Relevances to Poul Anderson's works:
despite all the exoplanets, Lovelock thinks that intelligence is so improbable that it probably exists only on Earth;
but he buys into the strong anthropic principle, i.e., that intelligence had to develop (I still don't get this);
he thinks that it is far more important to learn how to keep Earth habitable than to colonize the totally uninhabitable planet, Mars;
he adds that Mars might be suitable for artificial intelligences;
he seems just to assume that AIs will become conscious;
but he calls them "cyborgs," implying that they will retain an organic element;
he questions whether they would be able to move out into the galaxy and the universe in view of the light speed limit.
Apart from this last point, the future of Novacene is similar to the future of Anderson's Genesis.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
But your summary makes Lovelock's book seem confusing and self contradictory. First, he says intelligent life is so improbable that it appeared only on Earth--then he says intelligence had to arise.
I simply don't buy that notion, about intelligence being so rare! One hundred billion or more stars in our galaxy alone, with our solar system the only one to have intelligence? I don't believe that!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The anthropic principle, which I do not defend, states that intelligence had to arise at least once.
I do accept that a lot of random processes had to happen over a very long time for there to be unicellular organisms, multicellular organisms, consciousness, intelligence and technology, then technology that will not destroy itself quickly, so it is possible that we are the first.
The universe is expanding so the size of the universe is a function of its age but a great age was necessary for the first technological civilization to arise. So the size of the universe need not entail that it is full of intelligences.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
God's time is not man's time. Meaning intelligence would need a very long time to evolve into existence on any planet. Intelligent races don't have to be as numerous as we see them in the Technic stories--but neither do I think them to be that rare.
Also, Anderson suggested in IS THERE LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS? that the human race might have achieved a high tech civilization sooner than many other species.
Ad astra! Sean
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