2012 How does the Earth system generate and maintain thermodynamic disequilibrium and what does it imply for the future of the planet?
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221792620_How_does_the_Earth_system_generate_and_maintain_thermodynamic_disequilibrium_and_what_does_it_imply_for_the_future_of_the_planet

The chemical composition of the earths atmosphere far from equilibrium is unique in the solar system and has been attributed to the presence of widespread life.

Here I show that this perspective can be quantified using non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Generating disequilibrium in a thermodynamic variable requires the extraction of power from another thermodynamic gradient, and the second law of thermodynamics imposes fundamental limits on how much power can be extracted. When applied to complex earth system processes, where several irreversible processes compete to deplete the same gradients, it is easily shown that the maximum thermodynamic efficiency is much less than the classic Carnot limit, so that the ability of the earth system to generate power and disequilibrium is limited.

This approach is used to quantify how much free energy is generated by various earth system processes to generate chemical disequilibrium. It is shown that surface life generates orders of magnitude more chemical free energy than any abiotic surface process, therefore being the primary driving force for shaping the geochemical environment at the planetary scale.

To apply this perspective to the possible future of the planet, we first note that the free energy consumption by human activity is a considerable term in the free energy budget of the planet, and that global changes are closely related to this consumption of free energy. Since human activity and demands for free energy is going to increase in the future, the central question is how human free energy demands can increase sustainably without negatively impacting the ability of the earth system to generate free energy. I illustrate the implications of this thermodynamic perspective by discussing the forms of renewable energy and planetary engineering that would enhance overall free energy generation and thereby "empower" the future of the planet

Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth | Adam Frank | Talks at Google
https://youtu.be/rPY6N_qqAaE


Joe Rogan And Adam Frank "Alien Life"
https://youtu.be/ZkDVEqS6fIY


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2016 A New Empirical Constraint on the Prevalence of Technological Species in the Universe
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2015.1418

Recent advances in exoplanet studies provide strong constraints on all astrophysical terms in the Drake equation. Using these and modifying the form and intent of the Drake equation, we set a firm lower bound on the probability that one or more technological species have evolved anywhere and at any time in the history of the observable Universe. We find that as long as the probability that a habitable zone planet develops a technological species is larger than ∼10−24, humanity is not the only time technological intelligence has evolved. This constraint has important scientific and philosophical consequences

2016 At Land's End: Novel Spaces and the Limits of Planetarity
https://read.dukeupress.edu/novel/article-abstract/49/1/115/49600/At-Land-s-End-Novel-Spaces-and-the-Limits-of

This essay contends that planetarity may be insufficiently divorced from globalization—its putative opposite—to provide a critical lens for understanding and countering its effects: specifically, anthropogenic climate change and global economic inequality. The argument begins by documenting the affinities between planetarity's redemptive, world-building ambitions, on one hand, and both Kantian cosmopolitanism and turn-of-the-twentieth-century articulations of “planetary consciousness” (as particularly evident in speculative fiction) on the other. The common denominator of these discourses (explicit in the earlier texts, oblique in the later ones) is a logic of global improvement, control, and growth precipitated by an existential threat. In both H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds and Dipesh Chakrabarty's seminal “The Climate of History: Four Theses,” for instance, a suddenly changed Earth galvanizes humanity into collective existence, converting discrete individuals into a species aligned, paradoxically, both with and against the planet. The essay then considers the violent histories associated with such attempts to meet global problems with global solutions, asserting that the difficulty inheres in the planetary scale itself. Concluding that all contemporary planetarities—like their early twentieth-century equivalents—are at least partly attempts to remake the world in our preferred image, the argument closes by considering a humbler alternative inspired by fleeting moments in Jack London's socialist fiction: a general strike that would withdraw our maintenance of the world in favor of more plural and livable affiliations; a nonapocalyptic end to the world that might offer a means of surviving the Anthropocene.

