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 surely be countless other planets tmieneg with life, but why don't we see any evidence of it? Well, this is the famous question asked by eicrno Fermi in 1950: "Where is everybody?" Conspiracy theorists claim that UFOs are vtinsiig all the time and the reports are just being cvoered up, but honestly, they aren't very convincing. But that lvaees a real riddle. In the past year, the Kepler space observatory has found hundreds of planets just around nearby srtas, 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 biiolln yraes after the Big Bang. Countless other planets in our gxlaay should have formed earlier and given life a cnchae to get underway bililnos or certainly many millions of years earlier than hnepeapd on eatrh. If just a few of them had spawned ileeinltngt life and started cnaertig theeognlcois, those technologies would have had millions of years to grow in complexity and power. On Earth, we've seen how dramatically technology can aetrcaelce 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 golruios 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 nmeruous 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 tenooclhgy is far rerar 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 ctonorl 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 menoy 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 dlvoeep, they quickly discover communication technologies far more sthpsiociaetd and useful than electromagnetic waevs. Maybe all the atcion takes palce inside the mysterious recently discovered dark matter, or dark ergeny, 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 seerto systems have shrunk to beautiful, tiny ipdos, maybe intelligent life itself, in order to reduce its footprint on the environment, has turned itself microscopic, so the slaor System might be teeming with aienls, and we're just not noicnitg them. Maybe the very ideas in our heads are a form of ailen 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 baiiocogll life is just a passing phase. Well, within the next 15 years, we could start seeing real spectroscopic information from promising nearby pnalets 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 miiollns of citizen sicstients, maybe including you, can bring the power of the cwrod 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 pceie of good news for you. The qsuet for knowledge and unndtsideanrg 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.

Open Cloze

Somewhere out there in that vast universe, there must surely be countless other planets _______ with life, but why don't we see any evidence of it? Well, this is the famous question asked by ______ Fermi in 1950: "Where is everybody?" Conspiracy theorists claim that UFOs are ________ all the time and the reports are just being _______ up, but honestly, they aren't very convincing. But that ______ a real riddle. In the past year, the Kepler space observatory has found hundreds of planets just around nearby _____, 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 _______ _____ after the Big Bang. Countless other planets in our ______ should have formed earlier and given life a ______ to get underway ________ or certainly many millions of years earlier than ________ on _____. If just a few of them had spawned ___________ life and started ________ ____________, those technologies would have had millions of years to grow in complexity and power. On Earth, we've seen how dramatically technology can __________ 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 ________ 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 ________ 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 __________ is far _____ 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 _______ 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 _____ 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 _______, they quickly discover communication technologies far more _____________ and useful than electromagnetic _____. Maybe all the ______ takes _____ inside the mysterious recently discovered dark matter, or dark ______, 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 ______ systems have shrunk to beautiful, tiny _____, maybe intelligent life itself, in order to reduce its footprint on the environment, has turned itself microscopic, so the _____ System might be teeming with ______, and we're just not ________ them. Maybe the very ideas in our heads are a form of _____ 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 __________ life is just a passing phase. Well, within the next 15 years, we could start seeing real spectroscopic information from promising nearby _______ 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 ________ of citizen __________, maybe including you, can bring the power of the _____ 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 _____ of good news for you. The _____ for knowledge and _____________ 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.

Solution

billions
alien
sophisticated
stereo
stars
visiting
ipods
crowd
teeming
galaxy
energy
covered
accelerate
leaves
aliens
develop
place
technology
quest
happened
rarer
scientists
biological
piece
solar
creating
numerous
action
intelligent
planets
chance
noticing
money
understanding
years
billion
earth
glorious
enrico
waves
millions
technologies
control

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

accelerate
account
action
alien
aliens
amazing
amount
answer
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art
artifacts
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bang
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