Are We Alone in the Universe?

[JohnPrewett]

Contact with non-human sentient beings has been oft reported. Naturally, many refuse to believe it.

 

[ThisIsMe]

Contact with non-human sentient beings has been oft reported. Naturally, many refuse to believe it.

They only refuse to believe is because they usually have no evidence of the encounter, and, the vast majority of people have no had any experience that would lead them to believe they exist. Myself, I've not had any experience, nor have I seen lights in the sky, or unexplained objects floating around.

 

[PredFan]

That depends on what you mean? Are we the only life in the universe? IMO we aren’t the only life in this solar system. There is primitive life in our own solar system, I strongly believe that.

Are we the only sentient life? We could be. There certainly has not been any contact with aliens of any kind.

Sentient life based on a human definition?
My belief is it lives among us in the Cetacean mammals within our own oceans. Creatures with complex language and larger brains around a lot longer than humankind. For all we know whales are communicating complex mathematical formulas for pure enjoyment, or simply thinking, "that fish looks yummy".
We tend to dismiss the emotion and intelligence of creatures on our own planet. How the hell would we ever really understand an alien life form?
Can we really measure conscience?

Point taken, but isn't the question based on the premise that we could have some kind of interaction? That maybe they can teach us important things like cures for disease, things like that. We are killing whales for various products and we could easily wipe them out. How sentient is that really? They are certainly complex life forms but I believe they fall short of sentience, at least the kind of sentience that we are talking about here.

 

[PredFan]

Who the hell knows? But that doesn't mean they ain't out there. For all we know, those UFOs are unmanned drones or even human beings from our future that found a way to go back in time. There are theoretical physicists who say that time travel is possible, even though we don't know how to do it. Yet.

Or maybe they are entirely Earthly phenomena, simply unexplained. Less fun to speculate on, but probably more likely.

The Psychological Power of Suggestion

There was no talk about spaceships before man invented flight. The imaginary creatures were self-propelled. Also adequately disproving these fables is that they weren't even assigned an extraterrestrial home until astronomers discovered that the stars were like our sun.

If you watch ancient aliens they'll tell you that our primitive ancestors drew pictures of the aliens that visited.

Aliens could have made better drawings

It was the primitive humans who drew what they saw. Let me give you some charcoal Leonardo and see how you draw.

That depends on what you mean? Are we the only life in the universe? IMO we aren’t the only life in this solar system. There is primitive life in our own solar system, I strongly believe that.

Are we the only sentient life? We could be. There certainly has not been any contact with aliens of any kind.

They can’t reach us we can’t reach them. Consider voyager two has been traveling for around 30 years and it’s finally out of our solar system. Another 80,000 years it will reach alpha Centauri

We are 1% different than great apes. Just 1% separate us from them. Not hard to imagine another civilization that is 1% smarter than us. Their kids would do quantum physics for fun. All it would have taken was better leaders. Less war like and more scientific. But even they haven’t figured out how to get here.

Take a grain of sand. Now take another grain of sand 4 miles away. Those are our sun and alpha Centauri. Now think about how small you are to that grain of sand.

They may be looking at our sun and our biggest planets and not seeing the microbes on our tiny planet. God love it

Hard to argue with that but it doesn't really change anything. We are both speculating here. I choose to believe that because of physics and the vast distances between the stars, we are for all intents and purposes, alone.

And hey, someone has to be #1 right?

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Knowing what I know, I can’t see how anyone could think earth is the only planet with intelligent life.

7 years later and nothing has changed. No closer to finding life. I believe it exists but our ability to see that far is limited

Or not. Remember, the Universe is 13 billion years old. We know that for a fact looking at the speed of the expansion of the Universe.

So how long will a civilization last? There could have even been one on Venus. It's the same size as the earth and made out of the same material and millions and millions of years ago, when the sun was younger and cooler, it was probably very much like earth is now.

In cosmic terms, it won't be long before the earth becomes too hot to support life. Then it will turn into another Venus. It's unavoidable.

There could be civilizations all around us that we "just missed" by a million years.

