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Seth Shostak Quotes Quotes
Consider that the overwhelming majority of those 40,000 near-Earth asteroids are small enough to fit on the parking lot at the mall. And while these rocky runts won't cause Armageddon, they could still flatten such popular hominid hangouts as Manhattan or downtown Des Moines.
~ Seth Shostak
Armageddon
Cause
Consider
Could
Des Moines
Downtown
Enough
Fit
Flatten
Lot
Majority
Mall
Manhattan
Overwhelming
Parking
Parking Lot
Popular
Rocky
Small
Still
Those
While
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Consider: Life arose on Earth close to four billion years ago. Four billion years of slithering, swimming, and soaring life forms. But only in the last 200 thousand years has a species arisen that can fathom the laws of nature and build hardware able to signal its presence.
~ Seth Shostak
Able
Arisen
Billion
Build
Close
Consider
Earth
Fathom
Forms
Four
Hardware
Last
Laws
Life
Life Forms
Nature
Only
Presence
Signal
Soaring
Species
Swimming
Thousand
Thousand Years
Years
Years Ago
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Consider: The human genome consists of about 3.3 billion base pairs. Since there are only four types of pair, that amounts to 0.8 gigabytes of information, or about what you can fit on a CD. With a microwave radio transmitter, you could beam that amount of information into space in a few minutes, and have it travel to anyone at light speed.
~ Seth Shostak
About
Amount
Anyone
Base
Beam
Billion
CD
Consider
Consists
Could
Few
Fit
Four
Genome
Human
Information
Light
Microwave
Minutes
Only
Pair
Pairs
Radio
Since
Space
Speed
Travel
Types
You
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Data from orbiting telescopes like NASA's Kepler Mission hint that the tally of habitable planets in our galaxy is many billion. If E.T.'s not out there, then Earth is more than merely special - it's some sort of miracle.
~ Seth Shostak
Billion
Data
Earth
Galaxy
Hint
Like
Many
Merely
Miracle
Mission
More
NASA
Our
Out
Planets
Some
Sort
Special
Than
Then
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'Dating Game' wasn't social commentary, political analysis, Shakespearean-level drama or even blunt-force comedy. It was just the televised equivalent of meeting someone at a bar. But it appealed to our most basic Darwinian instinct: selecting a good mate. You can't go wrong when a show's premise is hard-wired into human DNA.
~ Seth Shostak
Analysis
Appealed
Bar
Basic
Comedy
Commentary
Darwinian
Dating
DNA
Drama
Equivalent
Even
Game
Go
Good
Human
Instinct
Just
Mate
Meeting
Most
Our
Political
Premise
Selecting
Show
Social
Someone
Televised
Wrong
You
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Despite tantalizing suggestions of fossilized microbes in meteorites, puzzling and possibly biogenic methane gas in the martian atmosphere, and a long-standing controversy over the Viking lander experiments of nearly 40 years ago, there's still no Exhibit A that points unequivocally to biology in our own back yard.
~ Seth Shostak
Atmosphere
Back
Biology
Controversy
Despite
Exhibit
Experiments
Gas
Long-Standing
Martian
Nearly
Our
Over
Own
Points
Possibly
Puzzling
Still
Suggestions
Unequivocally
Yard
Years
Years Ago
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Despite the impression you may have from watching too much TV, movies are not about reproducing reality. They're about telling stories.
~ Seth Shostak
About
Despite
Impression
May
Movies
Much
Reality
Stories
Telling
Too
Too Much
TV
TV Movies
Watching
You
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Diminutive worlds are more likely to be rocky, and lapped by oceans and atmospheres. In the vernacular of 'Star Trek,' these would be M-class planets: life-friendly oases where biology could begin and bumpy-faced Klingons might exist.
~ Seth Shostak
Begin
Biology
Could
Exist
Likely
Might
More
Oceans
Planets
Rocky
Star
Star Trek
Trek
Vernacular
Where
Worlds
Would
Would-Be
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Disasters happen. We still have no way to eliminate earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, floods or droughts. We cope as best we can by fortifying ourselves against danger with building codes and levees, and by setting aside money to clean up afterwards.
~ Seth Shostak
Afterwards
Against
Aside
Best
Building
Clean
Clean Up
Codes
Cope
Danger
Disasters
Earthquakes
Eliminate
Floods
Happen
Hurricanes
Levees
Money
Ourselves
Setting
Still
Up
Way
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'E.T.' was far-fetched. 'E.T.' was this wimpy-looking kid that came to Earth to pick some plants, but he came from the Andromeda Galaxy to do that.