Bringing Culture to Cosmos: Cultural Evolution, the Postbiological Universe, and SETI | SpringerLink
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-41614-0_12

The Biological Universe (Dick, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996) analyzed the history of the extraterrestrial life debate, documenting how scientists have assessed the chance of life beyond Earth during the twentieth century. Here I propose another option—that we may in fact live in a postbiological universe, one that has evolved beyond flesh and blood intelligence to artificial intelligence (AI) and that is a product of cultural rather than biological evolution. Davies (Basic Books, New York: 51–55, 1995) and others have broached the subject, but the argument has not been given the attention it is due, nor has it been carried to its logical conclusion. This paper argues for the necessity of long-term thinking when contemplating the problem of intelligence in the universe. It provides arguments for a postbiological universe based on the likely age and lifetimes of technological civilizations and the overriding importance of cultural evolution as an element of cosmic evolution. Additionally, it describes the general nature of a postbiological universe and its implications for SETI.

2018 The Anthropocene generalized: evolution of exo-civilizations and their planetary feedback
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2017.1671

We present a framework for studying generic behaviors possible in the interaction between a resource-harvesting technological civilization (an exo-civilization) and the planetary environment in which it evolves. Using methods from dynamical systems theory, we introduce and analyze a suite of simple equations modeling a population which consumes resources for the purpose of running a technological civilization and the feedback those resources drive on the state of the host planet. The feedbacks can drive the planet away from the initial state the civilization originated in and into domains that are detrimental to its sustainability.

Our models conceptualize the problem primarily in terms of feedbacks from the resource use onto the coupled planetary systems. In addition, we also model the population growth advantages gained via the harvesting of these resources.

We present three models of increasing complexity:
(1) Civilization-planetary interaction with a single resource;
(2) Civilization-planetary interaction with two resources each of which has a different level of planetary system feedback;
(3) Civilization-planetary interaction with two resources and nonlinear planetary feedback (i.e., runaways).

All three models show distinct classes of exo-civilization trajectories. We find smooth entries into long-term, “sustainable” steady states. We also find population booms followed by various levels of “die-off.” Finally, we also observe rapid “collapse” trajectories for which the population approaches n = 0.

Our results are part of a program for developing an “Astrobiology of the Anthropocene” in which questions of sustainability, centered on the coupled Earth-system, can be seen in their proper astronomical/planetary context. We conclude by discussing the implications of our results for both the coupled Earth system and for the consideration of exo-civilizations across cosmic history

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Adam Frank on Civilizations and Climate Change | California Academy of Sciences
https://youtu.be/jWd5pxc-QW4

[2109.08926] Panspermia in a Milky Way-like Galaxy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.08926

The study shows that panspermia is at least possible, though there's no simple answer to the question. They found that while median habitability increases with galactocentric radius, while the probability for panspermia is inverse. That's because of the higher star density in the galactic bulge.

But panspermia probability is low in the central disk. That's because of higher supernova rates and a lower escape fraction due to higher metallicity. Natural habitability doesn't vary much throughout the galaxy, whereas panspermia probability varies widely, by several orders of magnitude.

The team found no correlation between the probability of panspermia and the habitability of the receiving particle. (In this study, particle refers to a high number of stars, due to the simulation's low resolution.)

Lastly, they found that panspermia is less effective than in-situ prebiotic evolution, although they say that they can't quantify that precisely.

Can Life Spread From Star to Star? The Theory of Galactic Panspermia
https://youtu.be/GpunfQb8OVU

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Overcoming Bias : On UFOs-As-Aliens Priors
https://www.overcomingbias.com/2021/06/on-ufo-as-aliens-priors.html

2022 Infrared and Optical Detectability of Dyson Spheres at White Dwarf Stars
https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.09627

It has been hypothesized that advanced technological civilizations will construct giant space colonies and supporting infrastructures to orbit about their home stars. With data from recent satellites that operate at infrared and optical wavelengths (Spitzer, WISE, TESS, Kepler), in company with a few modest assumptions, it is now possible to begin to constrain observationally the frequency of such space-based civilizations in our Milky Way Galaxy.



