• Question: what do you think of the goldielocks theory?

    Asked by kellyyellow7 to Amy, Drew, Julia, Sara on 22 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hi Kelly! Fun questions from you today!

      I am thinking you mean the theory that the Earth is “just right” for life. My answer to that is well of course it is! We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t =p

      On a more scientific note, this is something we have to be careful of in science. We can’t just explain things by using their outcome as a proof of point. In this case saying there is something special about the Earth being just right for life is misleading. Of course if it weren’t good for life we wouldn’t be here to talk about it! So we have to be careful about how we interpret facts like the fact that there is life on Earth.

      That being said, the idea of a “goldilocks zone” around stars is pretty well established. The idea is that most stars will have a set orbital range were liquid could be water on a planetary surface. Every star has its own habitable zone that depends on the stars temperature. This zone is said to be “just right” for potential life, since it has a major requirement – liquid water covered! Planet hunters use this as a guide for looking for interesting exoplanets (planets around other stars).

    • Photo: Drew Rae

      Drew Rae answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hi Kelly. Sara makes an important point – we only have one example of intelligent life, and it isn’t a co-incidence that we are on the same planet as it is, since it is us. There are versions of this for the whole universe too. Some people argue that it is weird that the fundamental constants of the universe allow for life. We can’t actually measure the probability of this with only one example to go on.

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 22 Jun 2011:

      Hi Kelly….more broadly applying goldilocks to our world I would say;

      Don’t go into other people’s houses uninvited – it is rude (and also trespassing)

      Don’t damage their furniture – it is vandalism.

      Don’t eat their porridge – it is theft.

      But on a serious note…goldilocks found the porridge that was “just right” after scalding her mouth and almost vomiting at tepid stuff (in my version). Just because there was something “just right” doesn’t mean she was going to find it. So there are two different ideas here – you need somewhere just right for life and you need the life to arise there. Those two things are very unlikely to happen both together. The likelihood of goldilocks finding the porridge will increase if there is lots of bowls of porridge around (like a multiverse) but still you have to ask where all this porridge is coming from initially – are there really bears or is the porridge just there from nothing or eternal matter?

      There are people who say that the multiverse theory holds no weight and that unless we can prove that the laws of other universes are different from ours then this is also just as much an act of faith as believing in God.

      Then there are people like Paul Davies author of “The Goldilocks Enigma” who says that “the universe has engineered, not just its own awareness, but its own comprehension. Mindless, blundering atoms have conspired to make, not just life, not just mind, but understanding. The evolving cosmos has spawned beings who are able not merely to watch the show, but to unravel the plot.” So basically he is saying that we are here by incredible chance but that WE specifically are here by purpose as the universe in a way “chose” us…the porridge “chose” goldilocks as it were. I personally don’t believe it is possible for mindless atoms to conspire – I also don’t think it is possible for genes to be “selfish” and wish their own propagation (as Richard Dawkins suggests).

      The universe appears to be perfectly set up for life. This doesn’t prove that it was de facto but it does make us think. So we still have the question are we here just because we can be? or because we are meant to be?

      What do you think?
      🙂

Comments

  • Moderator - Rachel commented on :

    I’d never heard of this theory before now!

  • Photo: kellyyellow7

    kellyyellow7 commented on :

    All of these answers are interesting. I haven’t tought of the goldilocks as meaning the world was ‘just right’ but as that the exact pinpoint position of the Earth makes life sustainable and carries all elements that we need to live. however, there is another theory that the goldilocks ‘zone’ is being projected onward by the sun, therefore, Earth is gettign hotter. When the ‘green zone’ (being the zone that earth is in) moves on the Earth will be unsustainable for us. but who knows, by then we might have already moved on to another planet like mars, and we will wait untill we polute Mars aswell, then we will just keep moving on to other planets untill all planets that we know of are destroyed.