"Considering how many planets we have looked at and that we can't find life on any of them this makes Earth very extraordinary."
I was talking rather about size and material a planet is made of. With respect to this, it seems that there could be many earth-type objects. Is life on Earth extraordinary? Couldn't say that basing on scientific data. This question is not well-posed because theres no data yet.
"Not ever be able to communicate with distant places? You don't know what we will invent in the future."
Majority of planets we already discovered orbit stars so distant that it's not possible to actively communicate (two partners to form dialogue) because of the limit imposed by theory of relativity on light speed.
To state banally, once again it appears that Earth isn't the center of the Universe, or even an extraordinary spot.
Sadly, mankind won't be ever capable of communicating with such a distant places. However, speculation about extraterrestrial life isn't pointless. In range of our capabilities and, moreover, not forbidden by limiting condition on light speed, is a spectroscopic measurement of atmospheres belonging to planets beyond the solar system. Thus, in principle probable, it would be a great achievement to find traces of organic matter.
From the coverage in cited New Scientist article, it isn't clear that curved laser beams have any advantage in triggering lightning over straight beams. As it is said, it would be fun to see that curved lightning. Sounds rather like pure fun, no big scientific breakthrough, as it comes to atmosphere control.
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"Considering how many planets we have looked at and that we can't find life on any of them this makes Earth very extraordinary." I was talking rather about size and material a planet is made of. With respect to this, it seems that there could be many earth-type objects. Is life on Earth extraordinary? Couldn't say that basing on scientific data. This question is not well-posed because theres no data yet. "Not ever be able to communicate with distant places? You don't know what we will invent in the future." Majority of planets we already discovered orbit stars so distant that it's not possible to actively communicate (two partners to form dialogue) because of the limit imposed by theory of relativity on light speed.
To state banally, once again it appears that Earth isn't the center of the Universe, or even an extraordinary spot. Sadly, mankind won't be ever capable of communicating with such a distant places. However, speculation about extraterrestrial life isn't pointless. In range of our capabilities and, moreover, not forbidden by limiting condition on light speed, is a spectroscopic measurement of atmospheres belonging to planets beyond the solar system. Thus, in principle probable, it would be a great achievement to find traces of organic matter.
From the coverage in cited New Scientist article, it isn't clear that curved laser beams have any advantage in triggering lightning over straight beams. As it is said, it would be fun to see that curved lightning. Sounds rather like pure fun, no big scientific breakthrough, as it comes to atmosphere control.