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Life expectancy and life energy according to Evo-SETI theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

Claudio Maccone*
Affiliation:
International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), SETI Permanent Committee of the IAA, Associate, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Via Martorelli, 43 - Torino (Turin) 10155, Italy
*
Author for correspondence: Claudio Maccone e-mail: clmaccon@libero.it, claudio.maccone@iaamail.org; http://www.maccone.com/
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Abstract

This paper is profoundly innovative for the Evo-SETI (Evolution and SETI) mathematical theory. While this author's previous papers were all based on the notion of a b-lognormal, that is a probability density function in the time describing one's life between birth and ‘senility’ (the descending inflexion point), in this paper the b-lognormals range between birth and peak only, while a descending parabola covers the lifespan after the peak and down to death. The resulting finite curve in time is called a LOGPAR, a nickname for ‘b-LOGnormal and PARabola’. The advantage of such a formulation is that three variables only (birth, peak and death) are sufficient to describe the whole Evo-SETI theory and the senility is discarded forever and so is the normalization condition of b-lognormals: only the shape of the b-lognormals is kept between birth and peak, but not its normalization condition.

In addition, further advantages exist:

1) The notion of ENERGY becomes part of Evo-SETI theory. This is in addition to the notion of ENTROPY already contained in the theory as the Shannon Information Entropy of b-lognormals, as it was explored in this author's previous papers. Actually, the LOGPAR may now be regarded as a POWER CURVE, i.e. a curve expressing the power of the living being to which it refers. And this power is to be understood both in the strict sense of physics (i.e. a curve measured in Watts) and in the loose sense of ‘political power’ if the logpar refers to a Civilization.

Then the integral in the time of this power curve is, of course, the ENERGY either absorbed or produced by the physical phenomenon that the LOGPAR is describing in the time. For instance, if the logpar shows the time evolution of the Sun over about 10 billion years, the integral of such a curve is the energy produced by the Sun over the whole of its lifetime. Or, if the logpar describes the life of a man, the integral is the energy that this man must use in order to live.

2) The PRINCIPLE OF LEAST ENERGY, reminiscent of the Principle of Least Action, i.e. the key stone to all Physics, also enters now into the Evo-SETI Theory by virtue of the so-called LOGPAR HISTORY FORMULAE, expressing the b-lognormal's mu and sigma directly in terms of the three only inputs b, p, d. The optimization of the lifetime of a living creature, or of a Civilization, or of a star, is obtained by setting to zero the first derivative of the area under the logpar power curve with respect to sigma. That yields the best value of both mu and sigma fulfilling the Principle of Least Energy for Evo-SETI Theory.

3) We also derive for the first time a few more mathematical equations related to the ‘adolescence’ (or ‘puberty’) time, i.e. the time when the living organism acquires the capability of producing offsprings. This time is defined as the abscissa of ascending inflection point of the b-lognormal between birth and peak. In addition, we prove that the straight line parallel to the time axis and departing from the puberty time comes to mean the ‘Fertility Span’ in between puberty and the EOF (End-Of-Fertility time), which is where the above straight line intersects the descending parabola. All these new results apply well to the description of Man as the living creature to which our Evo-SETI mathematical theory perfectly applies.

In conclusion, this paper really breaks new mathematical ground in Evo-SETI Theory, thus paving the way to further applications of the theory to Astrobiology and SETI.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 
Figure 0

Fig. 1. History of the Sun as a logpar power curve, created only by assigning the three numeric input logpar values (b = −4.567 · 109 year, p = 0, year, d = 5 · 109 year). The Sun formed about 4.6 billion years ago from the collapse of part of a giant molecular cloud that consisted mostly of hydrogen and helium and that probably gave birth to many other stars. This age is estimated using computer models of stellar evolution and through nucleocosmochronology. The result is consistent with the radiometric date of the oldest Solar System material, at 4.567 billion years ago (see the Wikipedia site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun#Formation). The Sun is now producing energy at about a constant rate and it will keep doing so for at least a billion year in the future. The above graph reveals so since in the next billion year the energy production of the Sun will change by less that 10−11 (a femto). In the above graph the b-lognormal power curve (not a probability density any more, since not normalized to 1 any more) is covering the time between the birth of the Sun 4.567 billion years ago and nowadays and is shown in blue. On the contraty, the logpar part between now and 5 billion years in the future is shown in red and is just a parabola with its vertex at the peak of the b-lognormal. This author is not claiming that the above logpar curve is the Sun's actual evolution curve in any astrophysical sense: it is just a good visual logpar example.

Figure 1

Fig. 2. The life of a Man as a LOGPAR power curve. The horizontal axis shows the Man's age in years since his birth. Then, three curves are shown in this graph: (1) The blue b-lognormal departing from birth at time b = 0, intercepting the horizontal green line at the b-lognormal's ascending inflextion point (at 11 years of Man's age), then climbing up to the peak at 33 years of age. Imagine that you do not see the rest of the descending b-lognormal beyond the peak. (2) The red parabola. Imagine that you don't see the first ascending part of the parabola between birth and peak. Then, after the peak, the red parabola plunges down on the right up to the age 80, i.e. the Man's death. (3) The green horizontal line intercepts the ascending b-lognormal at its ascending inflexion point. That is the puberty time for Man, i.e. the beginning of its reproductive capabilities at age 11. Then the horizontal green line continues to the right until it intercepts the red parabola at the End-Of-Fertility time (EOF time). (4) The green line segment in between puberty and EOF time is the FERTILITY Span. (5) The green line segment between birth and death is the LIFE EXPECTANCY.