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Astrobiology: Exploring Other Worlds > Week 6: SETI and Cosmic Companionship > Flashcards

Week 6: SETI and Cosmic Companionship Flashcards

1
Q

what is the neolithic revolution?

A

12,500 years ago
when humans learned to practice agriculture

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2
Q

What are some major effects of the neolithic revolution?

A

transition from nomadic to sedentary lifestyles
stability from this allows development of new aspects of society like social structures, increasing size of social groups, cultivation of specialized skills
led to development of the field of astronomy!!

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3
Q

How was astronomy viewed in early sedentary human societies?

A

very important for religion, keeping track of time for farming
cities build around astronomical temples
flourished in islamic empire during european dark ages

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4
Q

What are geocentrism and heliocentrism?

A

geocentrism - earth is the center of the universe, the sun and planets orbit around earth
heliocentrism - the sun is the center of the solar system, the earth and planets orbit around it

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5
Q

How did the printing press impact the field of astronomy?

A

allows information to be rapidly spread
facilitates shift to heliocentrism

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6
Q

What is the Copernican revolution?

A

(1543)
nicolaus copernicus publishes mathematical proof for heliocentrism
implies that stars must be very far away -> increases known size of universe

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7
Q

What contributions did francis bacon make to science in 1620?

A

introduces idea of scientific method
focus on being unbiased + logical

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8
Q

What is deductive reasoning?

A

specific conclusions drawn from general premises assumed to be true
if premises are false, argument falls apart

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9
Q

What is inductive reasoning?

A

general conclusions drawn from observed evidence / data

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10
Q

What is empirical evidence?

A

logical evidence from observation
foundation of all science
must be reproducible to be trusted in science

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11
Q

True or false: as science improves, we begin to understand that the universe as a whole is smaller than previously thought.

A

false
scientific innovations increase the size of the known universe

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12
Q

What published works acted as the culmination of the copernican revolution?

A

isaac newton’s laws of gravitation (1687)

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13
Q

Describe the voyager I mission in relation to interstellar communication

A

launched in 1977
contained a golden record with information sent out to potential alien life
not a realistic attempt at communication because it won’t reach another star system for a long time, more metaphorical purpose

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14
Q

What is the most efficient way to send out interstellar communication?

A

electromagnetic radiation!

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15
Q

what are the benefits of electromagnetic radiation as a medium for interstellar communication?

A

fast
can travel through vacuum of space
no limit on distance or amound of information sent

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16
Q

Describe the rate of development of interstellar communication for humans.

A

it took a long time to get where we are now!
2 million years to come up with agriculture
10,500 years to develop wireless interstellar communication
improvement is exponential

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17
Q

Why is SETI a misnomer?

A

stands for search for extraterrestrial life
we aren’t really searching for life, just technology created by life

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18
Q

why do we listen for / send out radio waves for contacting alien civilizations?
(2 reasons)

A

radio waves have longer wavelengths than visible light so they can bass through interstellar gas and dust
also are relatively low energy + cheap to produce

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18
Q

what is the breakthrough listen?

A

project looking for radio waves and laser transmissions from extraterrestrial technology (2016-2026)
most comprehensive study in search of alien transmissions

18
Q

What is the SETI institute?

A

nonprofit (founded in 1984)
researches extraterrestrial life

19
Q

describe optical SETI

A

idea that extremely powerful pulse lasers could be used to outshine a star for short instants
monitoring + sampling light of nearby stars in search of extraterrestrial life doing this

20
Q

What is tabby’s star? describe its significance

A

star observed to dramatically dim in brightness (by 22%) nonperiodically
modern evidence points to a dust cloud being the real answer (not aliens :( )

21
Q

describe fermi’s paradox

A

if the conditions for life are common, where is everyone?
- our civilization is young, but more advanced societies should have remarkable capabilities
- there are many potential sites for life in the universe and plenty of time for them to become advanced

22
Q

what main aspect of physics limits our communication with extraterrestrials?

A

the speed of light

23
Q

What is the drake equation?

A

hypothetical equation that determines the number of civilizations in the galaxy which we could communicate with
N = R* x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc x L

24
Q

What is R* in the drake equation?

A

rate at which long lived stars form

25
Q

What is f_p in the drake equation?

A

fraction of stars with at least one planet

26
Q

what is n_e in the drake equation?

A

number of planets in the habitable sone of each star system (potential to support life)

27
Q

What is f_l in the drake equation?

A

fraction of habitable planets in which life will arise

28
Q

What is f_i in the drake equation?

A

fraction of planets with life that develop intellegent life

29
Q

What is f_c in the drake equation?

A

fraction of planets with intelligent life that develop the means for interstellar communication

30
Q

What is L in the drake equation?

A

length of time civilizations with communication ability exist

31
Q

Which values in the drake equation are known and which are uncertain?

A

known: R*, f_p, n_e
uncertain: f_l, f_i, f_c, L, N

32
Q

what are two limitations of the drake equation?

A

only applies to milky way
fairly simplistic, more complex models exist

33
Q

At our current top speed for space travel, how long would it take us to reach the closest potentially earthlike exoplanet (proxima b)?

A

115,000 years

34
Q

True or false: as technology improves, the technology we use for rockets has changed greatly.

A

false
rockets have kind of stayed the same
our top speed has increased over time though

35
Q

What method do we use in planning space missions to maximise speed?

A

gravity assist
taking advantage of the gravity of massive bodies

36
Q

True or false: at our current rate of improvement in space travel technology, space travel could become feasible for us within this generation.

A

false
at our current rate (17x faster every 55 years) it would take at least a few generations

37
Q

What is starshot?

A

SETI institute initiative attempting to achieve near-light speed unmanned travel using miniature probes containing sensors

38
Q

what is artificial life?

A

emerging field of study focusing on the possibility of computational life

39
Q

describe the simulation argument

A

one or more of the following must be true:
01. chances are low that species at our level of development can avoid going extinct before reaching technological maturity
02, almost no technologically mature civilizations are interested in simulating minds like ours for whatever reason
03. you are almost certainly in a simulation

40
Q

define technological maturity in context of the simulation argument

A

the point at which intelligent civilizations can create simulated beings like themselves

41
Q

describe the simulation hypothesis

A

for every non-virtual early 21st century human life there are many more virtual lives very similar to them
this means that the chances of you being the one non-simulated one are very low

42
Q

what is substrate independence?

A

idea that life and consciousness can be created computationally
assumption of simulation hypothesis

43
Q

what is the ancestor simulation?

A

simulation of entire mental history of humankind

44
Q

At our current rate, when will the ancestor simulation become feasible?

A

50 or 60 years :0

Astrobiology: Exploring Other Worlds (6 decks)

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