Alien life is possible, but unlikely.

[Lioness]

Step right up, step right up, to this Total Perspective Vortex!

[diamondarcher]

I say that there must be life out there somewhere, but im not totally sure if it is as evolved as us. Actually, like a lot of people say, a couple of billion years is not all that long in the universe, so i think that there must be. There may be some cynic on the ironworks who will protest against what i say, so if you do..........BE OPEN MINDED, DUDE!!!

http://www.posterworx.co.nz/images/d...YourDealer.JPG

[ 06-26-2002, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: diamondarcher ]

[Azred]

Originally posted by andrewas: Azred, youve made the same mistake Einstein made.

I am never too proud to admit an error.

Einstein, eh? At least I am in good company, then.... [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img]

[Earthdog]

I thought I was wrong once but I was MISTAKEN

As for the subject of UFOs there have bewen mass sightings in Russia and Mexico City as well as New York London and Paris.

In Mexico City alone more than 10,000 people saw the same objects in the sky at the same time. 10,000 people couldnt all have the same hallucination at the same time.

In Moscow more than 5,000 people saw the same objects at the same time.

ALL of these people cant be wrong.

[Earthdog]

Originally posted by Sir Kenyth: Easy there Earthdog! You missed a point. The other planets would have to develop life "AT THE SAME TIME". Our time here is a nanosecond compared to the life span of the universe. Countless stars have lived and died before life ever appeared on this world. They would have to pick us out of this endless expanse of stars you pointed out. How would they know? Our very first radio transmissions havn't even reached the next solar system yet! I'm not saying life on other planets is impossible. I'm saying it's improbable that intelligent life would be out there at the same time as us and at the same time be close enough to find and visit us. That's if it's even possible for matter to travel at the speed of light! Maybe I'm wrong, but it's looking like nothing found in the universe travels fast enough to traverse the reaches of space in a suitable amount of time. Just getting matter up to the speed of light is looking pretty impossible as it stands. Don't hold your breath waiting on the SS Enterprise to be developed anytime soon. All in all, I mean we are unlikely to ever make contact with intelligent alien life. I'm also not waiting on body temperature reduction to yeild 2000 year productive lifespans. Hypothermia does reduce metabolism. It also causes coma and death because the body can't function properly. I don't know what you saw that night. I wasn't there. It sounds like it was an exciting experience though.

First Id like to point out that OUR radio transmissions dont have to reach another planet for someone to notice us, and thats pre-accepting that they have the capability to do so. From what Ive been reading radio waves travel at the speed of light. Radio has been broadcast since.... 1906??? The nearest star to our own is Beta Centuari, which is 4 light years from Earth. Radio signals have not only reached Beta and Alpha Centuari but have traveled WELL PAST them.
The fact that our radio signals have been broadcast for nearly 100 years means those signals have traveled nearly 100 light years.

Scientists have recenlty discovered a planet in a solar system 55 light years from here. This planet has an orbit that is fairly non-eliptical. In other words its an earth-like orbit. They know this planet is on the scale of Jupiter so more than likely its a gas giant.

The astronomers believe its even possible there is an earth-like planet within this solar system. 100 years ago it was belived that it wasnt even possible to HAVE planets outside of our solar system. In the last 10 years astronomers have logged over 100 extra-solar planets.

Now we get back to questions and arguements.

If there is a species that has exsisted for hundreds of millions of years they could have been exploring space for millions or even hundreds of millions of years. They wouldnt have to receive our radio signals. They would probably have logged our planet as being capable of supporting life eons ago.

First the look for a suitable size star. Then (like us) they look for a gas giant to see if there is any noticable gravitational pull on said star. If the gas giant is FAR enough form the star there could possibly be smaller planets in orbit around said star that would be far enough so the planet wouldnt be a molten rock and yet close enough to contain enough heat to be capable of supporting life.

The distance from the sun to the planet is what determines if the planet is capable of supporting life. As a species we belive that is necessary to have water as well. This may not be true, but until we can find a planet that doesnt have water and still has life its a theory that cant be dismissed.

So there you have the basics of how OUR scientists are attempting to find life on other planets. For an alien species thats been around for millions of years they would already know this. Only theyd be a hell of a lot better at it than we are.

In recent years the biggest advance in astronomy has been The Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble is limited by the fact that its so close to the earth --- and the sun. If we could get the same telescope on the fringes of our solar system, say near Neptune or Uranus, we wouldnt have so much planetary or SOLAR light interfereing with the reception of images form deep space. The further away you get from our sun the better the reaseach would be. If we had the capability, and Im guessing that in 200 years we will, we could have a string of telescopes toward Apla Centuari.

This would certainly change what we know about space. Keep in mind that if we can do it a species thats millions of years old, more than likely, not only CAN but HAS.

They can see us even if we cant see them.

Sorry if I go off a little bit on this subject but it happens to be one of my personal favourites

[ 06-27-2002, 01:21 AM: Message edited by: Earthdog ]

[diamondarcher]

if we are the only intelligent life in the universe.....how come there is other life in it too? Not all the stories can be made up.
Rant over
The end
Merry Christmas

[250]

ever consider the possibility that the universe is TOO huge for any race of any advanced technology to search through given the LIFE SPAN of the universe?

it is very likely

we are not alone yet alone. thats my belief

[Thoran]

We know so little that I'm inclined to think any guesses we make can't even be called "educated guesses"... but you'd never learn anything if you gave up trying just because there's soo far to go.

As many have said, on a universal scale we're not even on the map, and it's fairly likely we'll do ourselves in before we get off this one lonely planet. But if we can manage to get our act together, I think there's some hope that we won't be alone. Now that we're getting real data confirming some of the terms of the Drake equation, it's starting to look more likely that life is common rather than rare.

Intelligent life is another matter altogether, optimistic results predict maybe a million in our galexy, pessimistic is of course 1 (some days I feel that even saying there's one is being optimistic). Even if it's a million that's not very many, and the chance of having another in our locale is not good. The chance of picking up a radio communication from one of them is REALLY not good.

I also think that our technological position is the equivelant to an infant... we're so young we don't even realize how much we don't know. I was talking to a cousin and he was incredulous when I predicted we'd see matter teleportation within 10 years... then a month later I read that we've already teleported photons, and they're predicting matter teleportation in 5 years.

What else is waiting to be discovered... radio communications by todays standards is archaic... and we've been at it less than a century, yet we're expecting civilizations that might have been around for millions of years to be spewing out radio waves? Not too likely IMO. While it might be impossible to transfer matter through a wormhole or using a folded space approach... all we really need to do is figure out how to transfer INFORMATION instantaneously. If such a thing is possible (and I believe it is) then THAT'S most likely the method all these million year old civilizations are using to communicate.

In Star Trek it was FTL travel that signalled a civilizations acceptance into the galactic intelligent species club. I believe it more likely that communication will be the true key.

[Earthdog]

You have a very good point there Thoran. Thats one thing thats always bugged me abou Star Trek. If the Enterprise was 200 light years from Earth ... How the heck would they be able to get orders from Starfleet? It would take 200 years for orders to get to them.

Communications would have to be vastly improved. Teleportation of radio waves might be possible but the hard part will be finding out HOW FAR they can be teleported. We need faster spacecraft. Making a propulsion system that can attain even half light speed is going to be a duanting task.

Still, we arent alone. Not a chance. There are others who can do the things we dream of. Getting them to share the "how" is what we need.
Id give an alien my autograped Wayne Gretzky rookie card to get them to tell us