Alien life is possible, but unlikely.

[andrewas]

Originally posted by Ziroc: Travel in space is simple if you can FOLD space and time. It IS possible, we just don't know how yet. The Aussies just TELEPORTED a laserbeam last week, you think in 1950 that would have been possible?

I havent heard much about this experiment, but a couple years back someone else (Welsh i heard, but i dunno) moved a single photon at 4C. (For the trekkies thats about warp 2, unless theyve recalibrated the scale again [img]smile.gif[/img] )

As I recall it required somewhat massive equiment - and this is the killer - at both ends of the experiment.

Even if you could scale it up to move a vessel at say 1MC (At that speed you cross the galaxy in about 1 month), and build one transporter, youd still need a slower-than-light ship to build the other end. Unless you can contact another race at the other end and send them plans, but even then that message cant move >1C.

It just dosent look like faster-than-light travel is a practical proposition.

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by khazadman: oh come on!there are trillions of stars in the universe that are like ours.i think it is highly likely that there is intelligent life on billions of them.don't forget,the sun is a relativly young star.there are older stars out there with planets that have probably already produced intelligent life,we just havn't found them yet.could you imagine the technology of a civilization that is a billion years old?who needs radio to communicate?we don't know of them because we can't find them.they might have hidden their star by building a dyson sphere.

Billions of intelligent civilizations at the same time as us and all using dyson spheres? You're living in what dream world? The sun is young yes, but like all stars, as it grows older it's properties will change, eventually making life on this particular planet impossible short of self-contained environments. The window of opportunity for life in a stars cycle is a short one.

[Rokenn]

Originally posted by Ziroc: Travel in space is simple if you can FOLD space and time. It IS possible, we just don't know how yet. The Aussies just TELEPORTED a laserbeam last week, you think in 1950 that would have been possible?

Actually they do know how to do it theoretically. The only problem is the theoretical model calls for negative energy, which may or may not exist. Classical physics says no, quantum physics says maybe [img]smile.gif[/img]

http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/PAO/html/warp/ideachev.htm

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by /)eathKiller: Chances of two races of distant worlds actually meeting are, infact, so low, that it is vastly impossible, though we do know that life is a short process, it doesn't last as long as many wish it would, some races stay to their homeworlds and pathetically die off over time, while other races live longer but still end up dying off, when a race dies off another may begin elsewhere, It's like blinking lights on a christmas tree except only 1 or 2 lights blink at a time, and while those lights blink, life exists, and they quickly burn out, only for more lights to light up, or just one light... we could be a single solitary light, or maybe we'll be lucky enough to encounter other lights, before we, ourselves, burn out...

Good analogy! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Neb]

Originally posted by andrewas: As I recall it required somewhat massive equiment - and this is the killer - at both ends of the experiment. Even if you could scale it up to move a vessel at say 1MC (At that speed you cross the galaxy in about 1 month), and build one transporter, youd still need a slower-than-light ship to build the other end. Unless you can contact another race at the other end and send them plans, but even then that message cant move >1C.

Not that much of a problem. Just built it here and then send it flying into space with a pair of reverse thrusters to stop it after a certain distance has been traversed.....

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by Ziroc: quote: Originally posted by Sir Kenyth: I've been thinking about the universe, it's vastness, how long solar systems last, etc. I came to a conclusion about the alien theory. It's quite possible that other planets could have life, but unlikely that they have it now at the same time as us. Think about how short the existence of this planet is in comparison to the scope of the universe. Then think of how short the existence of life is in comparison to the planet. Then think how short the human existence is in comparison to that. Take into account that solar systems and planets go through cycles and the window for the existence of life is very short in the total lifespan. Certainly another planet relatively close to us may support life at some time, but it's HIGHLY unlikely that it would happen at the same time as us. This doesn't even touch on the fact on whether it's even possible to physically transverse the vastness of the universe to find out! What do you think?

You're thinking in HUMAN terms and HUMAN Life. Man, I could go into so many tangents about this [img]smile.gif[/img] . TRUST me, life is out there, and NOT just human. Silicon. Energy beings. Gas-based life. All types of stuff. Look at MARS. They just found a huge amount of Ice on the poles--enough, if melted, that it would create an ocean.

If we could MELT it--atmosphere! Greenhouse effects.

We gotta stop thinking from OUR point of view (i.e. in HUMAN terms) and also stop thinking WE are the 'center' of the Universe. That idea is too silly!

