1. In the class notes we make use of the Drake equation as providing a statistical estimate of the number of civilizations that might exist in our Galaxy and are capable of communication. Recently, however, some scientists have argued that the Drake equation is an inaccurate description. This new theory is known as the "Rare Earth Theory" (by Ward and Brownless). Do some research on this new theory and identify what the key components of this theory are that suggests planets like the Earth are much rarer than we think they are.
2. As many of you heard, or saw the movie, the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was thought to be the result of an asteroid impact. Since so many people are saying this it must be true. So, a) find out and report on how secure you think the evidence is that indeed an asteroid did strike the Earth and b) if this impact occurred how, in fact, did it cause a mass-extinction. In other words, what was the mechanism that extincted both ends of the food chain (e.g. the dinosaurs became extinct but so did most forms of ocean plankton). Something more than just blocking out the sun with some dust in the atmosphere must have occurred.
3. THIS IS A SERIOUS QUESTION; NOT AN IDLE EXERCISE
Via any social mobility platform that you use, email your digitial friends the following pool to figure out, and make sure you include the preface. You should get responses from at least 10 individuals.
The question:
Based on the responses you got from your circle of friends summarize what you think the relationship between humans and nature must be and whether or not that relationship has played out in the real world.
Preface:
"As the century turned, Africa began to emerge from a Dark Age stretching as far back as life on earth, into all the years that lay ahead - years of Renaissance, Enlightenment, Industry, and, if you will, Anxiety. It is fitting that Grogan made his symbolic trek (across Africa - 1891-92) as a survey for a railroad, the means through which foreign capital, the paraphernalia of technology, and foreigners themselves would enter. But because an incision is also a wound, the railroad was also the means through which the old life suppurated and poured out of Africa. This, then, is the tragic paradox of the white man's encroachment. The deeper he went into Africa, the faster the life flowed out of it, off the plains and out of the bush and into the cities, vanishing in acres of trophies and hides and carcasses. The coming of the white man, who imposed his steel tracks, his brains and his will, on the great continent was attended by glory and courage, ennobled by sacrifice, enriched by science and medicine and law. But it marked the beginning of the end in a land where nature herself had always been sovereign: at once sickness and cure, crime and punishment, beginning and end. Not the least of the signs of decay and dying was the gradual, remorseless end of the wild Game."
--From the End of the Game by Peter Beard
Now Here is the poll. You will ask your friends to indicate the three things that they most strongly agree with and from those 3 things respond to the question above.
The Human is innately (innate means culturally invariant):