TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Chris Anderson: Why can't we see evidence of alien life?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Somewhere out there in that vast universe, there must slreuy be cusnotels other planets teeming with life, but why don't we see any eviecnde of it? Well, this is the famous qosietun asked by eircno Fermi in 1950: "Where is everybody?" Conspiracy theorists claim that UFOs are visiting all the time and the roterps are just being covered up, but honestly, they aren't very convincing. But that leaves a real rildde. In the past year, the Kepler sapce observatory has found hundreds of planets just around nearby stars, and if you erpalxoatte that data, it looks like there could be half a trillion planets just in our own galaxy. If any one in 10,000 has conditions that might sourppt a form of life, that's still 50 million possible life-harboring planets right here in the Milky Way. So here's the riddle. Our Earth didn't form until about 9 billion yreas after the Big Bang. Countless other planets in our galaxy should have formed earlier and given life a chance to get underway billions or certainly many mniiolls of years earlier than happened on Earth. If just a few of them had snpwead intelligent life and started creating ticelogehnos, those technologies would have had millions of years to grow in complexity and power. On Earth, we've seen how dramatically technology can accelerate in just 100 years. In millions of years, an intelligent alien civilization could easily have spread out across the gxlaay, perhaps creating giant energy-harvesting artifacts, or fleets of colonizing spaceships, or glorious works of art that fill the night sky. At the very least, you'd think they'd be revealing their presence, deliberately or otherwise, through electromagnetic signals of one kind or another. And yet we see no convincing evidence of any of it. Why? Well, there are numerous possible answers, some of them quite dark. Maybe a single, superintelligent civilization has indeed taken over the galaxy, and has imposed stirct radio silcene because it's paranoid of any ptietanol competitors. It's just sttiing there ready to obliterate anything that becomes a threat. Or maybe they're not that intelligent. Or perhaps, the evolution of an intelligence cbaalpe of creating sophisticated technology is far rarer than we've assumed. After all, it's only happened once on Earth in 4 billion years. Maybe even that was incredibly lucky. Maybe we are the first such civilization in our galaxy. Or, perhaps, civilization carries with it the seeds of its own destruction through the inability to control the technologies it creates. But there are numerous more hufpoel answers. For a start, we're not looking that hard, and we're spending a pitiful amount of money on it. Only a tiny fraction of the stars in our galaxy have really been looked at closely for sings of interesting signals. And perhaps, we're not looking the right way. Maybe as civilizations delvoep, they quickly discover communication technologies far more sophisticated and useful than electromagnetic weavs. Maybe all the action tkeas place inside the mysterious recently discovered dark matter, or dark enegry, that appear to anocuct for most of the universe's mass. Or maybe we're looking at the wrnog scale. Perhaps iglennlitet civilizations come to realize that life is ultimately just cpoelmx patterns of information itnnaircteg with each other in a beautiful way, and that can happen more efficiently at a small scale. So just as on Earth, clunky stereo systems have shrunk to beautiful, tiny iPods, maybe intelligent life itself, in order to reduce its footprint on the environment, has turned itself microscopic, so the Solar seystm might be teeming with aienls, and we're just not noticing them. Maybe the very ideas in our heads are a form of aeiln life. Well, okay, that's a crazy tuhgoht. The aliens made me say it. But it is cool that ideas do seem to have a life all of their own, and that they outlive their cetarors. Maybe biological life is just a passing phase. Well, within the next 15 years, we could start seeing real spectroscopic information from promising nearby planets that will rvaeel just how life-friendly they might be. And meanwhile SETI, the sercah for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, is now releasing its data to the public so that millions of citizen ssteticins, maybe including you, can bring the power of the crowd to join the search. And here on ertah, amazing experiments are being done to try to create life from scratch, life that might be very different from the DNA forms we know. All of this will help us undntaresd whether the universe is teeming with life or, whether indeed, it's just us. Either answer, in its own way, is awe-inspiring, because even if we are alone, the fact that we think and deram, and ask these questions might yet turn out to be one of the most important facts about the universe. And I have one more piece of good news for you. The qeust for knowledge and understanding never gets dull. It doesn't. It's actually the opposite. The more you know, the more amazing the world seems. And it's the carzy possibilities, the unanswered questions, that pull us forward. So, stay curious.