~ Seth Shostak
Came
Earth
Galaxy
He
Kid
Pick
Plants
Some
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Each year, thousands of UFOs are sighted and reported, which is an impressive tally of unidentified aerial phenomena. Surveys show that roughly one-third of the populace believes that at least some of this sky show is due to extraterrestrial spacecraft, here to probe our airspace and, when that proves boring, our bodies.
~ Seth Shostak
Aerial
Believes
Bodies
Boring
Due
Each
Each Year
Extraterrestrial
Here
Impressive
Least
One-Third
Our
Phenomena
Populace
Probe
Proves
Reported
Roughly
Show
Sky
Some
Surveys
Thousands
Which
Year
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Engineers are now experimenting with 4,096-line TV systems, suggesting that with the next generation of sets you'll be able to count the grass blades on the Superbowl field, an obvious lifestyle improvement.
~ Seth Shostak
Able
Count
Engineers
Experimenting
Field
Generation
Grass
Improvement
Lifestyle
Next
Next Generation
Now
Obvious
Sets
Suggesting
Systems
TV
You
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Estimates are that at least 70 per cent of all stars are accompanied by planets, and since the latter can occur in systems rather than as individuals (think of our own solar system), the number of planets in the Milky Way galaxy is of order one trillion.
~ Seth Shostak
Accompanied
Cent
Estimates
Galaxy
Individuals
Latter
Least
Milky Way
Number
Occur
Order
Our
Own
Per
Planets
Rather
Since
Solar
Solar System
Stars
System
Systems
Than
Think
Trillion
Way
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'Eternal inflation,' as it's called - the endless generation of new universes - may be a hyper-cosmic imperative. It seems that it must happen.
~ Seth Shostak
Endless
Eternal
Generation
Happen
Imperative
Inflation
May
Must
New
Seems
Universes
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Even if the Moon didn't exist - even if it had been vaporized billions of years ago by cantankerous Klingons - there would still be (somewhat lower) tides raised by the Sun. For creatures dependent on the oceans' ebb and flow, life could go on.
~ Seth Shostak
Been
Billions
Could
Creatures
Dependent
Ebb
Even
Exist
Flow
Go
Had
Life
Lower
Moon
Oceans
Raised
Somewhat
Still
Sun
Tides
Would
Years
Years Ago
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Ever since the infamous quiz show scandals of the 1950s, the feds had insisted that TV game shows be honest - or that at least they didn't cheat. So as a 'Dating Game' bachelor, I didn't know what I was going to be asked. The other bachelors and I were required to concoct our answers in real time.
~ Seth Shostak
1950s
Answers
Asked
Bachelor
Bachelors
Cheat
Dating
Ever
Game
Game Shows
Going
Had
Honest
Infamous
Insisted
Know
Least
Other
Our
Quiz
Real
Real Time
Required
Scandals
Show
Shows
Since
Time
TV
Were
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Ever since the Second World War, television signals (as well as FM radio and radar) have served as Homo sapiens' emissaries into deep space. High-frequency, high-power broadcasts have filled an Earth-centered bubble more than 60 light-years in radius with signals.
~ Seth Shostak
Bubble
Deep
Deep Space
Ever
Filled
Homo
Homo Sapiens
More
Radar
Radio
Second
Second World War
Served
Signals
Since
Space
Television
Than
War
Well
World
World War
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Every day, the temperature of Sol's surface increases by five billionths of a degree, a change of no consequence for thousands of millennia to come. But a few hundred million years from now, barring a fix by our descendants, this relentless heating will substantially change Earth's biosphere in ways that might not be survivable for us.
~ Seth Shostak
Change
Come
Consequence
Day
Degree
Descendants
Earth
Every
Every Day
Few
Five
Fix
Heating
Hundred
Increases
Might
Millennia
Million
Million Years
Now
Our
Relentless
Substantially
Surface
Temperature
Thousands
Us
Ways
Will
Years
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Everything you see is filtered through your visual system (imperfect) and your brain (also imperfect, despite what your mom told you). Witness testimony is the worst kind of evidence in science.
~ Seth Shostak
Also
Brain
Despite
Everything
Evidence
Filtered
Imperfect
Kind
Mom
Science
See
System
Testimony
Through
Visual
Witness
Worst
Worst Kind
You
Your
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Exploration is an oft-lauded human activity, and one that resonates in the same way that music and good stories do. It's hard-wired into our species (and into many others), no doubt because it has survival value. Exploration occasionally rewards those who accept its risks, usually with new resources.
~ Seth Shostak
Accept
Activity
Because
Doubt
Exploration
Good
Good Stories
Human
Human Activity
Many
Music
New
No Doubt
Occasionally
Others
Our
Resonates
Resources
Rewards
Risks
Same
Species
Stories
Survival
Those
Value
Way
Who
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