"Aliens"

[Politico]

Ludicrous, The Almighty created the earth unique. If He didn't, then we would have to save the "little green men" from an eternity in "alien" hell.

If humans are the only intelligent life out there the universe is screwed.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

it is a big place

they are out there but unlikely we will ever know it

the blue dot is how far radio has traveled

about 200 light years across

Where we are relative to the galaxy is the 'goldlilocks' zone of spiral galaxies. Not so close to the center novas and other star-phenomenae make life difficult if not impossible, not so far too little material exists to form stars and planets. So chances are, where life occured in this galaxy is where lots of life occured. And will occur in similar galaxies.

What happened in this solar system giving rise to life was very improbable (interplanet collisions and debris going from one planet to another.) Yet life sprang up anyway. So where 'normal' formation of stars and planets occurs, life is actually more likely, not less likely.

And yes, the galaxy is a big place, and just 1 of a hundred-billion or so others. And yes, radio hasn't travelled very far. But travelling at light-speed wont be how spacefaring civilizations get around. Even with relativisitc time dilation you're not gonna get very far in any reasonable amount of time (plus if you hit something, which is likely, you're all done, the kinetic energy of a single carbon atom hitting your ship at c isn't gonna be pretty.) Warp travel and other possibilities is gonna be the only way to do it. If we don't wipe ourselves out, I'm sure we'll develop warp drive or some other FTL technology to get around. And when we can do that, we'll be able to do it with communications too (probably do the communications first being easier.)

if aliens are so advanced as to figure out how to travel those distances relatively quickly

we would be of little or no interest to them

Not necessarily. Think about how we always ask "are we alone?" All the tech and capability to mine resources, or exploit other resources in the universe doesn't amount to much if you never say alone to anyone

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Simple deductive reasoning supports there being aliens..

Simple deductive reasoning is something for philosophers, not scientists.

The first question is. what do we consider life if we are discussing extraterretrial life forms?
If we say: everything organic and self replicating, it is quite sure that the universe is full of it.
If we say: aliens humming around with spaceships,, the number of possibilities will fall dramatically.
Never forget the Drake equatation.

At least we know that there is actually in our time nothing like that in a distance of around 100 lightyears.
Otherwise we would have detected some signals.
There was obviously also nothing around in a distance of a few hundredthousand lightyears, say the same hundredthousands of years ago. Their signals would have reached us in the meantime.
Given the fact that we result merely from an asteroid accident that wiped out thee pretty dumb dinosaurs which didn't discover fire in a few hundred million years, and that we as thechnology developing life form exist only a few thousand years, the time window to discover extraterrestrial life under comparable conditions becomes even smaller.

So, maybe there were civilisations which disappeared and their signals have passed us before we were able to detect them. Or we have to wait a few million years or more to see aliens who exist parallel to us. Maybe we have disappeared before their signals reach us.

The odds are, we will possibly never know.

We don't know if there's anything within 100ly. Haven't been listening very long, and listening involves picking the right frequency at the right moment. Plus, we may well have detected alien broadcasts and simply not been told about it. If you think about it, there's no reason to announce such a discovery. Nothing good would come of it, and lots of bad absolutely would.

 

[fmdog44]

You know what really hurts is what if we never find a conclusive answer either way?!

 

[Delta4Embassy]

I agree. Its very unlikely our planet is the only one with life on it. Other life forms will probably not be anything like ours but there's no reason to think they won't be intelligent.

There must be life out there. 2006 astronomers discovered a 460 bllion kilometer long alcohol cloud in our galaxy.

Oh wait, I just see it is methanol.They must be illegal moonshine distillers.

"We're not throwing an intergalactic kegger down here."

Zed "Men In Black"

 

[Delta4Embassy]

We are alone because the Holy Bible doesn't mention space invaders.

"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth"- Genesis 1:1

​

Actually Genesis 1:1 reads (in a Jewish Torah)

"Any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental."

