this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
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chapotraphouse
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This is something I've been thinking about. My gut feeling is that life or some life equivalent has independently evolved near countless times, but the whole "why have we not detected signs of some advance alien civilization yet" paradox is explained by memes like these. Just because you have life and even intelligent life doesn't mean they would be starfaring. People focus on stuff like the habitable zone, but what about the conditions needed for natural furnaces to form or conditions needed to build an artificial furnace? My guess is that a planet that could support a furnace would need:
Oxygen. Combustion is needed for oxygen.
Organic substance as fuel. This could be in the form of hydrocarbons or things like wood.
Dry land. This is to actually build the furnace. Plus, it's a lot harder to ignite wet things.
Not being cold as fuck. I guess I'm just listing the fire triangle at this point lol
From here, it would then come down to whether the planet has anything worth putting into the furnace to smelt.