Skip to main content

When did "life" begin and when will it end?

So as a joke, I asked the WolframAlpha search engine the question "when did life on Earth begin and when will it end." The answer was "Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure how to compute an answer from your input." But the "answer" can sort of be derived from numerous other places on the web (which WolframAlpha apparently hasn't indexed yet or doesn't agree with) such as Wikipedia and it goes like this:

The earth is apparently 4.54 billion years old. That's relatively young in relationship to the universe which is figured to be ~13.7 billion years according to Wikipedia...
Current interpretations of astronomical observations indicate that the age of the Universe is 13.73 (± 0.12) billion years,[1] and that the diameter of the observable Universe is at least 93 billion light years, or 8.80 × 1026 metres.
The Earth's age calculation by WolframAlpha is apparently derived by Wolfram from one or more of the same sources which are also referenced in the Wikipedia Earth article which also estimates the Earth's age at 4.54 billion years:
12. ^a b See:

* Dalrymple, G.B. (1991). The Age of the Earth. California: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-1569-6.

* Newman, William L. (2007-07-09). "Age of the Earth". Publications Services, USGS. Retrieved 2007-09-20.

* Dalrymple, G. Brent (2001). "The age of the Earth in the twentieth century: a problem (mostly) solved" Geological Society, London, Special Publications 190: 205–221. doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.2001.190.01.14 Retrieved 2007-09-20.

* Stassen, Chris (2005-09-10). "The Age of the Earth" TalkOrigins Archive. Retrieved 2008-12-30.
Wikipedia's Earth article also sites an estimate that life on Earth began within the first 1.0 billion years of Earth's 4.54 billion year life. It also sites one estimate (see below) for when life on Earth will end. That estimate is 1.5 billion years in the future when rising luminosity of the Sun will eliminate the biosphere.
14. a b Carrington, Damian (2000-02-21). "Date set for desert Earth" BBC News. Retrieved 2007-03-31.
Of course the question isn't well formed really for a search engine like WolframAlpha which is hoping to "compute" answers. It more or less assumes that the human part of "Life on Earth" decides to just stay on the earth and let ourselves become extinct 1.5 billion years from now, which of course doesn't make any sense? So it's really a philosophical question that I've asked. What would be nice is if WolframAlpha would identify and parse such philosophical questions and return all know possible theories for the answer.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Whitehouse Blog

I thought President Obama's inaugural speech was a little disappointing when read for substance from afar, although I can imagine that it might have seemed more uplifting in person. I think the Wall Street Journal got it right in their pre -inaugural " The Opacity of Hope " editorial as they concluded: "The complicated nature of our world means that every modern Presidency is to some extent a leap into the unknown. Mr. Obama's meteoric rise makes him a bigger leap than most. We don't know if he is a genuine man of the left, or a more traditional pragmatist. The audacity of our hope is that as President he will use his considerable talents to return his party to the policies of growth, opportunity and the vigorous defense of U.S. interests that marked it the last time the country had such great expectations for a Democratic President -- under JFK." To me, Obama didn't start well with his first official act being this rather vague and plainly accusa...

White House wants to hear from you about Obamacare (if you agree with them)

I subscribe to e-mails from The White House (like the one below) to keep track of what they are actually saying. Normally their e-mails are recitations of the President's talking points and don't add anything meaningful. However, this time David Simas was soliciting input to prove their case that the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") is actually working. So, since I involuntarily have new health coverage as of January 1 (that's what The White House was asking for) I decided to submit my own "story." Here's what I submitted: I am retired. I pay for Medicare but I don't rely on it for quality health care. I have new coverage as of January 1st which I was forced to purchase privately as an individual. I believe I was driven to this largely by one of the unintended consequences of Obamacare which is that large employers will now more easily drop retiree group medical plans (to pay for other costs of Obamacare) citing Obamacare as the backstop for t...