Galactic Fireworks
Finding our long lost energetic cousins
The universe is a good piece of art. Like a song, a fireworks show, or a garden — a great soil field with flowers popping off. In a proper fireworks show, the beginning is just one explosion at a time, then a few together ebbing and flowing like a good song, and then the grand finalé.
It appears to my neural net that the universe, God, nature, the whole shebang, is a similar deal.
The only planets I have any sense of are Earth and Mars. With my small sample size, I suppose that the grandest planets, solar systems and galaxies are the ones exploding with life. We’ll call those sentient galaxies. Is our partially sentient galaxy on a collision course with another sentient galaxy?
If I, the universe, am 13.7 billion years old and it takes 100 billion years to get to heat death, then I am an adolescent. It’s still early in the show and I would not expect a galactic chord, or firework, to intersect with another.
For a firework explosion, or a chord in a song, to look at itself and think that it will last for the whole song would be wishful thinking — although not impossible. Perhaps there is a slow-burning firework, or long ringing bass note that goes the distance, but how often do you see that?
I don’t think the universe wakes up and then it’s awake, then the show ends. That’s boring. And that’s not how things seem to work on the ground. On the ground, I see a lot of waves, ebbing and flowing.
I’m reminded of Elon’s Razor: the most entertaining outcome is the most likely.
If I were the spectator, and perhaps I am, I’d judge galaxies by their novel phenomena. Those are the best explosions. First, some planets here and there with life, but it’s a tease and life can’t get off the seed planet. Then bang, a sentient galaxy. Then it fizzles out. Then another. Then multiple in different zones of timespace. Then, the moment we’ve all been waiting for: two sentient galaxies collide. Then there is the grand finale with total fucking sentience all over the place. Then it’s lights out.
That would be a good show.
Is Earth the seed planet for an entire galactic garden to bloom? Well shit, there’s only one way to find out, and I, speaking on behalf of the whole shebang, don’t want to let anyone down. My hypothesis is that from Bang to Heat Death, sentient galaxies bumping into each other is a rare occurrence and a highlight for the onlooker.
It’s not like we’ve gotten very far. We haven’t even probed other solar systems or galaxies yet. It seems reasonable to assume that if it’s taken Earth this long to get to it, our alien colleagues, wherever they are, are not much further ahead or behind.
It could take us a million years to find each other. That’s not that long. It’ll be quite the reunion when our molecules reconnect.
Things get interesting when we redraw the lines of separateness. If Earth is one entity then each species is an organ, each animal is a cell, and each cell is an organelle. From this perspective, Earth is one organism that’s ebbing and flowing with periods of growth and extinction.
The current cycle is a period of neuronal growth, and shrinkage of organ diversity, which is likely temporary. It appears that six growth/extinction cycles is the average for a planet to experience a neuronal explosion. If it happened here, it can happen elsewhere. It’s unreasonable to assume it would happen faster in the other zones of timespace. We don’t know the variance because our sample size is N of 1. The mean, median and mode for reaching the part where a planet launches rockets is six mass extinction cycles over 4.5 billion years. If we, energy, all started from the same origin (which is what they say) then it seems reasonable to assume that planets with replicating cells aren’t much further along than we are. We're not far along; in fact, we’re just waking up.
With the advent of sustainable energy production, battery storage, computers, reusable rockets, and other nifty gadgets, the game has just begun — the great intergalactic manhunt — the search for our long-lost energetic cousins, to see what the hell they are up to. Who knows what they are doing! What if it’s eerily similar to Earth? That would be a sight to see and the ultimate vacation.
Synopsis
Galaxies are like fireworks, notes in the great song. The most interesting ones are teeming with sentient life — replicating cells that think. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, will be like this soon, if we, pun intended, shoot for the stars. We already have robots living on Mars and people living in space. We can have AGI robots alive, all over the place. The closest neighboring solar system to Earth is 4.25 light years away. Life will be confirmed intergalactic when Earth deposits cells there. The closest neighboring galaxy is 2.5 million light-years away. Interstellar travel is a challenge. Frankly, I think they ought to meet us halfway.
Thanks for reading
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