The aliens are all hanging out on Dyson spheres circling white dwarfs, physicist argues | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/aliens-hiding-on-dyson-spheres-around-white-dwarfs

According to a new paper written by Zuckerman and accepted in May for publication in the journal(opens in new tab) Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, it seems unlikely that an alien civilization would choose to go through the trouble of traveling to a new star just to build a Dyson sphere. Thus, they're only going to build these megastructures around their home stars, which will eventually turn into white dwarfs.

This allows scientists to make a direct connection between stellar lifetimes and the prevalence of Dyson spheres. So, Zuckerman reasoned, if astronomers look for Dyson spheres around white dwarfs and come up empty, that can help estimate how many advanced civilizations may exist in the galaxy. Here’s how the logic works: Astronomers have only measured a small fraction of all the white dwarfs in the galaxy. But if enough aliens decided to build Dyson spheres around their white dwarf homes, then we should see at least one Dyson sphere in our surveys. If we don’t see any at all, then that sets an upper limit on the number of alien civilizations building Dyson spheres around white dwarfs. Of course there could be aliens who decide not to build Dyson spheres, or aliens that build spheres around other kinds of stars, but Zuckerman argues that over the age of the Milky Way the most likely outcome of advanced civilizations is to build a Dyson sphere around their white dwarf, and so we should focus our searches in that direction

2015 Extraterrestrial artificial intelligences and humanity’s cosmic future: Answering the Fermi paradox through the construction of a Bracewell-Von Neumann AGI
https://jetpress.org/v25.1/miletic.htm


A probable solution of the Fermi paradox, and a necessary step in humanity’s cosmic development, is the construction of a Bracewell-Von Neumann (BN) Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). The use of BN probes is the most plausible method of initial galactic exploration and communication for advanced ET civilizations, and our own cosmic evolution lies firmly in the utilization of, and cooperation with, AGI agents. To establish these claims, I explore the most credible developmental path from carbon-based life forms to planetary civilizations and AI creation. I consider the likely physical characteristics of extraterrestrial AI probes and propose ways to predict their behavior. Lastly, I ponder the possible trajectories for humanity’s cosmic future

2008 Implications of an Anthropic Model of Evolution for Emergence of Complex Life and Intelligence


https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ast.2006.0115

Structurally complex life and intelligence evolved late on Earth; models for the evolution of global temperature suggest that, due to the increasing solar luminosity, the future life span of the (eukaryote) biosphere will be “only” about another billion years, a short time compared to the ∼4 Ga since life began. A simple stochastic model (Carter, 1983) suggests that this timing might be governed by the necessity to pass a small number, n, of very difficult evolutionary steps, with n < 10 and a best guess of n = 4, in order for intelligent observers like ourselves to evolve. Here I extend the model analysis to derive probability distributions for each step. Past steps should tend to be evenly spaced through Earth's history, and this is consistent with identification of the steps with some of the major transitions in the evolution of life on Earth. A complementary approach, identifying the critical steps with major reorganizations in Earth's biogeochemical cycles, suggests that the Archean-Proterozoic and Proterozoic-Phanerozoic transitions might be identified with critical steps. The success of the model lends support to a “Rare Earth” hypothesis (Ward and Brownlee, 2000): structurally complex life is separated from prokaryotes by several very unlikely steps and, hence, will be much less common than prokaryotes. Intelligence is one further unlikely step, so it is much less common still

pojem inteligence jako jednotici motiv pro planetaritu - zive, nezive, umele inteligence, spektrum inteligenci


Astrovirology, Astrobiology, Artificial Intelligence: Extra-Solar System Investigations | SpringerLink
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-29022-1_20

Coming to an understanding of the plurality of extraterrestrial intelligence is an optimal objective, in order to avoid causing harm on exoplanets, as well as avoiding conflict and possible human devastation. This is especially the case if we encounter greatly advanced galactic-level civilizations, compared to terrestrial civilizations. Their machine and bionic technologies on the Dyson engineering civilization scale may be prominently superior to ours; their biological expertise may be similarly critically radical.

