...are we missing something?
The Hunt for Extraterrestrial Life
Originally Posted by Wired
...are we missing something?
The Hunt for Extraterrestrial Life
Originally Posted by Wired
Originally Posted by Bertrand Russell
bsodmike (23-09-2009),chuckskull (23-09-2009),Funkstar (23-09-2009)
Extraterrestrial life....one of the most exciting possibilities of all time IMO.
Shame I doubt we will see it in our lifetimesWe need some serious interstellar travel.....or them to travel to us first.
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How about we just pick up the interstellar phone? I mean, radio...
It's pretty basic physics which allows us to build and use a radio, so it's not unreasonable to assume that ET has the same thing, or something that, whilst not necessarily able to decode the signal, will at least be able to receive the signal... and detect that it is not naturally occurring.
Given that not very large leap of faith... our electromagnetic broadcast 'shell' has been quietly expanding out into the universe at the speed of light since radio broadcasts first kicked off in earnest back in the 1930s. So 80 odd light years away, you'll be picking up the BBC world service.
So let's assume it takes them ten years to figure out what it is they're picking up, a bit of debate about what to do about it and they decide, seeing as the signal hasn't faded away that they're going to reply, taking another ten years do do that, it'll be another hundred years until we hear anything back.
Of course, that's assuming ET gets the signal now... Alpha Centauri is the closest star system thought to have planets and that's only 4.5 light years away. So it's safe to assume we're not going to hear anything from them.
Given that any response to us will take as long to get back as it did to get out, any intelligent life within 40 light years should be trying to talk to us now...
So, you can draw one of three conclusions: 1) there's definitely no life capable of replying within 40 light years 2) We haven't received a reply because it hasn't reached us yet 3) No-one is listening or is there to listen.
Of course this is talking about intelligent life capable of communication... If we're talking about life of any sort, be it microbe, viral (I know, viruses are disputed over whether they are living), or higher forms up to primate-type, I reckon we'll find something much closer to home, such as in the suspected seas of Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons.
It'd be nice to make contact with another intelligent race, purely from the rather depressing viewpoint of knowing someone else knew we were here, before our next global extinction level comet wipes us all out.
It's simple enough logic. If the universe is functionally infinite(whole other discussion, but infiite was good enough for Einstein) and the universe has the ability to sustain life then, then the amount and diversity of life is infinite too.
Only reason we haven't found it? The universe is really, really big, and we're really, really small. Not to mention a bit backward.
The funny thing is, we haven't finished searching for life on EARTH, and we want to search the "Universe"?
You kidding me?
We have a new planet already, it's called "Earth", how about protect the rainforests that will take years and years to explore and search the oceans for new life (the stuff down there already discovered is pretty Alien like anyway).
Even, if there is life, they might communicate in a way that we or them cannot talk to each other, so if we send something, they cannot hear it, and if they send something, we also cannot hear it.
It's a double edged sword, and the thing is, what is to say that other life is going to be "Human", there is a very big chance it will be an animal that is not known, and has not evolved enough yet to make big discoveries. There could be a massive civilisation that is extremely advanced, but they have not yet "discovered" Space because they could believe in "Gods" etc and they believe that if they pass into the darkness their planet will be destroyed.
Anything and everything is possible, which is the scary thing. There could even be a massive Spaceship that has been travelling for 100 years to get to us, and you never know, they might be here soon to say "Hi", lol.
Or it could all be an illusion / we're all trapped in the matrix...
Or we're thought to be irrelevant by anyone capable of detecting and interacting with us (space bypass, 3rd most intelligent life form on earth, so long and thanks for all the fish, etc)...
Personally I'd prefer we attempted to expand our horizons either way - to explore and one day colonise other parts of our solar system (moon / mars / moons of jupiter and saturn if any could indeed 'support us' or 'be conquered')
Or instead of there being this age old, universe travelling race - lets call the The Elders - it turns out that we are the oldest of all the intelligent life out there and the rest will take millions of years to catch up. this means that we are The Elders and will discover the new young extra terrestrial life when it eventually emerges.
matty-hodgson (23-09-2009)
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