For now I have less writing to do at work, so about a month ago I set out in my spare time to write up a discussion-level post on the Fermi paradox and what I see as neglected aspects thereof—what we have actually observed and actually have not, and what we can actually exclude and what we cannot, and options for intelligent systems that are neither universal expansion nor destruction. It’s coming along, but has ballooned in size drastically. It has become full of what I feel are quite relevant digressions about our place and time in the universe, astrobiology, geochemistry, reasons that SETI candidate signals or lack thereof mean almost nothing, and ecology. This is what happens when you are a biologist who very nearly became an astronomer and grew up around a part-time geologist mother.
Anyways, I just wanted one piece of advice: do people think I should keep everything in one monolithic post, or chop it up into thematically-closer-related bits?
I think it’s useful to have everything concentrated into one post. That makes it easier for people to link to the post if they consider it to be the best exploration of the topic on the internet.
For now I have less writing to do at work, so about a month ago I set out in my spare time to write up a discussion-level post on the Fermi paradox and what I see as neglected aspects thereof—what we have actually observed and actually have not, and what we can actually exclude and what we cannot, and options for intelligent systems that are neither universal expansion nor destruction. It’s coming along, but has ballooned in size drastically. It has become full of what I feel are quite relevant digressions about our place and time in the universe, astrobiology, geochemistry, reasons that SETI candidate signals or lack thereof mean almost nothing, and ecology. This is what happens when you are a biologist who very nearly became an astronomer and grew up around a part-time geologist mother.
Anyways, I just wanted one piece of advice: do people think I should keep everything in one monolithic post, or chop it up into thematically-closer-related bits?
I think it’s useful to have everything concentrated into one post. That makes it easier for people to link to the post if they consider it to be the best exploration of the topic on the internet.
Monolithic posts can be intimidating. You can accomplish close to the same thing with digestible posts that end with a link to the next one.
Well, let’s see, what’s the current word count?