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

Review: Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson My rating: 5 of 5 stars Having read only snippets and never a complete biography of Leonardo da Vinci before, I have no basis of comparison from which to judge the accuracy of Isaacson's beautifully written account of Leonardo's life. Assuming it's accurate, Isaacson's account leaves no doubt that; the man was a true genius, he led a fascinating life much of which was enabled by being born near the beginning of the Renaissance in Europe and he was fortunate to have been associated with so many other brilliant characters. The only minor issue I had with the book was not always being able to tell exactly what the current scholarly research consensus is about the many mysteries of Leonardo's life versus Isaacson's opinion. The book is well worth reading. View all my reviews

50th Anniversary

This past May my wife and I celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversary. The time has passed quickly but it certainly doesn't seem like 50 years. Like most, we've had our ups and downs in fifty years, but on the whole have been blessed with good health, three fine sons and nine grandchildren. Looking forward to the next chapter.