The really big odds are two civilizations both developing close enough, and having technology at the same time.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

I don't know if calling the 13 billion year age of the universe a fact is accurate; for one thing, the estimates are actually closer to 14 billion years old, for another, given the limits of our knowledge and ability to "see" the universe, there could well be data which would change that estimate. Based on what we have observed, 11 billion years is apparently the youngest the universe can be. How Old is the Universe?

I think people often forget just how vast both the time and distance involved in these sorts of discussions is. There is so much universe, and it has been around for so long, that everything humanity has directly observed is a figurative drop in the ocean. There could be numerous examples of intelligent life throughout the universe right now, and we would have no idea. There may have been many intelligent life forms before humanity arose, and we would have no idea. Humanity is the tiniest speck within the area and the history of the universe.

True, IMHO anyway. I also think there is a possibility of more than one universe in existence, but that's a bit off topic.

Right now the prevailing theory is that the universe is expanding and will keep expanding until everything pretty much goes to hell. Figuratively speaking. But I also wonder if eventually there will be some unknown force that stops the expansion and draws the universe back into that single dot that explodes all over again. Not talking God here, although that isn't out of the question either.

As for life elsewhere in this universe, I'd put my money on life all over the place and some of those places could very well evolve into intelligent life. My guess there have been intelligent species that evolved, prospered, and died out before our solar system was born. Might not have been humanoid either.

I think the idea of a Big Bang and Big Crunch has fallen out of favor, but I'm not certain why. I don't keep up with cosmological theories.

This was posted on another thread, but reveals some new thinking regarding a quantum correction.
Interesting article.
No Big Bang? Quantum equation predicts universe has no beginning

Nothing Can Go From A to B Without Going Through AB, Unless It Goes ACB

A combination of Quantum Quackery and Relativity Irrelevance. The phrase "absent-minded professors" should be taken literally.

 

[sealybobo]

Or maybe they are entirely Earthly phenomena, simply unexplained. Less fun to speculate on, but probably more likely.

The Psychological Power of Suggestion

There was no talk about spaceships before man invented flight. The imaginary creatures were self-propelled. Also adequately disproving these fables is that they weren't even assigned an extraterrestrial home until astronomers discovered that the stars were like our sun.

If you watch ancient aliens they'll tell you that our primitive ancestors drew pictures of the aliens that visited.

Aliens could have made better drawings

It was the primitive humans who drew what they saw. Let me give you some charcoal Leonardo and see how you draw.

That depends on what you mean? Are we the only life in the universe? IMO we aren’t the only life in this solar system. There is primitive life in our own solar system, I strongly believe that.

Are we the only sentient life? We could be. There certainly has not been any contact with aliens of any kind.

They can’t reach us we can’t reach them. Consider voyager two has been traveling for around 30 years and it’s finally out of our solar system. Another 80,000 years it will reach alpha Centauri

We are 1% different than great apes. Just 1% separate us from them. Not hard to imagine another civilization that is 1% smarter than us. Their kids would do quantum physics for fun. All it would have taken was better leaders. Less war like and more scientific. But even they haven’t figured out how to get here.

Take a grain of sand. Now take another grain of sand 4 miles away. Those are our sun and alpha Centauri. Now think about how small you are to that grain of sand.

They may be looking at our sun and our biggest planets and not seeing the microbes on our tiny planet. God love it

Hard to argue with that but it doesn't really change anything. We are both speculating here. I choose to believe that because of physics and the vast distances between the stars, we are for all intents and purposes, alone.

And hey, someone has to be #1 right?

Not only are we all alone because of the distance, we are being separated more and more every second because all the other stars are moving away from us at a faster and faster speed.

Yesterday I heard that in the future we will only be able to see stars in our galaxy. Before I heard that in a million years our ancestors might look up and only see a few faint lights off in the distance at night because all the other galaxies that we see now, we won't see them then.

Imagine if our ancestors didn't have the benefit of looking up and seeing all those other stars. Imagine if at night the sky was truly black. Then we for sure would have thought we were all alone. Lucky for us we can see more stars than our sun.