 

[Steven_R]

it is a big place

they are out there but unlikely we will ever know it

the blue dot is how far radio has traveled

about 200 light years across

And due to the Inverse Square Law, the farther away the radio waves get from us, the weaker they are. The Gray Aliens of Zeta Reticuli B may be getting radio shows like Amos and Andy, but the strength of transmission is so low they might not be able even tune into a show.

 

[Dan Daly]

I see a lot of alien gibberish on this section.
Stop watching history channels "ancient aliens". Like everything else on that station, it's conspiracy theory garbage.
We are alone because the Holy Bible doesn't mention space invaders. The earth is unique

All humans are unique...does that mean that only one of us actually exists?

 

[jon_berzerk]

it is a big place

they are out there but unlikely we will ever know it

the blue dot is how far radio has traveled

about 200 light years across

And due to the Inverse Square Law, the farther away the radio waves get from us, the weaker they are. The Gray Aliens of Zeta Reticuli B may be getting radio shows like Amos and Andy, but the strength of transmission is so low they might not be able even tune into a show.

true mine was more of a demonstration as to the vastness of space

 

[Muhammed]

I think this guy is an alien. Or at least spaced out.

 

[HUGGY]

I see a lot of alien gibberish on this section.
Stop watching history channels "ancient aliens". Like everything else on that station, it's conspiracy theory garbage.
We are alone because the Holy Bible doesn't mention space invaders. The earth is unique

Ya, right. We are all alone and aliens are made up because your made up fairy tale said so.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

If life only exists on Earth then God's a Rube Goldberg sorta deity who vastly overengineered the universe.

 

[Moonglow]

I see a lot of alien gibberish on this section.
Stop watching history channels "ancient aliens". Like everything else on that station, it's conspiracy theory garbage.
We are alone because the Holy Bible doesn't mention space invaders. The earth is unique

Ezekiel 1:1-28 ESV
In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there. As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. And from the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, .

 

[Moonglow]

Nope, just stating that creating life once 6000 years ago does not imply 12 eyed green men with tentacles from pluto

Isaiah 60:8 ESV
Who are these that fly like a cloud, and like doves to their windows?

 

[HUGGY]

If life only exists on Earth then God's a Rube Goldberg sorta deity who vastly overengineered the universe.

He One-a dem dudes ya ask him what time it is and he immediately sets out to build a watch.

 

[indiajo]

We don't know if there's anything within 100ly. Haven't been listening very long, and listening involves picking the right frequency at the right moment. Plus, we may well have detected alien broadcasts and simply not been told about it. If you think about it, there's no reason to announce such a discovery. Nothing good would come of it, and lots of bad absolutely would.

Let's put aside this conspiracy stuff and get real.
See, not only US labs check the skies with radiotelescopes. Every industrilised nation does that.
And the treams are international, moreover scientists do not shut up once they discover somethng.
Plus, the point is, if there would have been something 100 years ago we could not detect, it would be still there today if we exclude the possibility that this civilisation has wiped out itself exactly in this period.

Artificial signals have certain characterisitcs that distinct them from natural ones. We do not get confused by pulsars anymore, we learned a lot the past 100 years. The analyzing methods are automated.
Every simple amateur radio operator has today equipment that is far better than the electronics installed at big radio telescopes 50 years ago. Plus a cheap or even free frequency analyzing software on his computer if he wants to play SETI.
(Actually SETI is using volounteers in a wide private computer network.)

So, no. If there ist nothing withn 100 ly, there is nothing. Live with it.
That does not mean there could be nothing, could have been nothing or will be nothing in a greater distance. Our own Galaxy has a diamteter of around 150 k ly.
And, one problem, we will not be able to see something that lies in a pretty big segment camouflaged by the pretty dense center of it, observed from our point of view in the big disc.

Again what I already mentioned: the time problem. The milky way is whatever billions of years old.
As Andromeda is, the nearest neighboring galaxy. So are the solar systems there which possibly could sustain some sort of life. We on earth have the possibility to send and receive radio signals now merely 100 years in a more or less reasonable way.

WHEN did THEY start? Do they still EXIST? Or will THEY have to start yet in a unforeseeable future?
How are the chances that this could fit in our recent time window?

