From: Jason Joel Thompson (jasonjthompson@home.com)
Date: Thu Oct 26 2000 - 13:58:49 MDT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Bostrom" <nick@nickbostrom.com>
> >... Remember: no matter how small a fraction of all solar systems in our
> >infinite universe develop life, we would by neccessity find that we
> >(Earthlings and Martians) originate from one of the exceptional ones that
> >did.
>
> Yes, but it would not be necessary that we would have found ourselves
> originating from a solar system where two civilizations had evolved
> independently. That is the extra finding that would make all the
> difference. If the evolution of intelligent life is very improbable then
it
> would have been extremely unlikely that it would have happened on another
> planet in our own solar system.
No, you see, you're stuck measuring things on a plantary scale. Couldn't we
instead surmise that our -solar system- was particularly good at creating
life-bearing conditions?
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