Now imagine how many starts our ancestors saw 10,000 years ago before our skyline was ruined with city lights. They were much closer and brighter and there were more of them. You know how when you go to the country away from the city lights you can see more stars and they are brighter? Well 10,000 years ago they were much brighter and closer. I would have loved to see what it looked like.

 

[sealybobo]

Or maybe they are entirely Earthly phenomena, simply unexplained. Less fun to speculate on, but probably more likely.

The Psychological Power of Suggestion

There was no talk about spaceships before man invented flight. The imaginary creatures were self-propelled. Also adequately disproving these fables is that they weren't even assigned an extraterrestrial home until astronomers discovered that the stars were like our sun.

If you watch ancient aliens they'll tell you that our primitive ancestors drew pictures of the aliens that visited.

Aliens could have made better drawings

It was the primitive humans who drew what they saw. Let me give you some charcoal Leonardo and see how you draw.

That depends on what you mean? Are we the only life in the universe? IMO we aren’t the only life in this solar system. There is primitive life in our own solar system, I strongly believe that.

Are we the only sentient life? We could be. There certainly has not been any contact with aliens of any kind.

They can’t reach us we can’t reach them. Consider voyager two has been traveling for around 30 years and it’s finally out of our solar system. Another 80,000 years it will reach alpha Centauri

We are 1% different than great apes. Just 1% separate us from them. Not hard to imagine another civilization that is 1% smarter than us. Their kids would do quantum physics for fun. All it would have taken was better leaders. Less war like and more scientific. But even they haven’t figured out how to get here.

Take a grain of sand. Now take another grain of sand 4 miles away. Those are our sun and alpha Centauri. Now think about how small you are to that grain of sand.

They may be looking at our sun and our biggest planets and not seeing the microbes on our tiny planet. God love it

Hard to argue with that but it doesn't really change anything. We are both speculating here. I choose to believe that because of physics and the vast distances between the stars, we are for all intents and purposes, alone.

And hey, someone has to be #1 right?

Imagine another species in another part of the universe looks into the Milky Way Galaxy. There are maybe 400 billion stars in our galaxy. So the first thing they have to do is pick our solar system. Ok, so let's say they do. We know they will see Jupiter & Saturn. But will they even see earth?

Do you know that we are just now realizing we have a 9th planet in our solar system?

Planet Nine Could Be Our Solar System's Missing 'Super Earth'

How do we not know this? And now that we speculate it, how have we not been able to immediately confirm it's existence?

So we don't even know what's in our back yard let alone all the stars in our universe. How can we say there is no life surrounding other stars when we don't even know about us yet? And if we look at a far away star, do we see their earth? Or is it tiny like our earth is?

 

[petro]

That depends on what you mean? Are we the only life in the universe? IMO we aren’t the only life in this solar system. There is primitive life in our own solar system, I strongly believe that.

Are we the only sentient life? We could be. There certainly has not been any contact with aliens of any kind.

Sentient life based on a human definition?
My belief is it lives among us in the Cetacean mammals within our own oceans. Creatures with complex language and larger brains around a lot longer than humankind. For all we know whales are communicating complex mathematical formulas for pure enjoyment, or simply thinking, "that fish looks yummy".
We tend to dismiss the emotion and intelligence of creatures on our own planet. How the hell would we ever really understand an alien life form?
Can we really measure conscience?

Point taken, but isn't the question based on the premise that we could have some kind of interaction? That maybe they can teach us important things like cures for disease, things like that. We are killing whales for various products and we could easily wipe them out. How sentient is that really? They are certainly complex life forms but I believe they fall short of sentience, at least the kind of sentience that we are talking about here.

Take that a step to a civilization tens of thousands of years more advanced than humankind.
They would probably regard us as nothing more than animals. And we would be just as helpless if they decided we should be extinct. Our senses and perception are really quite dull and our knowledge is very limited despite those that think technology has risen us. Not to mention our lack of emotional control. War being the prime example.
I dont believe we should define a conscience lifeform only on the premise they are builders. We have no measurement of something we cannot even define.

