X-Message-Number: 11213
Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 15:55:43 +0100
From:  (John de Rivaz)
Subject: Re: ETs and simulated universes

ETs
^^^
In his popular science book "Science of Aliens"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=046507314X/longevitybooksA/
Dr Pickover discusses the tenacity of life and how it has appeared on Earth 
in the most unexpected places. The possibility of less hospitable planets 
being totally sterile then seems remote. Of course some kind of like does 
not mean intelligent like, and indeed human history may have always remained 
in the Dark Ages. One only has to watch films like "Braveheart", about life 
in Britain in the 1300s, to marvel that we ever managed to advance at all. 

It will be interesting see if anything that remotely respembles life is 
found when they have managed to recoer material from comets and the other 
solar system planets.

Simulated Universes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Some Cryonet comments appeared about simulated universes.

If a group of sentient beings puts itself in a simulated universe, they 
would still be exterminated if the environment in which the simulation is 
running comes to an end. It seems to me if this technological heaven is so 
wonderful that they forget all about reality, then this is a very dangerous 
procedure. [Sci fi story someone - "Our Hero" discovers we are living in a 
simulation in a system that is coming to an end, and single handedly 
recovers the situation?]

Dr Pickover conjectures about life existing in the universe where there is 
no matter left except electrons. This life would be in movements in these 
electrons and be very slow moving, but it would still simulate matter filled 
universes like ours. With all the matter gone this would be the only 
sensible thing to do, but living in Yvan Bozzonetti's quantum computer 
inside a pulsar that has a much shorter life would be unneccessarily 
lifespan limiting.

-- 
Sincerely,     * Longevity Report:  http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/lr.htm
John de Rivaz  * Fractal Report:    http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/fr.htm
**************** Homepage:http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JohndeR
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