[LINK] Two meditations of note

[rfmcdonald]

• james_nicoll has recently speculated (1, 2) about the possibility that red dwarf stars might actually be fairly hospitable stars for living worlds, though low-mass ones. Mars and Titan (and the Galilean worlds?) may be more typical representatives of the galaxy's class of high-density planetary bodies than the Earth. This has obvious implications for the sorts of life that develop on these worlds.


• jackwalker is currently undertaking an extended synopsis of Robert Putnam's Bowling Alone (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Putnam's identification and analysis of social capital and its mutations is classic. jackwalker's useful synopsis is helping to bring out the potential causes for the trends identified by Putnam, and shortly, to suggest possible solutions.