Open Cloze

Somewhere out there in that vast universe, there must ______ be _________ other planets teeming with life, but why don't we see any ________ of it? Well, this is the famous ________ asked by ______ Fermi in 1950: "Where is everybody?" Conspiracy theorists claim that UFOs are visiting all the time and the _______ are just being covered up, but honestly, they aren't very convincing. But that leaves a real ______. In the past year, the Kepler _____ observatory has found hundreds of planets just around nearby stars, and if you ___________ that data, it looks like there could be half a trillion planets just in our own galaxy. If any one in 10,000 has conditions that might _______ a form of life, that's still 50 million possible life-harboring planets right here in the Milky Way. So here's the riddle. Our Earth didn't form until about 9 billion _____ after the Big Bang. Countless other planets in our galaxy should have formed earlier and given life a chance to get underway billions or certainly many ________ of years earlier than happened on Earth. If just a few of them had _______ intelligent life and started creating ____________, those technologies would have had millions of years to grow in complexity and power. On Earth, we've seen how dramatically technology can accelerate in just 100 years. In millions of years, an intelligent alien civilization could easily have spread out across the ______, perhaps creating giant energy-harvesting artifacts, or fleets of colonizing spaceships, or glorious works of art that fill the night sky. At the very least, you'd think they'd be revealing their presence, deliberately or otherwise, through electromagnetic signals of one kind or another. And yet we see no convincing evidence of any of it. Why? Well, there are numerous possible answers, some of them quite dark. Maybe a single, superintelligent civilization has indeed taken over the galaxy, and has imposed ______ radio _______ because it's paranoid of any _________ competitors. It's just _______ there ready to obliterate anything that becomes a threat. Or maybe they're not that intelligent. Or perhaps, the evolution of an intelligence _______ of creating sophisticated technology is far rarer than we've assumed. After all, it's only happened once on Earth in 4 billion years. Maybe even that was incredibly lucky. Maybe we are the first such civilization in our galaxy. Or, perhaps, civilization carries with it the seeds of its own destruction through the inability to control the technologies it creates. But there are numerous more _______ answers. For a start, we're not looking that hard, and we're spending a pitiful amount of money on it. Only a tiny fraction of the stars in our galaxy have really been looked at closely for _____ of interesting signals. And perhaps, we're not looking the right way. Maybe as civilizations _______, they quickly discover communication technologies far more sophisticated and useful than electromagnetic _____. Maybe all the action _____ place inside the mysterious recently discovered dark matter, or dark ______, that appear to _______ for most of the universe's mass. Or maybe we're looking at the _____ scale. Perhaps ___________ civilizations come to realize that life is ultimately just _______ patterns of information ___________ with each other in a beautiful way, and that can happen more efficiently at a small scale. So just as on Earth, clunky stereo systems have shrunk to beautiful, tiny iPods, maybe intelligent life itself, in order to reduce its footprint on the environment, has turned itself microscopic, so the Solar ______ might be teeming with ______, and we're just not noticing them. Maybe the very ideas in our heads are a form of _____ life. Well, okay, that's a crazy _______. The aliens made me say it. But it is cool that ideas do seem to have a life all of their own, and that they outlive their ________. Maybe biological life is just a passing phase. Well, within the next 15 years, we could start seeing real spectroscopic information from promising nearby planets that will ______ just how life-friendly they might be. And meanwhile SETI, the ______ for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, is now releasing its data to the public so that millions of citizen __________, maybe including you, can bring the power of the crowd to join the search. And here on _____, amazing experiments are being done to try to create life from scratch, life that might be very different from the DNA forms we know. All of this will help us __________ whether the universe is teeming with life or, whether indeed, it's just us. Either answer, in its own way, is awe-inspiring, because even if we are alone, the fact that we think and _____, and ask these questions might yet turn out to be one of the most important facts about the universe. And I have one more piece of good news for you. The _____ for knowledge and understanding never gets dull. It doesn't. It's actually the opposite. The more you know, the more amazing the world seems. And it's the _____ possibilities, the unanswered questions, that pull us forward. So, stay curious.

