separately in humans and octopuses – worth noting is that the most recent common ancestor of humans and octopuses lived 500 million years ago and it was blind. In this video scientists go so far as to say photosynthesis and hemoglobin might be universal solutions to similar problems, and we should expect to find them in life forms that habit Earth-like planets.
The third part of the documentary tries to answer the question of how probable it is that life might evolve into intelligent, technological beings like us. It might be that life on Earth is such a contingency that it may never have happened elsewhere in the universe. Others argue that there are some universal principles of chemical and physical organization which combine chemical elements in such a way that life is inevitable all over the vastness of space.
The possibility of Panspermia is considered, that is, the possibility that the “seeds” of life exist already all over the Universe. The methane on Mars, if it is found to be generated by organic life that evolved separately from life on Earth, may shed light on the aspect of life’s probability all over the universe.
Scientists present evidence to support the idea that intelligent life is going to evolve rather easily if a certain evolutionary boundary has been passed. Dolphins have their more recent ancestor with humans some 100 million years ago, but evolved a brain that is bigger than ours separately. Maybe self-awareness, consciousness, and intelligence is inevitable after all.
But here comes the Fermi PARADOX. Why, if there are millions of intelligent civilizations out there, isn’t there any evidence to support this idea? The answer to this question my friend, i will leave it for you to find out.
Enjoy this Must See Documentary!
More >
The Multiverse – Explaining Parallel Universes – From type 1 to type 4, from our own space to the deep hyperspaces of reality
May 10th
The Multiverse is a concept with more than one meaning and with breathtaking implications on the understanding of the natural laws that govern reality. This documentary tries to explain one of the most recent developments in theoretical physics. Although the concept of the Multiverse (or meta-universe, metaverse) was first introduced in the beginning of the 20th century, the later experiments done with single particles (photons, electrons, even molecules) convinced the vast majority of physicists working in fields like String Theory and Quantum Mechanics of the very high chance that this concept could in fact reflect the true nature of reality.
Level 1 Multiverse: This multiverse is just an extension of our own infinite Universe (see WMAP for evidence for infinite and flat Universe), it is part of our Space but distanced so far away that light from it will never reach us. Max Tegmark estimates that such a Universe, similar to ours, should be about 10^10^115 meters away from our Universe.
Level 2 Multiverse: This Multiverse is made of an infinite number of giant soap bubbles that float in hyperspace (the bulk). Each bubble contains an entire universe. In the infinite vastness of the hyperspace there are an infinite number of bubbles containing a Universe like the one we are living in, and a infinite variety of other Universes. What is more interesting is that these bubbles spawn new baby universes by colliding with each other creating a hierarchy of universes, a tree of Universes. You can imagine this tree equivalent to the tree-of-life but with the fruits and branches replaced by Universes and baby Universes.
Evidence supporting the possible existence of a Type 2 Multiverse comes from the theoretical science field of String Theory. String Theory states that all the constituents of matter, protons, neutrons, electrons, neutrinos, all of them, are made of tiny vibrating strings that oscillate at different frequencies. String Theory predicts the existence of 11 dimensions, as opposed to the 3 (4 with the time dimension), necessary for the strings to vibrate and emerge into what we know as matter and reality. Additionally, the M-Theory (a further development of string theory) predicts the existence of vibrating membranes. More to that, theoreticians say our universe may be a giant membrane, in the bulk (hyperspace) of the Type 2 Multiverse, vibrating in these 11 dimensions.
Some Big Bang theorists speculate on the idea that our Universe began when two such giant membranes (M-brane) collided with each other some 13.75 billion years ago.
Level 3 Multiverse: Quantum mechanics predicts, and indeed experiments done on single particles provide the evidence, that each constituent of matter can find itself in several places at the same time (see Double-slit experiment). When you zoom in to the quantum level everything becomes foggy. Yes, every particle is to be found in several dimensions (universes) at the same time, that is, in several universes that are in the same space and time as our universe but from other dimensions inaccessible to us. There is a parallel universe out there where you don’t read this article or you may have never been born.
Level 4 Multiverse: The Type 4 Multiverse contains all universes resembling our own, but also includes those having physical laws different from ours. The vast majority of the universes with these tweaked laws of physics may not be able to harbor life at all and probably are dull dark places with nothing interesting to show.
