based on what we know of other planets in the universe, where does earth (and this solar system) fall in the spectrum (i.e. stability, availability of natural resources, ability to support living organisms, etc)?

are we a rainbow world? imagine just for a minute, that star trek is how the world really is: thousands of interstellar races, some in alliance, some at war, all know about each other, and planet earth. and we are one of the best planets around. and they're just waiting for us to join them. would we join them, or build a wall around the planet? who among us would join the united federation of planets, who among us would copy someone else's technology and build another spathiwa, enslaving us all for their pleasure?

The other day I watched something on the Science Channel about the formation of our moon and how critical it is to life on earth, especially in terms of stabilizing earth's axis and hence its climate. I got to thinking... We've had 5 major extinction events on earth that we know about. So far, none of them have killed the planet completely, but that could happen in a number of ways. And it can be argued that we're now in the early stages of no. 6, and it may well include the extinction of humans. So I'm thinking that life is probably pretty common in the galaxy, but how long does it last on the average planet? How many planets are stable enough to really give life and social adaptation a good run at evolution? We can't even guess without much more information about other star systems, of course. (Or until a friendly ET sends us a copy of Wiki Galactica.) But it may be that, while life is common enough, long-lasting technical civilizations are exceedingly rare.

As to possible interstellar relations, Star Trek obviously presents a very optimistic view of our future, and one that would seem to require some significant changes in human nature. Our history seems to indicate that really draconian human cultures (e.g. the Roman Empire, the Nazies, or the various dynasties of China) don't persist through time any better than others. It would be nice to believe that our future points towards stability and social justice, at least most of the time, but who can say? And if another star-faring species finds us before we get out there, would they arrive with respect for other species, or with all the racism and arrogance or our own European explorers in the New World? I don't think we can know in advance.

... As to possible interstellar relations, Star Trek obviously presents a very optimistic view of our future, and one that would seem to require some significant changes in human nature. Our history seems to indicate that really draconian human cultures (e.g. the Roman Empire, the Nazies, or the various dynasties of China) don't persist through time any better than others. It would be nice to believe that our future points towards stability and social justice, at least most of the time, but who can say? And if another star-faring species finds us before we get out there, would they arrive with respect for other species, or with all the racism and arrogance or our own European explorers in the New World? I don't think we can know in advance.

Cooperative ideas and positive 'peer pressure' work better than tyrants and dictatorships...

Can our world politics evolve to be positive and cooperative before we poison our world?...

Can we curb the poison of fiduciary greed?...


Keep searchin',
Martin

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if they have the technology to find/reach us, they could zap us without hesitation

Perhaps not directly related, but still something which should be considered.

Most of us who happen to be familiar with the celestial sky know about the orientation of the Earth against the sky.

For simplicity, the North Star, or Pole Star, is close to the celestial north pole.

But next, the fact that this happens to be so because of the Ecliptic and the way both the Moon and Earth, as well as the other planets of the solar system orbits the sun.

Have you ever given a thought about the orientation of the solar system as a whole against something else?

In this case thinking about the Milky Way itself for such a thing.

Because of both precessesion, including the tilting angle of some 23 degrees, for the Earth, the Pole Star ends up where it is supposed to be.

But next the fact that the sun is having a similar tilt of only some 3 degrees.

Therefore, where is north located and where is south the similar?

Again, perhaps use the compass for such a thing, but still we are back on Earth.

The Milky Way is having both a North Pole and South Pole as well and in between we have the direction of the Center of the Milky Way, as well as its opposite point in the sky,
or anticenter, north of Orion.

For some reason both these locations in space closely matches that of the Ecliptic, but still not the same.

Add to it the points or places in the Milky Way, meaning the central bulge, which is located at a 90 degree angle on each side and you have the rest of the story.

Therefore, if we could be able to look either up, or perhaps down, or in fact this could mean either north or south, which points of space would we be able to see next?

A possible space traveler could be choosing to arrive at the solar system from either straight above, or maybe straight below (and not necessarily that of Earth), but rather the plane of the solar system as a whole.

Think about it and make a guess where such a traveler could be coming from.