this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2025
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Scientists hail ‘strongest evidence’ so far for life beyond our solar system (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 59 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

Urgh, imagine how the world would react if hard proof of life on another planet was found now. This second.

The internet would be filled with disinformation and clickbait on it in an instant. Your aunt/uncle and much of your social circle would totally misunderstand it and spread fud they think they know all about. There would be conspiracy theories broadcast by world leaders. Somehow, it would get politicized. Scientists who dedicated their life to this would be drowned out. And on the whole… After a few weeks, most people wouldn’t even care and scroll down to the next controversy.

Contrast this vs, like, 1970. Daily life would stop dead. People would huddle around TVs and radios, hanging on every last world of anchors and scientists… it would be a shared existential moment. It would start a new era.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t meant to romanticize the Apollo era with all its racism, sexism, poverty, rivalry, abuses and so on, but on aggregate its reaction would be so much less shit.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

QED

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I think you're looking at this with too much nostalgia. Information travelled much slower back in the 70's, so the topic would stay on longer, but it would start a new era the same way today. Some people would dedicate their lives to know more, some would get on with their lives and some would try to monetize anything out of it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I dunno. It's not like brillant work isn't done now, but it really feels like the "average person's" attention is totally consumed by the hype of social media and influencers, at least from my perspective in the United States. And now that includes high profile politicans and institutional leaders heavily influenced by their feeds.

This is a great microcosm: https://lemmy.world/post/28290391

Look at all that engagement, for what are basically instagram influencers taking a high altitude selfie ride! It utterly dwarfs any kind of "real" space missions now, much less women that have gone up before. That couldn't have happened in the 70s; the information environment simply wasn't condusive to it.

And that has very real ramifications for scientists that need public funding.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I feel you man (or moose). It’s terrifying but I want to see it at two sides of the same coin: internet, fast communication spreads misinformation and lies but also truth and knowledge. Social networks are those idiots but also you and me having a nice chat! We ought to bring more people to our side of the coin. To get back to the subject. Be it 70’s or 2025, if we find extraterrestrial life : military will try to neutralise, kill or control it, billionaires will try to own it, politicians to use it for their agenda and corporates to sell it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Social media isn’t a network, it’s a set of siloed attention farms.

That’s a very important distinction to make IMO. We’ve treated Big Tech like they’re the stewards of the internet for way too long. Facebook, Twitter, Discord, TikTok… those are the villains eating everyone’s attention.

Lemmy isn’t perfect, but it’s definitely more in the bucket of the “old internet” and more network like. I love it! And I love were chatting. But a tiny fraction of the population is engaging like that these days.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Lemmy is social media. It all depends on the algorithms

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Posts/comments aren’t sorted and hidden by a ML model optimizing for engagement though.

That’s the key. That’s what makes the environments so toxic and addictive.

Maybe sorting by upvotes isn’t perfect, but it’s still leagues away.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Agreed. You know a social media site is crap if you can't sort chronologically

That means they intentionally stripped away that basic function because they want to control what content you see

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

So, just like everything else, ever. Idiots gonna idiot, my friend. But I do agree wholeheartedly.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Your mother and I are "for the jobs" that the comet will create

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Way in not the onion territory, heh.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (3 children)

While the Cambridge team favour an ocean scenario, others say the data is suggestive of a gas planet or one with oceans made of magma, not water.

That sounds not very habitable

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Well not for us, but who are we to say that all life in the universe has to look like life here (although I do agree that it sounds unlikely)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

not with that attitude

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

That sounds beautifully primordial. I think it could have great potential to have formed life as our planet did.