More >
Мета-Стих – Объясняя Параллельные вселенные – С 1 типа к типу 4, от нашего собственного пространства для глубокой гиперпространств реальности
May 10th
(Потому что наши русские читатели очень важны, мы сейчас в поисках профессионального переводчика. Мы приносим свои извинения, что на данный момент, мы можем лишь предоставить текст на английском языке.)
The Multiverse is a concept with more than one meaning and with breathtaking implications on the understanding of the natural laws that govern reality. This documentary tries to explain one of the most recent developments in theoretical physics. Although the concept of the Multiverse (or meta-universe, metaverse) was first introduced in the beginning of the 20th century, the later experiments done with single particles (photons, electrons, even molecules) convinced the vast majority of physicists working in fields like String Theory and Quantum Mechanics of the very high chance that this concept could in fact reflect the true nature of reality.
Level 1 Multiverse: This multiverse is just an extension of our own infinite Universe (see WMAP for evidence for infinite and flat Universe), it is part of our Space but distanced so far away that light from it will never reach us. Max Tegmark estimates that such a Universe, similar to ours, should be about 10^10^115 meters away from our Universe.
Level 2 Multiverse: This Multiverse is made of an infinite number of giant soap bubbles that float in hyperspace (the bulk). Each bubble contains an entire universe. In the infinite vastness of the hyperspace there are an infinite number of bubbles containing a Universe like the one we are living in, and a infinite variety of other Universes. What is more interesting is that these bubbles spawn new baby universes by colliding with each other creating a hierarchy of universes, a tree of Universes. You can imagine this tree equivalent to the tree-of-life but with the fruits and branches replaced by Universes and baby Universes.
Evidence supporting the possible existence of a Type 2 Multiverse comes from the theoretical science field of String Theory. String Theory states that all the constituents of matter, protons, neutrons, electrons, neutrinos, all of them, are made of tiny vibrating strings that oscillate at different frequencies. String Theory predicts the existence of 11 dimensions, as opposed to the 3 (4 with the time dimension), necessary for the strings to vibrate and emerge into what we know as matter and reality. Additionally, the M-Theory (a further development of string theory) predicts the existence of vibrating membranes. More to that, theoreticians say our universe may be a giant membrane, in the bulk (hyperspace) of the Type 2 Multiverse, vibrating in these 11 dimensions.
Some Big Bang theorists speculate on the idea that our Universe began when two such giant membranes (M-brane) collided with each other some 13.75 billion years ago.
Level 3 Multiverse: Quantum mechanics predicts, and indeed experiments done on single particles provide the evidence, that each constituent of matter can find itself in several places at the same time (see Double-slit experiment). When you zoom in to the quantum level everything becomes foggy. Yes, every particle is to be found in several dimensions (universes) at the same time, that is, in several universes that are in the same space and time as our universe but from other dimensions inaccessible to us. There is a parallel universe out there where you don’t read this article or you may have never been born.
Level 4 Multiverse: The Type 4 Multiverse contains all universes resembling our own, but also includes those having physical laws different from ours. The vast majority of the universes with these tweaked laws of physics may not be able to harbor life at all and probably are dull dark places with nothing interesting to show.
More >
Daniel Dennett’s opinion about God, Free Will, Consciousness, and Ethics – Interview by Robert Wright – PART 2
May 9th
This is a very interesting interview taken by Robert Wright, the American journalist, scholar, prize-winning author of best-selling books on popular science including subjects like evolutionary psychology, history, religion, and game theory, to Daniel Dennett; Dan is an American philosopher whose research focuses on the philosophy of mind, consciousness, philosophy of science and philosophy of evolutionary biology.
The interview begins with a discussion about God, natural selection, and the probability that evolution could lead to highly evolved intelligent conscious beings like humans.
The subject of Free Will is thoroughly debated. Dan is arguing against the widely accepted – but confusing when we consider this with hindsight – idea that Free Will is incompatible with determinism. He says that every variety of free will worth wanting we can have in a deterministic world. Paradoxically, quantum randomness cannot give us free will, it is just an illusion that it can. The phrase “The future is inevitable in a deterministic universe”, Dan argues, has no meaning. Why? Because the future is going to happen, whatever that is, in a in-deterministic universe also.
So, what we really need to talk about, when discussing the subject of free will, is avoidability (harm avoidance); that is what evolved beings do; they try to avoid harm, and attract what is good, by using “cognitive virtual reality simulators” that train the evolved, but not perfect, agent (human, animal, etc) to properly react to the future possible scenarios that life might face him with (one such cognitive virtual reality simulator is REM dreaming).
