Like everyone, I took a moment on Monday to marvel that our sun and moon are just the right relative size for the magic to happen the way it does. And then for the first time I wondered if that coincidence was necessary for human-level consciousness to arise, that uncannily perfect shadow strobing over the surface of the earth on a billion-year scale gradually making animal brains bend into themselves, a missing letter in the Drake equation. #eclipse
@jmac when i used to teach astronomy, i would mention this:
terrestrial planets aren't supposed to have moons like we have. they don't form naturally. ours was an accident (the giant impact theory).
without the moon, there would be no tides. tidal zones are where sea animals can evolve into amphibians, and from there to land animals.
all animals of earth are children of the sea, we carry the sea in our protoplasm.
there would be no land animals at all without the moon.
It's a crime that Asimov's collection of excellent essays that includes one that goes into great detail about this, "The Tragedy of the Moon" is out of print.
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