[ExI] kepler study says 8.8e9 earthlike planets

[John Clark]

On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 11:48 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

>> … And even bacteria are "astronomically" more complex than such a simple
>> 20 element peptide chain
>
>
>
> John keep in mind that this argument ignores the possibility that the
> simplest possible life form is as complex as the simplest lifeform
> currently on earth.
>

Yes, the first lifeform was probably simpler than anything we see today,
but it can't be too simple because it must not only have the ability to
reproduce itself it must have heredity. Fire can reproduce itself but it
has no heredity. And if it were really simple we would have already figured
out what it must have been, and we haven't.

>  I tend to see everything thru the lens of controls engineering (we
> control freaks are like that.)
>

If you like control you should like a little negative feedback, without it
Watt's steam engine wouldn't work properly and amplifiers tend to go crazy.
The worst positive audio feedback I ever heard was when I was young and
went to a lecture by the physicist Paul Dirac. Everybody wanted to hear the
great man so they held it in the largest lecture hall. He had a rather soft
voice so somebody had the bright idea of handing him a microphone, Dirac
opened his mouth to start the lecture and the loudest most painful most
godawful howling screech I have ever heard filled the hall. It sounded like
the tortures of the damned and people, including me, were putting their
hands over their ears. Surprisingly Dirac remained perfectly serene and
calmly watched as embarrassed high ranking university officials ran around
in circles trying to fix the problem. Eventually it was decided to just
pull the plug and ditch the microphone, and Dirac then restarted his
lecture as if nothing had happened.

> if negative feedback loops eventually dominate our intelligence model,
> then all we are is dust in the wind.
>

It's positive feedback loops that I worry about, not of intelligence but of
emotions; look at all the problems that drugs have caused the human race in
the last few decades, and they only provide rudimentary access to the
emotional control panel, imagine if it was the real deal.

  John K Clark
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