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Seth Shostak Quotes Quotes
If gravity were somewhat stronger or weaker, stars wouldn't exist, and neither would you. And the same can be said of other constants of physics. Several have to be 'just right.'
~ Seth Shostak
Exist
Gravity
Just
Neither
Other
Physics
Right
Said
Same
Several
Somewhat
Stars
Stronger
Weaker
Were
Would
You
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If the cosmos isn't finite, then far, far away, floating duplicates of your brain - with all its experiences, thoughts, and emotions - are occasionally (and temporarily) thrown together by the random combining of atoms. Such 'Boltzmann brains,' as they're called, are a disturbing consequence of an unlimited universe.
~ Seth Shostak
Atoms
Away
Brain
Brains
Combining
Consequence
Cosmos
Disturbing
Emotions
Experiences
Far
Far Away
Finite
Floating
Occasionally
Random
Temporarily
Then
Thoughts
Thrown
Together
Universe
Unlimited
Your
design
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If this is the only planet on which not only life, but intelligent life, has arisen, that would be very unusual.
~ Seth Shostak
Arisen
Intelligent
Intelligent Life
Life
Only
Planet
Unusual
Very
Which
Would
Would-Be
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If you could drive straight down, into a tunnel bored through the crust of the planet, you'd hit this molten mess in about an hour. It's called the asthenosphere - a sluggish sea, several hundred miles thick, on which floats the Earth's cool epidermis - the so-called tectonic plates.
~ Seth Shostak
About
About An Hour
Bored
Cool
Could
Crust
Down
Drive
Earth
Hit
Hour
Hundred
Mess
Miles
Planet
Plates
Sea
Several
So-Called
Straight
Thick
Through
Tunnel
Which
You
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Imagine if the dinosaurs had tried picturing the rulers of their planet 100 million years hence. They'd undoubtedly envision these creatures as... dinosaurs! Conceiving of aliens as polished versions of ourselves is appealing, but unconvincing.
~ Seth Shostak
Alien
Appealing
Conceiving
Creatures
Dinosaurs
Envision
Had
Hence
Imagine
Million
Million Years
Ourselves
Planet
Polished
Rulers
Tried
Undoubtedly
Versions
Years
design
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In 1908, there was a persuasive demonstration of the power of high-speed, low-mass asteroids in rural Siberia. The Tunguska impactor iced millions of pine trees and about a zillion mosquitoes - and was no larger than an office building.
~ Seth Shostak
About
Building
Demonstration
Larger
Millions
Office
Persuasive
Pine
Power
Rural
Than
Trees
design
copy
In a movie, it's often important to have aliens whose gestures and facial expressions can be 'read' by humans. And in the days before sophisticated computer animation, most extraterrestrial bit players were guys in rubber suits. Such practical considerations forced Hollywood's hand when it came to aliens - they look like us for good reasons.
~ Seth Shostak
Alien
Animation
Before
Bit
Came
Computer
Considerations
Days
Expressions
Extraterrestrial
Facial
Forced
Gestures
Good
Guys
Hand
Hollywood
Humans
Important
Like
Look
Most
Movie
Often
Players
Practical
Read
Reasons
Rubber
Sophisticated
Suits
Us
Were
Whose
design
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In archaeology, context is the basis of many discoveries that are imputed to the deliberate workings of intelligence. If I find a rock chipped in such a way as to give it a sharp edge, and the discovery is made in a cave, I am seduced into ascribing this to tool use by distant, fetid and furry ancestors.
~ Seth Shostak
Am
Ancestors
Archaeology
Basis
Cave
Context
Deliberate
Discoveries
Discovery
Distant
Edge
Find
Furry
Give
I Am
Intelligence
Made
Many
Rock
Seduced
Sharp
Such A Way
Tool
Use
Way
Workings
design
copy
In days gone by, scientists would speak solemnly about our solar system's 'habitable zone' - a theoretical region extending from Venus to Mars, but perhaps not encompassing either, where a planet would be the right temperature to have liquid water on its surface.
~ Seth Shostak
About
Days
Either
Extending
Gone
Liquid
Mars
Our
Perhaps
Planet
Region
Right
Scientists
Solar
Speak
Surface
System
Temperature
Theoretical
Venus
Water
Where
Would
Would-Be
Zone
design
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In general, when moviemakers talk to scientists, they usually see them as a resource to solve particular technical problems or script problems for them. So, something like: what sort of weaponry would aliens be able to wield?