Travel in space is simple if you can FOLD space and time. It IS possible, we just don't know how yet. The Aussies just TELEPORTED a laserbeam last week, you think in 1950 that would have been possible?

There is SO much we have yet to see, and I for one wish I had an Elves lifespan to see it.

PS: We just NEARLY got hit by a Asteroid the size of a football field (it passed within 75,0000 MILES of earth)--that is SO close, you don't even know... (Closer than the MOON). and if it hit Earth, it would have exploded in the air to a magnitude equal to a 10 Megaton Nuke. scary huh! [/QUOTE]I know what you mean Z. Imagination is a great thing. Sometimes dreams and wild theories pan out into realities, but they usually don't. The human point is THE ONLY point we know right now, and we havn't even got that one totally figured out yet. I just see how truly fragile life is. The equivalent of a solar sneeze could wipe everything out and there's damn little we could ever do about it. The chances of two planets generating the rare miracle of life, evolving, and surviving long enough to generate a technology we don't even have reason to believe is possible and to have it all happen in the same heartbeat of the universe is a long shot. That given, we would still have to discover the proverbial needle in the haystack! See what I mean?

[ 06-21-2002, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: Sir Kenyth ]

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by Neb: quote: Originally posted by andrewas: As I recall it required somewhat massive equiment - and this is the killer - at both ends of the experiment. Even if you could scale it up to move a vessel at say 1MC (At that speed you cross the galaxy in about 1 month), and build one transporter, youd still need a slower-than-light ship to build the other end. Unless you can contact another race at the other end and send them plans, but even then that message cant move >1C.

Not that much of a problem. Just built it here and then send it flying into space with a pair of reverse thrusters to stop it after a certain distance has been traversed.....[/QUOTE]You obviously have greater faith in the longevity of equipment than I do. I can't keep a computer running for more than a week without some kind of error requiring human intervention, much less thousands of years of sub-light travel. Not to mention, where would you fill up on this galactic road trip? I don't think 7-11 franchises out there yet. Maybe BP?

Originally posted by Sir Kenyth: You obviously have greater faith in the longevity of equipment than I do. I can't keep a computer running for more than a week without some kind of error requiring human intervention, much less thousands of years of sub-light travel. Not to mention, where would you fill up on this galactic road trip? I don't think 7-11 franchises out there yet. Maybe BP?

Sir K. [img]smile.gif[/img] Try a UNIX server [img]smile.gif[/img] we have some that haven't been rebooted in years here [img]smile.gif[/img] get away from those old M$ machines .

Originally posted by andrewas: It just dosent look like faster-than-light travel is a practical proposition.

In the 1800's it was a known fact (when railroads were just coming into their own) that a human being could not survive the ungodly speed of 60mph...In the 1900's it was believed that the speed of sound could not be exceeded by any efforts of man.....Or to put it in more modern terms, As K was telling his new partner. 300 years ago, everyone knew that the earth was flat...100 years ago everyone knew...(the rest of the speil)....just imangine what you will know 15 minutes from now.

It is impossible to know what it is that you do not know, untill someone points it out to you.

[ 06-21-2002, 01:31 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[Sir Kenyth]

Originally posted by MagiK: quote: Originally posted by andrewas: It just dosent look like faster-than-light travel is a practical proposition.

In the 1800's it was a known fact (when railroads were just coming into their own) that a human being could not survive the ungodly speed of 60mph...In the 1900's it was believed that the speed of sound could not be exceeded by any efforts of man.....Or to put it in more modern terms, As K was telling his new partner. 300 years ago, everyone knew that the earth was flat...100 years ago everyone knew...(the rest of the speil)....just imangine what you will know 15 minutes from now.

It is impossible to know what it is that you do not know, untill someone points it out to you.[/QUOTE]The problem with humans Magik is that our knowledge increases are exponential, not incremental. Back then science was a lot simpler and very few people found a necessity for it. Our potential was well ahead of our progress. Just living day to day in your 40-50 year life span was enough trouble for most, and schooling was seen as a waste of valuable work time. Now we live longer and have more time to learn, but the amount we have to learn is so much greater! What your average Joe with a moderate intellectual hunger knows today would have ranked as an elite education back in the day. When do we reach a saturation point? When does our progress catch up with our potential? When will we simply not live long enough or have the capacity to effectively absorb the prerequisite knowledge and skills to even make any advances? I wonder how we will contend with this. So far, specialization by science/engineering professionals has helped. Even today you can't have too broad of a knowledge and remain cutting edge.