Re: orders of magnitude

Damien Broderick (damien@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
Tue, 19 Aug 1997 11:34:56 +0000


At 10:22 AM 8/18/97 CST, Rick wrote:

> > "There are hundreds of billions of stars in
> > the galaxy, and if only one in a million had
> > planets, and if only one in a million of those
> > had life, and if one in a million of those had
> > intelligent life, there could be millions of
> > intelligent civilizations out there."
> > -Jodie Foster in Contact
>
> [Dan] wrote:
>
> This was one of the most egregious science blunders in
> an otherwise scientifically excellent movie. I turned to
> my daughter as we listened to this an said "the numbers don't
> work!" She already had a grimace on her face.
>
> Rick Knight responds:

> I remember thinking when she gave that line that "millions" was much
> more than necessary for our purposes.

I haven't seen the movie, but I do know that directors like to cut & paste.
I wonder if the original script line was:

"There are hundreds of billions of stars in the galaxy, and hundreds of
billions of galaxies in the universe, and if only one in a million of those
stars had planets, and if only one in a million of those had life, and if
one in a million of those had intelligent life, there could be millions of
intelligent civilizations out there."

`Nah,' sez the director, `too wordy, let's just cut this bit about the--'

Damien Broderick