Furthermore, Dan says natural selection helps the evolution of free will : Evolution is an explosion of evitability! Freedom Evolves. From order comes freedom.
The other major subject of the debate is consciousness. Dan thinks Consciousness is the state of the brain, that is, the competition or “political fame” (“fame in the brain”) between content fixation mechanisms (daemons or neuronal structures) or more exactly between alliances of these neural structures. This is consciousness. THE PANDEMONIUM! THE TURMOIL! The fight for control. The act of those structures fighting with each other, over and over again, that is what it means for a person to be conscious.
Also, Dan argues against the absurd concept of Epiphenomenalism. That is, “Influenced by the brain, but does not in turn influence the brain” or more explicitly “The functioning of the brain creates consciousness, but consciousness does not have any effect in the functioning/activity of the brain”. Dan argues this is as absurd as saying “Seven ephiphenomenal gremlins exist in an internal combustion engine; there caused by the actions of the cylinders, they cause nothing in return; they are undetectable by any machine or test”. But consciousness is not like that because if the fact that you’re now telling us that you detect your consciousness is an effect of your “detecting it“, then your “detecting it” is an effect of the epiphenomenon and that is ruled out by its definition. So here we have it : Epiphenomenalism is false, therefore consciousness is causal.
Enjoy this brilliant interview! Here is the second part!
More >
Дэниел Деннет мнение о Боге, свободе воли, сознания и этики – Интервью Роберта Райта – ЧАСТЬ 2
May 9th
(Потому что наши русские читатели очень важны, мы сейчас в поисках профессионального переводчика. Мы приносим свои извинения, что на данный момент, мы можем лишь предоставить текст на английском языке.)
This is a very interesting interview taken by Robert Wright, the American journalist, scholar, prize-winning author of best-selling books on popular science including subjects like evolutionary psychology, history, religion, and game theory, to Daniel Dennett; Dan is an American philosopher whose research focuses on the philosophy of mind, consciousness, philosophy of science and philosophy of evolutionary biology.
The interview begins with a discussion about God, natural selection, and the probability that evolution could lead to highly evolved intelligent conscious beings like humans.
The subject of Free Will is thoroughly debated. Dan is arguing against the widely accepted – but confusing when we consider this with hindsight – idea that Free Will is incompatible with determinism. He says that every variety of free will worth wanting we can have in a deterministic world. Paradoxically, quantum randomness cannot give us free will, it is just an illusion that it can. The phrase “The future is inevitable in a deterministic universe”, Dan argues, has no meaning. Why? Because the future is going to happen, whatever that is, in a in-deterministic universe also.
So, what we really need to talk about, when discussing the subject of free will, is avoidability (harm avoidance); that is what evolved beings do; they try to avoid harm, and attract what is good, by using “cognitive virtual reality simulators” that train the evolved, but not perfect, agent (human, animal, etc) to properly react to the future possible scenarios that life might face him with (one such cognitive virtual reality simulator is REM dreaming).
Furthermore, Dan says natural selection helps the evolution of free will : Evolution is an explosion of evitability! Freedom Evolves. From order comes freedom.
The other major subject of the debate is consciousness. Dan thinks Consciousness is the state of the brain, that is, the competition or “political fame” (“fame in the brain”) between content fixation mechanisms (daemons or neuronal structures) or more exactly between alliances of these neural structures. This is consciousness. THE PANDEMONIUM! THE TURMOIL! The fight for control. The act of those structures fighting with each other, over and over again, that is what it means for a person to be conscious.
Also, Dan argues against the absurd concept of Epiphenomenalism. That is, “Influenced by the brain, but does not in turn influence the brain” or more explicitly “The functioning of the brain creates consciousness, but consciousness does not have any effect in the functioning/activity of the brain”. Dan argues this is as absurd as saying “Seven ephiphenomenal gremlins exist in an internal combustion engine; there caused by the actions of the cylinders, they cause nothing in return; they are undetectable by any machine or test”. But consciousness is not like that because if the fact that you’re now telling us that you detect your consciousness is an effect of your “detecting it“, then your “detecting it” is an effect of the epiphenomenon and that is ruled out by its definition. So here we have it : Epiphenomenalism is false, therefore consciousness is causal.
Enjoy this brilliant interview! Here is the second part!
