

That's a very good indicator that if you give life a chance, it will evolve. "We know that life started on Earth very early-there's evidence that the first life came out on Earth about four billion years ago, not long after the earth cooled off. If such a thing were indeed possible, why are we still so seemingly isolated from other intelligent life? Kane suggests a few reasons for why that is so. In Civilization: Beyond Earth, humanity has left the solar system to colonize planets around other stars, and presumably, so have other civilizations. Kane, who chatted with me at length about the astrophysics of Beyond Earth-and astrophysics in general.Īnd so we return to the Fermi paradox. That didn't mean, however, that I didn't have lots of questions for Dr.
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It's a testament to Civilization's mechanical strength that I never once stopped to consider the game's physics or astrobiology while I played I was only aware of how much fun I was having, and how likely I would be hooked upon the game's release this October.
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There's a particular kind of curse that follows in the wake of physics knowledge, however: I now notice far more often the way games and science-fiction in general gloss over the ramifications of intergalactic travel. I recently attended an event at Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland, CA, where I not only played Beyond Earth, but chatted with astrophysicist and San Francisco State professor Stephen Kane about the game's astronomy-and specifically, about the science of exoplanets.īy clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot'sįor me, this is a topic of particular interest, now that I'm pursuing further education in physics and its mathematical language. That doesn't mean, however, that developer Firaxis has thrown away scientific fundamentals. Who wants to explore a galaxy in which we're limited by the speed of light, and it would take thousands of years to reach other stars?Ĭivilization: Beyond Earth is, of course, mostly concerned with entertainment, not with the strict application of relativity and quantum mechanics, let alone Newton's laws. A game throws out some science-y jargon to explain away the details, and we're fine with overlooking nature's fundamental constants.
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Science-fiction authors have proposed all sorts of hypotheses to address the paradox, but when we crack open John Scalzi's latest tome or play Homeworld or Mass Effect, we're not usually concerned with the boundaries of physics, at least as we currently understand them. This question is at the heart of the Fermi paradox. If the universe is as teeming with life as we expect it is, then why do we not have indisputable evidence of alien civilizations? Or, as physicist Enrico Fermi asked, "Where is everybody?"