2016 Imagining Planetarity: Toward a Postcolonial Franciscan Theology of Creation
https://dlib.bc.edu/islandora/object/bc-ir:107266

The proliferation in recent decades of “stewardship model” approaches for developing a theology of creation, which places human beings at the center of the cosmos as caretakers or managers of the divine oikos, is the result of an intentional effort to correct overtly problematic “dominion model” approaches that have contributed both to reifying a sense of human sovereignty and the resulting environmental degradation.

However, the first part of this dissertation argues that the stewardship model of creation actually operates under many of the same problematic presuppositions as the dominion model, and therefore does not offer a correction but rather a tacit re-inscription of the very same pitfalls.

After close consideration and analysis of the stewardship model, this dissertation identifies scriptural, theological, and philosophical sources to support the adoption of a “kinship” or “community of creation” model. Drawing on postcolonial theorists and theologians as key critical and constructive interlocutors, this project then proposes the concept of “planetarity” as a framework for conceiving of the relationship between human and other-than-human creation, as well as the relationship between the whole of creation and the Creator, in a new way.

This theoretical framework invites a theological supplément, which, this dissertation argues, is found best in the writings of the medieval Franciscan tradition. Several distinctive characteristics of the Franciscan theological tradition offer key constructive contributions. Among these themes are the foundational sense of the interrelatedness, mutuality, and intended harmony of creation within the early spiritual texts and later Franciscan theological and philosophical writings; John Duns Scotus’s distinctive principle of individuation; the alternative appropriation of Peter John Olivi’s category of usus pauper for use in navigating the tension between creation’s intrinsic and instrumental value; and the application of a Franciscan understanding of the virtue of pietas as a proposal for environmental praxis.

The result is what can be called a postcolonial Franciscan theology of creation imagined in terms of planetarity as reconceived in a theological key. It is a constructive and non-anthropocentric response to the need for a new conceptualization of the doctrine of creation.

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The Anthropocene as Planetarity in Deep Time | Living with Tiny Aliens: The Image of God for the Anthropocene | Fordham Scholarship Online | Oxford Academic
https://academic.oup.com/fordham-scholarship-online/book/37812/chapter-abstract/332280648?redirectedFrom=fulltext

In light of contemporary accounts of the Anthropocene, this chapter re-figures the relationship between human being and nature, such that nature is not the dialectical antithesis to human being and our reflexivity with nature is not easily marginalized. It proposes a simple definition for this relationship: human beings are planetary creatures in deep time. This definition indicates how the Anthropocene disorients us both in terms of the spatial (i.e., planetary) and temporal (i.e., deep time) boundedness of our subjectivity. Building on supporting ideas—‘planetarity’ and a ‘Sapiezoic’ eon—that help us imagine the implications of the Anthropocene’s disorientation of our subjectivity, this chapter articulates the potential symbolic power of the Anthropocene to imagine human beings as intra-active agents.

The History and Philosophy of Astrobiology: Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life and the Human Mind - Cambridge Scholars Publishing
https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-4438-5035-3

Library Genesis: David Duner, David Duner, Gustav Holmberg, Joel Parthemore, Erik Persson - The History and Philosophy of Astrobiology: Perspectives on Extraterrestrial Life and the Human Mind
http://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=7A8023F5FD8356FF335E8545D0E0B55D

This book traces the history of the science of this area and the development of new schools in philosophy. Its essays seek to establish the history and philosophy of astrobiology as research fields in their own right by addressing cognitive, linguistic, epistemological, ethical, cultural, societal, and historical perspectives on astrobiology.