 

[sealybobo]

That depends on what you mean? Are we the only life in the universe? IMO we aren’t the only life in this solar system. There is primitive life in our own solar system, I strongly believe that.

Are we the only sentient life? We could be. There certainly has not been any contact with aliens of any kind.

Sentient life based on a human definition?
My belief is it lives among us in the Cetacean mammals within our own oceans. Creatures with complex language and larger brains around a lot longer than humankind. For all we know whales are communicating complex mathematical formulas for pure enjoyment, or simply thinking, "that fish looks yummy".
We tend to dismiss the emotion and intelligence of creatures on our own planet. How the hell would we ever really understand an alien life form?
Can we really measure conscience?

Point taken, but isn't the question based on the premise that we could have some kind of interaction? That maybe they can teach us important things like cures for disease, things like that. We are killing whales for various products and we could easily wipe them out. How sentient is that really? They are certainly complex life forms but I believe they fall short of sentience, at least the kind of sentience that we are talking about here.

Take that a step to a civilization tens of thousands of years more advanced than humankind.
They would probably regard us as nothing more than animals. And we would be just as helpless if they decided we should be extinct. Our senses and perception are really quite dull and our knowledge is very limited despite those that think technology has risen us. Not to mention our lack of emotional control. War being the prime example.
I dont believe we should define a conscience lifeform only on the premise they are builders. We have no measurement of something we cannot even define.

It is very possible killer whales and dolphins are really smart. Even if they can’t build spaceships.

And I bet they believe god is a dolphin.

 

[petro]

That depends on what you mean? Are we the only life in the universe? IMO we aren’t the only life in this solar system. There is primitive life in our own solar system, I strongly believe that.

Are we the only sentient life? We could be. There certainly has not been any contact with aliens of any kind.

Sentient life based on a human definition?
My belief is it lives among us in the Cetacean mammals within our own oceans. Creatures with complex language and larger brains around a lot longer than humankind. For all we know whales are communicating complex mathematical formulas for pure enjoyment, or simply thinking, "that fish looks yummy".
We tend to dismiss the emotion and intelligence of creatures on our own planet. How the hell would we ever really understand an alien life form?
Can we really measure conscience?

Point taken, but isn't the question based on the premise that we could have some kind of interaction? That maybe they can teach us important things like cures for disease, things like that. We are killing whales for various products and we could easily wipe them out. How sentient is that really? They are certainly complex life forms but I believe they fall short of sentience, at least the kind of sentience that we are talking about here.

Take that a step to a civilization tens of thousands of years more advanced than humankind.
They would probably regard us as nothing more than animals. And we would be just as helpless if they decided we should be extinct. Our senses and perception are really quite dull and our knowledge is very limited despite those that think technology has risen us. Not to mention our lack of emotional control. War being the prime example.
I dont believe we should define a conscience lifeform only on the premise they are builders. We have no measurement of something we cannot even define.

It is very possible killer whales and dolphins are really smart. Even if they can’t build spaceships.

And I bet they believe god is a dolphin.

Reminds me of the Star Trek movie where the alien probe was sending whale song and was gonna wipe out Earth since the whales were extinct.

As far as the OP. It is in our best interest that nothing contacts us until we are far more advanced.
Even Hawking thought it unwise to give an invite and directions on the Voyager. Silence from the stars just ensures our survival. I dont believe we would fare well from any encounter at this point.

 

[JohnPrewett]

QUOTE="JohnPrewett, post: 19285526, member: 60004"]Contact with non-human sentient beings has been oft reported. Naturally, many refuse to believe it.[/QUOTE]

[They only refuse to believe is because they usually have no evidence of the encounter, and, the vast majority of people have no had any experience that would lead them to believe they exist. Myself, I've not had any experience, nor have I seen lights in the sky, or unexplained objects floating around.

Much evidence has been proffered ....and is routinely 'knee jerk' dismissed for psychological pathological reasons.

