Re:The Ethics of Spreading Life in the Cosmos
by pfdietz on Wednesday March 26, 2025 @02:47PM
(#43485478)
Now you are elevating life is common to a default position, simply by declaring it so. I disagree. Me, the complexity of the simplest living thing makes the default assumption that OoL is incredibly unlikely.
You should be aware that the logic you are using, vulgar Copernicanism, was used in the 1700s to conclude that the other planets in our solar system must not only have life, but intelligent life!
What your argument ignores is that we don't live on a randomly selected planet in the universe. We necessarily live on a planet that has life. This "observer selection bias" has to be taken into account; the rarer life is, the more biased our local observations will be.
You should be aware that the logic you are using, vulgar Copernicanism, was used in the 1700s to conclude that the other planets in our solar system must not only have life, but intelligent life!
What your argument ignores is that we don't live on a randomly selected planet in the universe. We necessarily live on a planet that has life. This "observer selection bias" has to be taken into account; the rarer life is, the more biased our local observations will be.