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The Search For Starivores, Intelligent Life That Could Eat the Sun

Posted by Soulskill on from the it's-life-jim-but-not-as-oh-god-it's-eating-the-sun dept.

sarahnaomi writes: There could be all manner of alien life forms in the universe, from witless bacteria to superintelligent robots. Still, the notion of a starivore — an organism that literally devours stars — may sound a bit crazy, even to a seasoned sci-fi fan. And yet, if such creatures do exist, they're probably lurking in our astronomical data right now.

That's why philosopher Dr. Clement Vidal, who's a researcher at the Free University of Brussels, along with Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology Stephen Dick, futurist John Smart, and nanotech entrepreneur Robert Freitas are soliciting scientific proposals to seek out star-eating life.

5 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. Starivore? by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is "Black Hole" not fancy enough anymore?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:Starivore? by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Funny

      if you're going to make up new compound words, you should stick to the same language for each component.

      I agree, a man on the television said so.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:Starivore? by JWSmythe · · Score: 4, Funny

      So I'm not the only one who read that as the basis for a bad made-for-SyFy movie.

      Plucky protagonist: Oh no, the Starivore is coming to eat our sun!

      Glasses wearing scientist: Yes Plucky, and there's nothing we can do about it!

      Ribbon laden general: We'll nuke it!

      Plucky protagonist: But the nuclear detonation would only make it stronger.

      Glasses wearing scientist: You have a point there Plucky, I'm glad you figured that out before we made a terrible mistake.

      Ribbon laden general: Too late, the missiles have already launched, there's nothing we can do.

      Glasses wearing scientist: There's only one thing we can do, stop it with a black hole!

      [all somewhat technical people viewing it]: shit, I should have known better than to watch more SyFy channel crap.

      Shit, I really shouldn't have said anything. Now they'll really make that movie. Right after Sharkgle.

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    3. Re:Starivore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I dunno; those words have a certain "je ne sais what" about them.

  2. Calling Star Trek by Black+Parrot · · Score: 4, Funny

    We found your stoned script writers.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade