From: Damien Broderick (damien@ariel.ucs.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Tue Aug 19 1997 - 05:34:56 MDT
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
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