Basically, there are a lot of people who are certain "God" must be a real 'kill-joy' that would 'cramps ones style'

and are convinced that if a "God" did exist then this "God" would most certainly condemn them.

So for many it's just psychologically easier to be in a permanent state of denial of even a shred of evidence for God.

 

[yiostheoy]

Before I start this, this is my personal only opinion of studying this topic for over 35 years now. And though, off record, over 89% of NASA people and affiliated enterprises agree also with what follows, this is strictly my own take and stand at this time on this topic.

First, you must get very familiar with this link and data below, concerning the Drake Equation. It is the most compelling math tool and anyone can use it and it is fabulous for this subject. Here it is:

http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.htm

Ok, for me and over this 36 years interfacing with NASA and assorted agencies, I have come to the conclusion then, and now, that our universe, or closer in, our Galaxy, is host to lifeforms on a level of Star Trek-The Next Generation. I think it is a swarm of life, intelligent and everything in between.

ST-TNG, the federation, is 8000 Light Years (LYs) in diameter, and look at the life that is entailed in that fictional quadrant of our galaxy. I truly feel that whole world of grand fiction will play out in the near future to not only be true, but more so, conservative by numbers.

Here's why:

1. Our sun is a class C type star and is found to be the most common star type in the cosmos.

2. These star types tend to be the most stable and longest lived.

3. They last upwards of 6 billion years.

4. They have multiple planets, with at least one in the "Goldilocks Zone", where liquid water is present on the surface, thus the right distance from the home star.

5. And on carbon based planets, this is the condition for life, as we know it.

Further, like the movie, "Start Trek: First Contact", we are going to leave our home place. We will do so when we have developed something that is SoL+ or, a WARP drive if you will. From that, we are free.

And if we are free to explore out beyond our local solar neighborhood, we would obviously be able to reach out to other Class C worlds, for no other reason than to see if we are right.

And, aside from the darker psychopaths that post on all these myriad of boards to the contrary, NASA and all other space agencies around the planet is pushing the technology to "see" out there what is there. And it reasons well, if we are not alone, others out there are doing the same, looking back.

If we don't "see" each other at some point, or we get out there and then run into someone else, the treasure chest is open.

So, categorically, WE ARE NOT ALONE!!

In the not so near future, in our lifetimes even, we are going to get a message, anything, that will simply be "Hello. Are you there?"

Behold.

Comments encouraged greatly.

Robert

Old thread.

 

[yiostheoy]

If this has already been brought up, I apologize, I didn't have time to go through the whole thread tonight.

These questions of life, and intelligent life, other than our own in the universe usually center on life as we currently know it. There's also the possibility to consider that life or intelligence might occur in some completely different form than ours. Perhaps the things we think are needed are not; perhaps some kind of life might form without water, or without 'breathable' atmosphere, etc. We have such a limited perspective, having only seen an incredibly small portion of the universe and over such a small amount of time, I wouldn't be surprised if some form of life arose totally outside our expectations.

Also, even if there is intelligent life, and it were within the range of how far radio waves will have traveled from Earth, it's possible that the life forms would not realize they originated from an intelligent source even if they saw them. Perhaps they have adapted entirely different forms of communication and the idea of using radio waves to broadcast signals never occurred to them; by the same token, it may be possible that we've received signals of some sort from another intelligent life form without realizing that is what they were.

I am a sci-fi fan, and would dearly love for humanity to encounter another intelligent life form in my lifetime, but the distances and time periods involved make me very skeptical that we will. I consider it very likely that there is/has been/will be other intelligent life in the universe, just not that we will interact with them.

Oh, and I love the early Star Trek references I feel the need to say that I was not a big fan of First Contact (or any of TNG movies), I thought the better movies based on the original series were far superior. I attribute that to the time between; TNG movies seemed too much like long episodes.

7 years later and nothing has changed. No closer to finding life. I believe it exists but our ability to see that far is limited

Did you bump this or did someone on my iggy?

 

[sealybobo]

If this has already been brought up, I apologize, I didn't have time to go through the whole thread tonight.