~ Seth Shostak
Able
Alien
General
Like
Particular
Problems
Resource
Scientists
Script
See
Solve
Something
Sort
Talk
Technical
Them
Would
design
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In the 19th century, if you had a basement lab, you could make major scientific discoveries in your own home. Right? Because there was all this science just lying around waiting for somebody to pick it up.
~ Seth Shostak
19th Century
Around
Basement
Because
Century
Could
Discoveries
Had
Home
Just
Lab
Lying
Major
Make
Own
Pick
Right
Science
Scientific
Somebody
Up
Waiting
You
Your
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In the four years since its launch, Kepler has chalked up 122 new and confirmed planets. It's also caught the scent of nearly three thousand additional objects, of which probably 80 percent or more will turn out to be other-worldly orbs.
~ Seth Shostak
Additional
Also
Caught
Confirmed
Four
Launch
More
Nearly
New
Objects
Out
Percent
Planets
Scent
Since
Thousand
Three
Turn
Up
Which
Will
Years
design
copy
Is E.T. out there? Well, I work at the SETI Institute. That's almost my name. SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. In other words, I look for aliens, and when I tell people that at a cocktail party, they usually look at me with a mildly incredulous look on their face. I try to keep my own face somewhat dispassionate.
~ Seth Shostak
Alien
Almost
Cocktail
Dispassionate
E.T.
Extraterrestrial
Face
In Other Words
Institute
Intelligence
Keep
Look
Me
My Own
Name
Other
Out
Own
Party
People
Search
Somewhat
Tell
Try
Well
Words
Work
design
copy
It bears mentioning that the Milky Way is only one of 150 billion galaxies visible to our telescopes - and each of these will have its own complement of planets.
~ Seth Shostak
Bears
Billion
Complement
Each
Galaxies
Milky Way
Only
Our
Own
Planets
Visible
Way
Will
design
copy
It seems obvious that if a species has the brainpower for speech, along with the sort of appendages that can manipulate a pair of pliers, it will eventually blunder into science, technology, and radio.
~ Seth Shostak
Along
Blunder
Eventually
Manipulate
Obvious
Pair
Radio
Science
Seems
Sort
Species
Speech
Technology
Will
design
copy
It seems that 'rocket scientist' is a job category that's here for the long haul, like 'mortician.' But all this activity masks an important point: rockets are not a terribly efficient way to lift things into space.
~ Seth Shostak
Activity
Category
Efficient
Haul
Here
Important
Job
Lift
Like
Long
Long Haul
Masks
Point
Rocket
Rockets
Scientist
Seems
Space
Terribly
Things
Way
design
copy
It will be the mother of all telescopes, and you can bet it will do for astronomy what genome sequencing is doing for biology. The clumsy, if utilitarian, name of this mirrored monster is Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, or LSST. You can't use it yet, but a peak in the Chilean Andes has been decapitated to provide a level spot for placement.
~ Seth Shostak
Astronomy
Been
Bet
Biology
Clumsy
Doing
Genome
Has-Been
Large
Level
Monster
Mother
Name
Peak
Placement
Provide
Spot
Survey
Telescope
Use
Utilitarian
Will
You
design
copy
It's always a tough call deciding whether, as a scientist, you should argue publicly with the creationists. It's a dilemma that I encounter frequently in another subject area: Does it make sense to bandy words with someone from the UFO community?
~ Seth Shostak
Always
Another
Area
Argue
Call
Community
Creationist
Deciding
Dilemma
Does
Encounter
Frequently
Make
Publicly
Scientist
Sense
Should
Someone
Subject
Tough
UFO
Whether
Words
You
design
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It's easy to reckon that the oomph to hurl even a Smart Car-size spacecraft to another star at, say, 20 percent the speed of light (and land it when it arrives) is the energy contained in 50 billion gallons of gasoline. The tank's not big enough.
~ Seth Shostak
Another
Big
Big Enough
Billion
Contained
Easy
Energy
Enough
Even
Gasoline
Land
Light
Percent
Reckon
Say
Smart
Speed
Star
Tank
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It's hard to imagine anything more interesting than learning how we're woven into the enormous tapestry of existence. Where did our universe come from? How special is our world, and how special are we? We allocate tens of billions of dollars annually to NASA, NSF and academia in search of the answers.
~ Seth Shostak
Academia
Allocate
Answers
Anything
Billions
Billions Of Dollars
Come
Did
Dollars
Enormous
Existence
Hard
How
Imagine
Interesting
Learning
More
NASA
Our
Our World
Search
Special
Tapestry
Tens
Than
Universe
Where
World
Woven
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