Billions of Earth-Like Planets Exist, Scientists Say [View all]
Billions of Earth-Like Planets Exist, Scientists Say
About 4.4 billion planets are similar to Earth in size and temperature, suggesting they may be able to host life, according to a survey of the galaxy using telescopes operating in space and on the ground.
The number is an estimate based on information taken from 42,000 stars similar to the Earth’s sun and their surrounding planets by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Kepler Space Telescope, as well as telescopes in Hawaii. Ideal planet climate -- not too hot or too cold -- was determined by how far they were away from their stars, according to the report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Based on what I've learned about the thermodynamic origins of life, this prompts me to speculate that perhaps a tenth of them develop life at some point. Perhaps a tenth of those life-bearing planets go on to develop intelligent life. And of those, maybe 10% develop technological civilizations capable of radio and flat-screen televisions. Five million planetary-scale technological civilizations in this galaxy alone.
Every one of which goes extinct because they begin burning stored carbon for its energy long before they have the scientific knowledge necessary to figure out global warming, and there is nobody out there to warn them of their mistake.
Humans are really very standard life-forms, when you look at us from a galaxy or two away.
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