These questions of life, and intelligent life, other than our own in the universe usually center on life as we currently know it. There's also the possibility to consider that life or intelligence might occur in some completely different form than ours. Perhaps the things we think are needed are not; perhaps some kind of life might form without water, or without 'breathable' atmosphere, etc. We have such a limited perspective, having only seen an incredibly small portion of the universe and over such a small amount of time, I wouldn't be surprised if some form of life arose totally outside our expectations.

Also, even if there is intelligent life, and it were within the range of how far radio waves will have traveled from Earth, it's possible that the life forms would not realize they originated from an intelligent source even if they saw them. Perhaps they have adapted entirely different forms of communication and the idea of using radio waves to broadcast signals never occurred to them; by the same token, it may be possible that we've received signals of some sort from another intelligent life form without realizing that is what they were.

I am a sci-fi fan, and would dearly love for humanity to encounter another intelligent life form in my lifetime, but the distances and time periods involved make me very skeptical that we will. I consider it very likely that there is/has been/will be other intelligent life in the universe, just not that we will interact with them.

Oh, and I love the early Star Trek references I feel the need to say that I was not a big fan of First Contact (or any of TNG movies), I thought the better movies based on the original series were far superior. I attribute that to the time between; TNG movies seemed too much like long episodes.

7 years later and nothing has changed. No closer to finding life. I believe it exists but our ability to see that far is limited

Did you bump this or did someone on my iggy?

I did

 

[PredFan]

That depends on what you mean? Are we the only life in the universe? IMO we aren’t the only life in this solar system. There is primitive life in our own solar system, I strongly believe that.

Are we the only sentient life? We could be. There certainly has not been any contact with aliens of any kind.

Sentient life based on a human definition?
My belief is it lives among us in the Cetacean mammals within our own oceans. Creatures with complex language and larger brains around a lot longer than humankind. For all we know whales are communicating complex mathematical formulas for pure enjoyment, or simply thinking, "that fish looks yummy".
We tend to dismiss the emotion and intelligence of creatures on our own planet. How the hell would we ever really understand an alien life form?
Can we really measure conscience?

Point taken, but isn't the question based on the premise that we could have some kind of interaction? That maybe they can teach us important things like cures for disease, things like that. We are killing whales for various products and we could easily wipe them out. How sentient is that really? They are certainly complex life forms but I believe they fall short of sentience, at least the kind of sentience that we are talking about here.

Take that a step to a civilization tens of thousands of years more advanced than humankind.
They would probably regard us as nothing more than animals. And we would be just as helpless if they decided we should be extinct. Our senses and perception are really quite dull and our knowledge is very limited despite those that think technology has risen us. Not to mention our lack of emotional control. War being the prime example.
I dont believe we should define a conscience lifeform only on the premise they are builders. We have no measurement of something we cannot even define.

It is very possible killer whales and dolphins are really smart. Even if they can’t build spaceships.

And I bet they believe god is a dolphin.

Reminds me of the Star Trek movie where the alien probe was sending whale song and was gonna wipe out Earth since the whales were extinct.

As far as the OP. It is in our best interest that nothing contacts us until we are far more advanced.
Even Hawking thought it unwise to give an invite and directions on the Voyager. Silence from the stars just ensures our survival. I dont believe we would fare well from any encounter at this point.

That is of course assuming that we aren't the most advanced beings in the entire universe. May we are. Someone has to be #1. Maybe we are destined to be the ones that visit and abduct other beings. Maybe WE are the ones to be afraid of.

 

[sealybobo]

Sentient life based on a human definition?
My belief is it lives among us in the Cetacean mammals within our own oceans. Creatures with complex language and larger brains around a lot longer than humankind. For all we know whales are communicating complex mathematical formulas for pure enjoyment, or simply thinking, "that fish looks yummy".
We tend to dismiss the emotion and intelligence of creatures on our own planet. How the hell would we ever really understand an alien life form?
Can we really measure conscience?

