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Evolutionary catastrophes and the Goldilocks problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2007

Milan M. Ćirković
Milan M. Ćirković
Affiliation:
Astronomical Observatory of Belgrade, Volgina 7, 11160 Belgrade, Serbia e-mail: mcirkovic@aob.bg.ac.yu
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Abstract

One of the mainstays of the controversial ‘rare Earth’ hypothesis is the ‘Goldilocks problem’ regarding various parameters describing a habitable planet, partially involving the role of mass extinctions and other catastrophic processes in biological evolution. Usually, this is construed as support for the uniqueness of the Earth's biosphere and intelligent human life. Here it is argued that this is a misconstrual and that, on the contrary, observation-selection effects when applied to catastrophic processes make it very difficult for us to discern whether the terrestrial biosphere and evolutionary processes which created it are exceptional in the Milky Way or not. This agnosticism, in turn, supports the validity and significance of practical astrobiological and SETI research.

Keywords

anthropic principlecatastrophismevolutionary contingencyextraterrestrial lifemass extinctionsobservation selection
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , October 2007 , pp. 325 - 329
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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