Special Notice: Please only present your answers to the following questions in the drop box. This is only the question set. Do not place your answers on this page. Thanks!
Be sure to answer questions in your own words…
SETI ESSAY: For the following questions, provide an answer that is thoughtful and as specific as possible. Support your position with examples, facts or views that can be demonstrated from your class notes-Power point: Ordinary. Neatness and the correct use of grammar will be appreciated. The following is the question set. Please just send me your answers to each of the following questions (1-12). Pay special attention to the format of your answer to number one.
1. For each variable of the Drake equation, discuss two reasons why one would be optimistic for the variables evaluation and two reasons that make you less optimistic. (28 points)
The example for the first variable is shown below. Note the specific slide number notation-please include for full credit. You may copy and paste the Variable: The fraction of suitable stars answer below to your submitted work. Continue presenting your answer on a separate Microsoft word document with each variable thereafter with the template shown for the variable-The fraction of those stars with planetary systems
Variable: The fraction of suitable stars
Optimistic 1: Even if the fraction of suitable stars was small, the sheer enormity of the universe would make this number very large. (slide 12)
Optimistic 2: Stars have a long life span increases the odds that life would have the time to develop and exist elsewhere. Stars at high mass and temperature have short lived lives on the main sequence and produce large quantities of lethal radiation. The majority of stars are of the long life variety. (slide 15)
Pessimistic 1: Nearly 50% of the stars we see are members of multiple solar systems. (slide 22)
Pessimistic 2: Only a small fraction (4%) of the stars in the universe is of the same spectral class as our Sun. (slide 14)
Variable: The fraction of those stars with planetary systems
Optimistic 1:
Optimistic 2:
Pessimistic 1:
Pessimistic 2:
Other Variables: etc. NOTE: You must analyze the remaining variables for full credit (28 points) for this question to be completely answered.
2. Support your position with examples, facts or views that can be demonstrated from your class notes-Power point: Contact. Note the specific slide number notation-please include for full credit. What limitations make interstellar space travel difficult? In your answer, consider both high and low speed modes of travel. Discuss two obstacles for each way of travel. (4 points)
3. Summarize two points from the video below. (2 points)
View: Will We Ever Visit Other Stars?
4. Life seems to be built into the universe. Intelligent life appears to be rare. Peter Ward describes an idea that suggests that complex life is difficult to form on a planet. Specifically summarize his new view on past greenhouse mass extinction for our planet. (5 points)
View the TED video: Peter Ward: Earth’s mass extinctions
5. As intelligent life evolves on a planet it is likely to disturb the natural equilibrium of the planet’s environment. Civilizations will likely extract minerals etc. to transform their intellectual advancement and this has many consequences that impact the quality of the planet they inhabit. s intelligence emerges upon a planet the need to support a technological population calls us to examine how important it will be for them to be good stewards of their planet’s resources. They too must understand the interwoven complexities of all of their planet’s operational systems that make it an oasis in the cold and barren space they reside within. Our record on such an issue, noted Minnesotan, Thomas Friedman, reminds us is much to be desired. He observes, “It is no longer about the whales. It’s about us”. Summarize three points from the video below. (3 points)
View: Welcome to the Anthropocene
6. In our study we have been witness to the maturation of humanity. Knowing that our place in the universe is heliocentric and not geocentric is one measure of this intellectual growth. This seems to be one such marker by which other planetary civilizations could be also be judged. Our innate curiosity has also solved the problem of how our star generates its energy. From our present day scientific knowledge in many fields there are other numerous examples of our intellectual universe maturity.
How does the video below suggest a positive outcome from our cultural embrace of science and the resultant technological growth? (2 points)
View: Hans Rosling’s 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
7. In Brian Appleyard’s book Understanding the Present, he argues that science is socially and morally corrosive. In his view, it ruins the certainties that were in place that social life relied on for the past hundreds of centuries of our human history. It also appears to some observers that many of our current political world dialogues involve the conflict over fundamental beliefs and those represented by scientific modernity. Appleyard argues that the conflict of values seems to be split by those that embrace the success of science –its ability to “control” the world-and the loss of our ancient dependence on the spiritual life. He insists that it is the emotional content of our spiritual side that makes us human. Further he observes that with the advent of modern science, triggered by the Copernicus and Darwin revolutions, we have lost our sense of self and our purpose in life. As our discussion of the Drake Equation illustrated, cultural influences cannot be ignored as we consider a search for other sentient beings. Respond with a 100 word minimum personal reaction to Brian Appleyard’s conflict between awe and aha. (6 points)
8. Our biology reflects the abundance of the chemistry of the stars while our silicon based computers reflect the abundance of our earth’s surface. The aliens we imagine in our fiction generally reflect those based upon our chemistry. Researchers and futurists among us see a merger of chemistries in the world today and of the one in the near and long term future. Will advanced civilizations here and elsewhere be the result of this merger? (See web site video discussions in the power point-Contact) (3 points)
9a) Define Technological Singularity (1 point)
9b) How does the content of the above programs change your views of aliens and of our own species potential future? Limit your response between 100 and 250 words. (5 points)
10. In spite of some the major challenges that confront the establishment of intelligent life on a planet like ours, SETI science requires us to be optimists and like all science demands that such hunches require experimental results. What are some challenges confronting the Allen Array and what does it hope to accomplish? (3 points)
View: View: SETI Allen Telescope Array
11. Professor and author Paul Davies asserts that, “If we were to pick up a message from an alien civilization it would transform our world view beyond the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo, Darwin and Einstein put together.” Do you agree or disagree with Davies’ assertion that receiving a message from an alien civilization would “transform our world view beyond the discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo, and Darwin and Einstein put together”? Briefly summarize a significant contribution each person Davies mentions and then state your rationale for your position. (10 points)
12. Carl Sagan reminds us, “Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” Define the Fermi Paradox and list two “filters” that may be solutions to this problem. (3 points)
View: The Fermi Paradox
13. Michael Michaud suggests, “Astronomy has revealed that the external universe is not a neutral background, but an active arena than can affect our lives, our history and our prospects.” Now that you have experience with this subject, please respond to his thought with a hundred word (minimum) personal reaction. Feel free to site specific examples of lessons (favorite topics) you learned from this semester of study. (5 points)
View: The Pale Blue Dot