So, no signals. And for sure no UFOs. Everbody fancing that should be aware that physically exploring galaxies for alien life would be equally challenging, extraordinarily expensive, dangerous and whatever comes to one's mind as it would be for us. Because THEY would face the same hostile to life conditions in space that we would face. Energy and time applies to THEM, too.
Any intelligent alien civilisation able to do that would for sure not restrict themselves to frighten the shit out of some drunken idiot at a lonely hill side, lift him up to harass him sexually (and consider, by now only men were sexually harassed by aliens, isn't that funny?) or get caught by some earth military (of course only in the USA) and kept hostage in area 51.
All this guys are ready for the funny farm to be kept in strait jackets.
Technologically THEY would be ahead of us as we are to chimps.

 

[ChrisL]

I believe there has to be life somewhere in the universe. Of course that does not mean they are more advanced than us. They could be a form of bacteria or something. Perhaps evolution is just beginning in some planet somewhere in the universe. It is just SO vast that it is difficult to believe there are not other forms of life.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

I believe there has to be life somewhere in the universe. Of course that does not mean they are more advanced than us. They could be a form of bacteria or something. Perhaps evolution is just beginning in some planet somewhere in the universe. It is just SO vast that it is difficult to believe there are not other forms of life.

I'd put money on bacteria or similar simple life right here in our solar system. Mars, moons of Jupiter, maybe Venus.

Think life is common in the universe, but technological life like our's less common. But our region of space is comparatively young. 4.6 billion year old planet and solar system in a 13.5 billion year old universe. So there's likely other systems with life where it's existence much longer than here. Whether being there for longer also then means a longer survived species is questionable. Technological life might well wipe itself out as the rule. Where non-technological life does just fine as with sharks whose body types have remained as they are now for hundreds of millions of years.

 

[ChrisL]

I believe there has to be life somewhere in the universe. Of course that does not mean they are more advanced than us. They could be a form of bacteria or something. Perhaps evolution is just beginning in some planet somewhere in the universe. It is just SO vast that it is difficult to believe there are not other forms of life.

I'd put money on bacteria or similar simple life right here in our solar system. Mars, moons of Jupiter, maybe Venus.

Think life is common in the universe, but technological life like our's less common. But our region of space is comparatively young. 4.6 billion year old planet and solar system in a 13.5 billion year old universe. So there's likely other systems with life where it's existence much longer than here. Whether being there for longer also then means a longer survived species is questionable. Technological life might well wipe itself out as the rule. Where non-technological life does just fine as with sharks whose body types have remained as they are now for hundreds of millions of years.

And turtles and alligators haven't changed much either. It seems that a lot of animals got smaller but didn't really change in characteristics too much. They are apparently already perfectly suited for their environments.

I do believe that technology is probably our downfall, but once that Pandora's box is opened . . .

 

[Delta4Embassy]

I believe there has to be life somewhere in the universe. Of course that does not mean they are more advanced than us. They could be a form of bacteria or something. Perhaps evolution is just beginning in some planet somewhere in the universe. It is just SO vast that it is difficult to believe there are not other forms of life.

I'd put money on bacteria or similar simple life right here in our solar system. Mars, moons of Jupiter, maybe Venus.

Think life is common in the universe, but technological life like our's less common. But our region of space is comparatively young. 4.6 billion year old planet and solar system in a 13.5 billion year old universe. So there's likely other systems with life where it's existence much longer than here. Whether being there for longer also then means a longer survived species is questionable. Technological life might well wipe itself out as the rule. Where non-technological life does just fine as with sharks whose body types have remained as they are now for hundreds of millions of years.

And turtles and alligators haven't changed much either. It seems that a lot of animals got smaller but didn't really change in characteristics too much. They are apparently already perfectly suited for their environments.

I do believe that technology is probably our downfall, but once that Pandora's box is opened . . .

Been watching a lot of the Alaskan shows on Discovery lately, and the whole roughing it and living off the land thing I think is our future, not our past. Big disadvantage of technology, in particular computers, is it can be turned off or otherwise disabled. And because of how dependent industrialized nations are on technology, it makes a tempting target for disruption.