Planetary chauvinism is the belief that human society will always be planet-based (even if extended beyond Earth), and overlooks or ignores the potential benefits of space-based living.[1] The idea can be extended to alien society in general, that is, we should expect alien society to be planet based.[2] The coining of the term is often credited to Isaac Asimov, but in an interview with Bill Boggs, Asimov mentions that he heard it from Carl Sagan.[3] The counter-argument is that all the benefits of a planet can be achieved in space, usually by an O'Neill cylinder-type structure.[4]
An even narrower version of planetary chauvinism is G-star chauvinism. This is the assumption that intelligent life will always evolve in star systems similar to our own, that is, in stars of spectral class G.[5] Carl Sagan criticised this belief on the grounds that intelligent life has a greater chance of evolving on the most long lived stars. That suggests that class-M and class-K stars are more likely candidates, not only because of their lifetime, but also because they are far more numerous than class-G stars.[2]
There are several hypotheses of the possibility of life originating in the universe in places other than planets.[6][7][8]
Surface chauvinism
editThomas Gold, who advocated for the possibility of life in deep biospheres below the surfaces of celestial bodies,[9] has criticized science which only focuses on the surface and not below in its search of life as surface chauvinism.[9]
Similarly, the focus on surface-bound and territorial space advocacy, particularly for space colonization, has been termed surfacism, neglecting interest for atmospheres and potential atmospheric human habitation, such as colonization above the surface of Venus.[10][11]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Paterson, E. T. "Towards the orthomolecular environment." Jo Orthomol Psych 10 (1981): 269-283.
- ^ a b Carl Sagan, Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection: An Extraterrestrial Perspective, p. 48, Cambridge University Press, 2000 ISBN 0521783038.
- ^ Bill Boggs. "Asimov Interview with Bill Boggs (35 minutes in)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-15. Retrieved July 2, 2014.
- ^ Mike Combs. "Somewhere Else Entirely". Retrieved June 3, 2016.
- ^ Joseph A. Angelo, Encyclopedia of Space and Astronomy, p. 235, Infobase Publishing, 2014 ISBN 1438110189.
- ^ Luis A. Anchordoqui and Eugene M. Chudnovsky Can Self-Replicating Species Flourish in the Interior of a Star?, Letters in High Energy Physics, issue 166, 2020, doi:10.31526/LHEP.2020.166
- From the abstract: "We argue that an advanced form of life based upon short-lived species can exist inside main-sequence stars like our Sun."
- ^ Browne, Malcolm W. (1988-02-02). "A Theory Sees Life, Of Sorts, On Pulsars". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
- ^ Clifford A. Pickover, The Stars of Heaven, Chapter 8: "Stellar Graveyards, Nucleosynthesis, and Why We Exist"
- ^ a b Gold, Thomas (1999). The Deep Hot Biosphere. New York, NY: Springer New York. doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-1400-7. ISBN 978-0-387-95253-6.
- ^ Tickle, Glen (2015-03-05). "A Look Into Whether Humans Should Try to Colonize Venus Instead of Mars". Laughing Squid. Retrieved 2021-09-01.
- ^ David Warmflash (14 March 2017). "Colonization of the Venusian Clouds: Is 'Surfacism' Clouding Our Judgement?". Vision Learning. Retrieved 20 September 2019.