Monthly Archives: October 2007

The Sun's Twin

Well, now here’s an interesting development:

Sun’s ‘twin’ an ideal hunting ground for alien life

Astronomers have found the most Sun-like star yet, and they say it is an ideal place to hunt for alien civilisations.

The star, called HIP 56948, lies a little more than 200 light years from Earth. Its size, mass, temperature, and chemical makeup are all so similar to the Sun’s that no measurable differences could be found in high-resolution observations made by the 2.7-metre telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, US.

Apparently, this star is one of about 17,000 that SETI is currently targeting as similar enough to our own sun to warrant interest. This one is the closest match found to date. It’s more than 200 light years away, so any civilization living on one of its planets has not yet been treated to I Love Lucy reruns.

One important difference — this star is about a billion years older than the sun. So any earth-like planet there would have had more time to develop life and civilization than we did — assuming that we managed to pull it off fairly quickly. It’s so hard to estimate with only one data point. On the other hand, assuming we developed slowly or at about average speed, any civilization that was once there could now be long gone.

Maybe the Lifeboat Foundation should join in on the exploration of these 17,000 stars, looking for clues as to what might have brought past civilizations down. Call it SEETI – the Search for Extinct Extraterrestrial Civilizations.

The Sun’s Twin

Well, now here’s an interesting development:

Sun’s ‘twin’ an ideal hunting ground for alien life

Astronomers have found the most Sun-like star yet, and they say it is an ideal place to hunt for alien civilisations.

The star, called HIP 56948, lies a little more than 200 light years from Earth. Its size, mass, temperature, and chemical makeup are all so similar to the Sun’s that no measurable differences could be found in high-resolution observations made by the 2.7-metre telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas, US.

Apparently, this star is one of about 17,000 that SETI is currently targeting as similar enough to our own sun to warrant interest. This one is the closest match found to date. It’s more than 200 light years away, so any civilization living on one of its planets has not yet been treated to I Love Lucy reruns.

One important difference — this star is about a billion years older than the sun. So any earth-like planet there would have had more time to develop life and civilization than we did — assuming that we managed to pull it off fairly quickly. It’s so hard to estimate with only one data point. On the other hand, assuming we developed slowly or at about average speed, any civilization that was once there could now be long gone.

Maybe the Lifeboat Foundation should join in on the exploration of these 17,000 stars, looking for clues as to what might have brought past civilizations down. Call it SEETI – the Search for Extinct Extraterrestrial Civilizations.

Languages Going Extinct

Here’s another side of accelerating change — human languages are disappearing with alarming rapidity, going extinct at a rate “that exceeds that of birds, mammals, fish and plants.” It’s interesting that while technology and mass culture are killing languages, technology is also making it possible for people who speak two different languages to communicate with each other even without having to learn the other language.

Maybe this will reduce the extinction pressure and enable some languages to survive? Of course, even languages that don’t survive in the carbon substrate (human beings) may have a bright future in the silicon substrate (computers.)

UPDATE FROM STEPHEN:

I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand any loss of knowledge or culture is a very bad thing. On the other hand, language difference has been the greatest barrier to communication throughout the history of the world.

Comparing the cultural evolution represented by language extinction to the tragedy of species extinction seems a bit of a stretch.

The language barrier has allowed all kinds of atrocities. Imagine how different United States history would have been had there been no language barrier between native people and Europeans. Perhaps the West would not have been won or lost. It could have been shared.

But, as Phil suggested, maybe in the near future we can have the best of both worlds – a rich tableau of language, AND no language barrier. With superintelligence or computer enhanced intelligence perhaps we could know many languages. If you encountered a person who spoke a rare language you could quickly learn and use that language to show respect.

Obviously for an endangered language to be part of this future it has to survive. Rare languages are often spoken by bilingual people who use a more dominant language outside the home. The multicultural impulse to save those languages is not likely to perpetuate a language barrier. The barrier is already down.