From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Date: Wed May 08 2002 - 21:40:44 MDT
"Robert J. Bradbury" wrote:
>
> What isn't said is that over time there is a decrease in the
> probability of forming stars that will produce hypernovas.
> So the galaxy becomes increasingly safe -- the question becomes
> when it is "safe enough" for life to evolve. The article also
> ignores that nature has the capability to evolve much more radiation
> tolerant genomes that we mere humans have. Selection pressure
> can compensate for the hazard function to a limited extent.
One mass extinction every hundred million years may not be enough
statistical regularity to produce adaptation. If there were zones of mild
and increasing radiation, then sure, you'd get species evolving more
radiation tolerance and gradually moving into more and more hazardous
niches. One mass extinction every hundred million years seems more to me
like survival of the stable than survival of the fittest, and survival of
the stable doesn't produce complex functional adaptation.
-- -- -- -- --
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky http://singinst.org/
Research Fellow, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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