Rare Earth; compared to others (Introduction)

by dhw, Saturday, February 27, 2016, 12:36 (2979 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: But even though we haven't a clue how many, or what those we can't see might be like, I'll go along with our being special. And I can't help feeling that 700 quintillion dramatically reduces the odds against our being lucky too. Alternatively, fancy God having to create 699 quintillion, 999 burble burble zeros and 99 planets just for our sake. Incredible, wouldn't you say?-DAVID: We now know that the universe follows patterns. Stars have orbiting planets like ours but so far not just like ours with its special arrangements like gaseous giants and ones with rocky cores, all adjusted at just the right positions to protect one which is having life thrive. More fine tuning, I think.-But it doesn't alter the fact that the more quintillions of planets and solar systems you have, the greater the chance of a stroke of good fortune and the more unlikely the argument that they were all needed for the purpose of producing humans.