Quote:
Originally Posted by ngcles
As I said before, I'd suggest if you are interested in the subject; "The Rare Earth Hypothesis" by Ward and Brownlee (who are real and highly regarded scientists) is a proper eye-opener on what it takes to go from a nebula to intelligent beings who can mix concrete and sign complicated insurance forms.
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There's quite a few problems with the Rare Earth Hypothesis and I wouldn't recommend it as a place to start if you're interested in the subject of extra terrestrial life & intelligence. It hardly suffices as an encompassing overview of the state of the art (
CraigS' link to wikipedia is a far better way to get started).
In fact, just this week alone 3 news items (including this NASA press release) popped up that undermine the Rare Earth Hypothesis' base assumption that earth & its location in the universe is privileged.