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Chapter 36 The Universal Law of Life

"Everyone, please tell me what life is? What is the definition of life?" the female host asked first. Her name is Heigl and she is an astronomer.

Upon hearing this question, the scientists present began to whisper among themselves.

Life is a very magical thing. This concept sounds simple, but in the scientific community, there is no particularly good definition. In some textbooks, life is defined as an object that reproduces and actively absorbs energy.

But people seem to be more inclined to use their own senses to define whether a thing is life. Can it move? Can it actively absorb energy? Or can it reproduce?

A car can absorb energy and move, but people think it is a dead object and does not have life characteristics.

An advanced robot can automatically absorb energy according to the program, and can even replicate itself. Of course, it is not considered life. This is the average person's point of view.

"An organic, low-entropy body that is born from nature, can actively absorb energy, and can reproduce itself, let's call it life. Maybe... in a narrow sense." This is Yu Yifeng's conclusion, and it is also general.

A scientist's perspective.

Well, this definition doesn’t matter much. Let’s not consider how to characterize the condition of “naturally born” for the time being. According to this definition, these Martian viruses should be considered life, right?

"Yes, the Martian virus should be considered a naturally occurring life." However, this kind of extraterrestrial life has brought a huge impact to scientists...

During the continuous discussion among the scientists, Yu Yifeng finally understood what they were talking about. The main reason was because of the Fermi Paradox.

Theoretically speaking, humans can fly to various planets in the Milky Way in 1 million, 10 million or even hundreds of millions of years. So, as long as aliens evolved tens of millions or billions of years earlier than humans, they should arrive now

To the solar system and observed by humans.

Millions of years, tens of millions of years, this type of time unit is too long for human beings. But on the scale of the universe, it is only an instant. The age of the universe is more than 13.8 billion years!

Therefore, it is entirely possible for aliens to exist tens of millions or billions of years earlier than humans.

However, so far, except for the inexplicable Noah, humans have found almost no traces of aliens.

In other words, the "Fermi Paradox" states this paradox:

1. Aliens do exist - Scientific inference can prove that aliens evolved much earlier than humans, and their traces should appear in the starry sky, but people have not found them.

2. Aliens do not exist, or in other words, human beings are already the top civilization in the universe.

Nowadays, most people tend to the first view, because - the emergence of Noah. It must be the crystallization of a super civilization, and it is a high-tech and boundless kind. It is impossible, Noah was born

It must be a long-lasting thing...

So the question arises, since higher-level alien civilizations do exist. Why have humans never discovered traces of alien civilizations’ activities? Why is the universe so empty and deserted?

There must be a reason for this!

Now, scientists want to find out why.

"There is an explanation. Advanced alien civilizations do exist, but their numbers are very small and we have not discovered them."

The host Heigl said that she is a middle-aged woman with white skin, wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses, and looks very solemn and dignified.

"Of course we also have other explanations, such as: alien civilization deliberately avoids us for some reasons and prevents us from discovering it. Or, the universe is a completely dark forest, and war will break out when two civilizations meet, etc."

"But these reasons are not sufficient...they cannot fully explain the vastness and silence of the universe."

With the current astronomical knowledge, no one thinks that the earth is any special planet. The sun and the earth are just ordinary parts of the vast universe, without any special characteristics.

Therefore, some people began to study whether there are planets similar to the Earth in the Milky Way and whether there is an environment more suitable for the survival of life.

There are about 200 billion stars in the vast Milky Way, and countless planets. Planets similar to the Earth must exist, and there are many of them.

The more famous one is the Drake equation, which was proposed by American astronomer Frank Drake in Green Bank Town in the 1960s. It can be used to predict "the number of alien civilizations that may come into contact with us in the Milky Way."

Someone once calculated the number of extraterrestrial civilizations based on the Drake equation. According to calculations, the number of advanced technological civilization planets in the Milky Way is at least 40, and up to 50 million!

The famous American science writer Asimov once proposed a formula similar to the Drake equation based on his own opinions, and estimated that there are approximately 530,000 civilized planets in the Milky Way. That is, for every 1 million stars in the Milky Way, there may be an average of 18

A world of high-tech civilization.

"But I think these estimated data may be too small because we have miscalculated the conditions for the birth of life..." Heigl said seriously.

Roman, Thomson and others sitting aside all nodded. Apparently, they had discussed this issue with each other many times.

"We used to think that life was rare. We thought that the conditions for the birth of life were very harsh, requiring water, enough atmosphere, suitable temperature, etc."

"But I didn't expect that there is life on Mars, even though it is just the simplest virus! But it is also life!"

"Assuming that life is rare, how can the solar system have two living planets? And we don't know whether there is life on Enceladus and Europa. Maybe there is life?"

"If life is rare and the chance is one in billions, why does the solar system have multiple planets with life?"

All the scientists began to think about Heigl's question. These words also made Yu Yifeng fall into deep thought. Assuming that life in the universe is rare, it is like buying a lottery. Winning once is very rare. Then why does the solar system win the lottery one after another?

?

Is it just good luck? Or is it some other reason?

After a while, Heigl continued to speak.

"The simplest explanation is that our major premise is wrong. Life is not rare... but universal!"

"Life is prevalent on all planets. In other words, there is far more than we imagined!"

These words immediately caused a huge sensation, and were even somewhat subversive. Many scientists immediately jumped up in disbelief. Human beings have been searching for extraterrestrial life, and it turns out that extraterrestrial life is common. This

The conclusion is really hard to accept.

However, Hegel's method of proof by contradiction is very exciting and logical.

Assume that life is rare in the universe. So why should a planet like Mars with no characteristics have life? There are not many planets with no characteristics like Mars in the universe!

Is it possible that human beings are so lucky that they can find rare life on any planet?

Therefore, the assumption that "life is rare" is most likely wrong. Therefore, if the assumption is not true, life is likely to be common.

Although he felt a little puzzled, Yu Yifeng could not think of a better explanation or anything to refute. He was lying to himself by saying that "the solar system is very special" and "human beings are very lucky".

.

Are humans really so lucky that they can encounter small-probability events on any planet?

So, life is universal in the universe, maybe... it's true! Think about it, if life is universal, then it's not surprising that the solar system has multiple planets with life.

"Yes, Professor Heigl, your reasoning is very good, and it is very likely to be correct. However, having life does not necessarily mean having wisdom."

The person who stood up to speak was Dr. Rimbaud, the genius of the Tesla Research Institute, the young man who discovered the "superspeed plan" of the Noah. He was young and energetic, and he would not hold back any ideas he had. "

It is also possible that most life forms on the planet are low-level single-celled organisms and do not possess intelligence."

"Yes, you are right." Heigl nodded and said in agreement: "So our next discussion is whether wisdom also has universality..."


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