Point taken, but isn't the question based on the premise that we could have some kind of interaction? That maybe they can teach us important things like cures for disease, things like that. We are killing whales for various products and we could easily wipe them out. How sentient is that really? They are certainly complex life forms but I believe they fall short of sentience, at least the kind of sentience that we are talking about here.

Take that a step to a civilization tens of thousands of years more advanced than humankind.
They would probably regard us as nothing more than animals. And we would be just as helpless if they decided we should be extinct. Our senses and perception are really quite dull and our knowledge is very limited despite those that think technology has risen us. Not to mention our lack of emotional control. War being the prime example.
I dont believe we should define a conscience lifeform only on the premise they are builders. We have no measurement of something we cannot even define.

It is very possible killer whales and dolphins are really smart. Even if they can’t build spaceships.

And I bet they believe god is a dolphin.

Reminds me of the Star Trek movie where the alien probe was sending whale song and was gonna wipe out Earth since the whales were extinct.

As far as the OP. It is in our best interest that nothing contacts us until we are far more advanced.
Even Hawking thought it unwise to give an invite and directions on the Voyager. Silence from the stars just ensures our survival. I dont believe we would fare well from any encounter at this point.

That is of course assuming that we aren't the most advanced beings in the entire universe. May we are. Someone has to be #1. Maybe we are destined to be the ones that visit and abduct other beings. Maybe WE are the ones to be afraid of.

A part of me hopes so and a part of me says no way we are the smartest things in the universe.

There have already been 18 school shootings in the US this year: Everytown

https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-Americans-elect-a-mad-man-for-president









No way we are the smartest things in the universe.

It's possible cuttlefish are smarter than we are

 

[Montrovant]

Sentient life based on a human definition?
My belief is it lives among us in the Cetacean mammals within our own oceans. Creatures with complex language and larger brains around a lot longer than humankind. For all we know whales are communicating complex mathematical formulas for pure enjoyment, or simply thinking, "that fish looks yummy".
We tend to dismiss the emotion and intelligence of creatures on our own planet. How the hell would we ever really understand an alien life form?
Can we really measure conscience?

Point taken, but isn't the question based on the premise that we could have some kind of interaction? That maybe they can teach us important things like cures for disease, things like that. We are killing whales for various products and we could easily wipe them out. How sentient is that really? They are certainly complex life forms but I believe they fall short of sentience, at least the kind of sentience that we are talking about here.

Take that a step to a civilization tens of thousands of years more advanced than humankind.
They would probably regard us as nothing more than animals. And we would be just as helpless if they decided we should be extinct. Our senses and perception are really quite dull and our knowledge is very limited despite those that think technology has risen us. Not to mention our lack of emotional control. War being the prime example.
I dont believe we should define a conscience lifeform only on the premise they are builders. We have no measurement of something we cannot even define.

It is very possible killer whales and dolphins are really smart. Even if they can’t build spaceships.

And I bet they believe god is a dolphin.

Reminds me of the Star Trek movie where the alien probe was sending whale song and was gonna wipe out Earth since the whales were extinct.

As far as the OP. It is in our best interest that nothing contacts us until we are far more advanced.
Even Hawking thought it unwise to give an invite and directions on the Voyager. Silence from the stars just ensures our survival. I dont believe we would fare well from any encounter at this point.

That is of course assuming that we aren't the most advanced beings in the entire universe. May we are. Someone has to be #1. Maybe we are destined to be the ones that visit and abduct other beings. Maybe WE are the ones to be afraid of.

Maybe, but I don't want to think that way!

 

[PredFan]

Point taken, but isn't the question based on the premise that we could have some kind of interaction? That maybe they can teach us important things like cures for disease, things like that. We are killing whales for various products and we could easily wipe them out. How sentient is that really? They are certainly complex life forms but I believe they fall short of sentience, at least the kind of sentience that we are talking about here.

Take that a step to a civilization tens of thousands of years more advanced than humankind.
They would probably regard us as nothing more than animals. And we would be just as helpless if they decided we should be extinct. Our senses and perception are really quite dull and our knowledge is very limited despite those that think technology has risen us. Not to mention our lack of emotional control. War being the prime example.
I dont believe we should define a conscience lifeform only on the premise they are builders. We have no measurement of something we cannot even define.