Solution

surely
enrico
space
silence
years
intelligent
riddle
support
aliens
takes
signs
scientists
search
understand
thought
evidence
wrong
reveal
energy
galaxy
countless
account
crazy
potential
develop
hopeful
complex
spawned
dream
quest
system
earth
question
extrapolate
technologies
reports
strict
waves
sitting
alien
millions
interacting
capable
creators

Original Text

Somewhere out there in that vast universe, there must surely be countless other planets teeming with life, but why don't we see any evidence of it? Well, this is the famous question asked by Enrico Fermi in 1950: "Where is everybody?" Conspiracy theorists claim that UFOs are visiting all the time and the reports are just being covered up, but honestly, they aren't very convincing. But that leaves a real riddle. In the past year, the Kepler space observatory has found hundreds of planets just around nearby stars, and if you extrapolate that data, it looks like there could be half a trillion planets just in our own galaxy. If any one in 10,000 has conditions that might support a form of life, that's still 50 million possible life-harboring planets right here in the Milky Way. So here's the riddle. Our Earth didn't form until about 9 billion years after the Big Bang. Countless other planets in our galaxy should have formed earlier and given life a chance to get underway billions or certainly many millions of years earlier than happened on Earth. If just a few of them had spawned intelligent life and started creating technologies, those technologies would have had millions of years to grow in complexity and power. On Earth, we've seen how dramatically technology can accelerate in just 100 years. In millions of years, an intelligent alien civilization could easily have spread out across the galaxy, perhaps creating giant energy-harvesting artifacts, or fleets of colonizing spaceships, or glorious works of art that fill the night sky. At the very least, you'd think they'd be revealing their presence, deliberately or otherwise, through electromagnetic signals of one kind or another. And yet we see no convincing evidence of any of it. Why? Well, there are numerous possible answers, some of them quite dark. Maybe a single, superintelligent civilization has indeed taken over the galaxy, and has imposed strict radio silence because it's paranoid of any potential competitors. It's just sitting there ready to obliterate anything that becomes a threat. Or maybe they're not that intelligent. Or perhaps, the evolution of an intelligence capable of creating sophisticated technology is far rarer than we've assumed. After all, it's only happened once on Earth in 4 billion years. Maybe even that was incredibly lucky. Maybe we are the first such civilization in our galaxy. Or, perhaps, civilization carries with it the seeds of its own destruction through the inability to control the technologies it creates. But there are numerous more hopeful answers. For a start, we're not looking that hard, and we're spending a pitiful amount of money on it. Only a tiny fraction of the stars in our galaxy have really been looked at closely for signs of interesting signals. And perhaps, we're not looking the right way. Maybe as civilizations develop, they quickly discover communication technologies far more sophisticated and useful than electromagnetic waves. Maybe all the action takes place inside the mysterious recently discovered dark matter, or dark energy, that appear to account for most of the universe's mass. Or maybe we're looking at the wrong scale. Perhaps intelligent civilizations come to realize that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information interacting with each other in a beautiful way, and that can happen more efficiently at a small scale. So just as on Earth, clunky stereo systems have shrunk to beautiful, tiny iPods, maybe intelligent life itself, in order to reduce its footprint on the environment, has turned itself microscopic, so the Solar System might be teeming with aliens, and we're just not noticing them. Maybe the very ideas in our heads are a form of alien life. Well, okay, that's a crazy thought. The aliens made me say it. But it is cool that ideas do seem to have a life all of their own, and that they outlive their creators. Maybe biological life is just a passing phase. Well, within the next 15 years, we could start seeing real spectroscopic information from promising nearby planets that will reveal just how life-friendly they might be. And meanwhile SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, is now releasing its data to the public so that millions of citizen scientists, maybe including you, can bring the power of the crowd to join the search. And here on Earth, amazing experiments are being done to try to create life from scratch, life that might be very different from the DNA forms we know. All of this will help us understand whether the universe is teeming with life or, whether indeed, it's just us. Either answer, in its own way, is awe-inspiring, because even if we are alone, the fact that we think and dream, and ask these questions might yet turn out to be one of the most important facts about the universe. And I have one more piece of good news for you. The quest for knowledge and understanding never gets dull. It doesn't. It's actually the opposite. The more you know, the more amazing the world seems. And it's the crazy possibilities, the unanswered questions, that pull us forward. So, stay curious.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
billion years	2
intelligent life	2

Important Words

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action
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aliens
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answer
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