The book is divided into three sections. The first (Cognition) focuses on the human mind and what it contributes to the search for life. It explores the emergence and evolution of terrestrial life and cognition and the challenges humans face as they reach to the stars. The essays raise philosophical questions, pose ethical dilemmas, and offer a variety of approaches, including one from cognitive zoology, in formulating a theory of the universal principles of intelligence, the limits of human conceptual abilities, and the human mind’s encounter with the unknown.

The second section (Communication) examines the linguistic and semiotic requirements for interstellar communication. What is needed for successful communication? Are there universal rules for success? What are the possible features – and limitations – of exolanguages? What is required for recognizing a message as a message?

The third section (Culture) considers cultural and societal issues. It explores astrobiology’s organization as a scientific discipline, its responsibilities to the public sphere, and its theological implications. It reviews the historically important panspermia hypothesis, along with the popularization of astrobiology and its ongoing institutionalisation.

Three explanations for extraterrestrials: sensible, unlikely, mad | International Journal of Astrobiology | Cambridge Core
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/abs/three-explanations-for-extraterrestrials-sensible-unlikely-mad/DB4FBDFE5D62BD6FE9280157D541FD9D

The Fermi Paradox (or Question) has moved back into central focus. This is for a number of reasons, not least the evidence for both the abundance and antiquity of many extra-solar systems, the extrapolation of current technological trends to suggest that even inter-galactic colonization (by self-replicating machines) is plausible (if not desirable), and the recurrence of evolutionary solutions (convergence) in the terrestrial biosphere suggesting that features such as intelligence and tool-making are not fortuitous outcomes, but frequent if not universal. Here I review the three possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox. First, extraterrestrials certainly exist (and may be abundant), but for one reason or another (probably mundane) we have not yet met them, or at least found evidence for their existence. Second, against all expectations, we are alone. Third, we have entirely misunderstood the sort of universe we live in and have become unwitting hostages to a strict materialist explanandum that in refusing to acknowledge the other realities of our Universe has derailed any prospect of explaining the apparent absence of extraterrestrials.

Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Academic and Societal Implications - Cambridge Scholars Publishing
https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-7727-5

What are the implications for human society, and for our institutions of higher learning, of the discovery of a sophisticated extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) operating on and around Earth? This book explores this timely question from a multidisciplinary perspective. It considers scientific, philosophical, theological, and interdisciplinary ways of thinking about the question, and it represents all viewpoints on how likely it is that an ETI is already operating here on Earth. The book’s contributors represent a wide range of academic disciplines in their formal training and later vocations, and, upon reflection on the book’s topic, they articulate a diverse range of insights into how ETI will impact humankind. It is safe to say that any contact or communication with ETI will not merely be a game changer for human society, but will also be a paradigm changer. This means that it makes sense for human beings to prepare themselves now for this important transition.

In her introductory chapter, co-editor Jensine Andresen states that the acknowledgment that unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) are real “provides impetus for academics to start thinking cogently about the topic of human knowledge in the context of a broader discussion of extraterrestrial intelligence. How will widespread Contact impact so-called core disciplines, such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, history, etc.? Will such core disciplines begin to merge? How will widespread Contact impact the organizational map of academic disciplines as a whole? Will boundaries between academic disciplines become more fluid? Will the categorization of disciplines into the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities be replaced by something new? Even further, will entire categories of knowledge, e.g., religion and science, find a common ontological ground?”

Discussing their motivations for the book, the editors state that the project “was motived by the intention to support intellectual and scholarly discussion of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) by highlighting the different approaches brought by an international group of academics with expertise in many different disciplines. The project was also driven by the desire to frame the ETI/UAP issue in a scholarly manner rather than permitting academic passivity to relegate the topic to a reductionist, militaristic, and governmental framework.”

As NASA prepares to move forward with its plans to set up an independent study on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), along with the Preliminary Assessment on UAP published in June 2021 by the US Director of National Intelligence and the May 2022 Open C3 House Intelligence Subcommittee Hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, the contributors in this volume offer timely perspectives as humankind assimilates a more expansive understanding of its place in the Cosmos.







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