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04-23-2014, 10:51 PM
Why Habitable Exoplanets Might Mean Humanity Is Doomed
http://rack.2.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE0LzA0LzIzLzY5L0tlcGxlci5jYjUzMC5qcGcKcAl0aH VtYgk1NzV4MzIzIwplCWpwZw/1012459c/ccd/Kepler.jpghttp://rack.3.mshcdn.com/assets/feed-tw-df3e816c4e85a109d6e247013aed8d66.jpg (http://twitter.com/share?via=Mashable&text=Why+Habitable+Exoplanets+Might+Mean+Humanity+ Is+Doomed&src=http%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2F2014%2F04%2F23%2Fh abitable-planets-human-extinction%2F%3Futm_campaign%3DMash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial%26utm_cid%3DMash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3Drss)htt p://rack.1.mshcdn.com/assets/feed-fb-fdab25e3700868c9621fb03b7fd07c38.jpg (http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2F2014%2F04 %2F23%2Fhabitable-planets-human-extinction%2F%3Futm_campaign%3DMash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial%26utm_cid%3DMash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial%26utm_medium%3Dfeed%26utm_source%3Drss&src=sp)
Last week, scientists an**unced (http://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/kepler-186f-the-first-earth-size-planet-in-the-habitable-zone/#.U1EqAuZdX5o) the discovery of Kepler 186f, a planet 492 light years away in the Cygnus constellation. Kepler 186f is special because it marks the first planet almost exactly the same size as Earth orbiting in the “habitable zone” – the distance from a star in which we might expect liquid water, and perhaps life.
What did **t make the news, however, is that this discovery also slightly increases how much credence we give to the possibility of near-term human extinction. This because of a concept k**wn as the Great Filter (http://hanson.gmu.edu/greatfilter.html).
The Great Filter is an argument that attempts to resolve the Fermi Paradox (http://www.seti.org/seti-institute/project/details/fermi-paradox): why have we **t found aliens, despite the existence of hundreds of billions of solar systems in our galactic neighborhood in which life might evolve? As the namesake physicist Enrico Fermi **ted, it seems rather extraordinary that **t a single extraterrestrial signal or engineering project (http://www.aleph.se/Nada/dysonFAQ.html) has been detected (UFO conspiracy theorists **twithstanding). Read more... (http://mashable.com/2014/04/23/habitable-planets-human-extinction/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss)
More about Space (http://mashable.com/space/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss), Nasa (http://mashable.com/category/nasa/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss), Us World (http://mashable.com/us-world/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss), World (http://mashable.com/world/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss), and Exoplanets (http://mashable.com/category/exoplanets/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss)http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/hOUemcIqDCI
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Last week, scientists an**unced (http://www.nasa.gov/ames/kepler/kepler-186f-the-first-earth-size-planet-in-the-habitable-zone/#.U1EqAuZdX5o) the discovery of Kepler 186f, a planet 492 light years away in the Cygnus constellation. Kepler 186f is special because it marks the first planet almost exactly the same size as Earth orbiting in the “habitable zone” – the distance from a star in which we might expect liquid water, and perhaps life.
What did **t make the news, however, is that this discovery also slightly increases how much credence we give to the possibility of near-term human extinction. This because of a concept k**wn as the Great Filter (http://hanson.gmu.edu/greatfilter.html).
The Great Filter is an argument that attempts to resolve the Fermi Paradox (http://www.seti.org/seti-institute/project/details/fermi-paradox): why have we **t found aliens, despite the existence of hundreds of billions of solar systems in our galactic neighborhood in which life might evolve? As the namesake physicist Enrico Fermi **ted, it seems rather extraordinary that **t a single extraterrestrial signal or engineering project (http://www.aleph.se/Nada/dysonFAQ.html) has been detected (UFO conspiracy theorists **twithstanding). Read more... (http://mashable.com/2014/04/23/habitable-planets-human-extinction/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss)
More about Space (http://mashable.com/space/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss), Nasa (http://mashable.com/category/nasa/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss), Us World (http://mashable.com/us-world/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss), World (http://mashable.com/world/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss), and Exoplanets (http://mashable.com/category/exoplanets/?utm_campaign=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=rss)http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Mashable/~4/hOUemcIqDCI