It is very possible killer whales and dolphins are really smart. Even if they can’t build spaceships.

And I bet they believe god is a dolphin.

Reminds me of the Star Trek movie where the alien probe was sending whale song and was gonna wipe out Earth since the whales were extinct.

As far as the OP. It is in our best interest that nothing contacts us until we are far more advanced.
Even Hawking thought it unwise to give an invite and directions on the Voyager. Silence from the stars just ensures our survival. I dont believe we would fare well from any encounter at this point.

That is of course assuming that we aren't the most advanced beings in the entire universe. May we are. Someone has to be #1. Maybe we are destined to be the ones that visit and abduct other beings. Maybe WE are the ones to be afraid of.

A part of me hopes so and a part of me says no way we are the smartest things in the universe.

There have already been 18 school shootings in the US this year: Everytown

https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-Americans-elect-a-mad-man-for-president









No way we are the smartest things in the universe.

It's possible cuttlefish are smarter than we are

Well there haven't been 18 school shootings this year, and Rush is a smart guy,

 

[sealybobo]

Take that a step to a civilization tens of thousands of years more advanced than humankind.
They would probably regard us as nothing more than animals. And we would be just as helpless if they decided we should be extinct. Our senses and perception are really quite dull and our knowledge is very limited despite those that think technology has risen us. Not to mention our lack of emotional control. War being the prime example.
I dont believe we should define a conscience lifeform only on the premise they are builders. We have no measurement of something we cannot even define.

It is very possible killer whales and dolphins are really smart. Even if they can’t build spaceships.

And I bet they believe god is a dolphin.

Reminds me of the Star Trek movie where the alien probe was sending whale song and was gonna wipe out Earth since the whales were extinct.

As far as the OP. It is in our best interest that nothing contacts us until we are far more advanced.
Even Hawking thought it unwise to give an invite and directions on the Voyager. Silence from the stars just ensures our survival. I dont believe we would fare well from any encounter at this point.

That is of course assuming that we aren't the most advanced beings in the entire universe. May we are. Someone has to be #1. Maybe we are destined to be the ones that visit and abduct other beings. Maybe WE are the ones to be afraid of.

A part of me hopes so and a part of me says no way we are the smartest things in the universe.

There have already been 18 school shootings in the US this year: Everytown

https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-Americans-elect-a-mad-man-for-president









No way we are the smartest things in the universe.

It's possible cuttlefish are smarter than we are

Well there haven't been 18 school shootings this year, and Rush is a smart guy,

In eight of the 17 school shootings recorded by Everytown prior to today, a gun was fired but no one was injured.

 

[PredFan]

It is very possible killer whales and dolphins are really smart. Even if they can’t build spaceships.

And I bet they believe god is a dolphin.

Reminds me of the Star Trek movie where the alien probe was sending whale song and was gonna wipe out Earth since the whales were extinct.

As far as the OP. It is in our best interest that nothing contacts us until we are far more advanced.
Even Hawking thought it unwise to give an invite and directions on the Voyager. Silence from the stars just ensures our survival. I dont believe we would fare well from any encounter at this point.

That is of course assuming that we aren't the most advanced beings in the entire universe. May we are. Someone has to be #1. Maybe we are destined to be the ones that visit and abduct other beings. Maybe WE are the ones to be afraid of.

A part of me hopes so and a part of me says no way we are the smartest things in the universe.

There have already been 18 school shootings in the US this year: Everytown

https://www.quora.com/Why-did-the-Americans-elect-a-mad-man-for-president









No way we are the smartest things in the universe.

It's possible cuttlefish are smarter than we are

Well there haven't been 18 school shootings this year, and Rush is a smart guy,

In eight of the 17 school shootings recorded by Everytown prior to today, a gun was fired but no one was injured.

this is off topic but essentuially you are right. Two were suicides, and one of the suicides was an adult who killed himself after a stand off in a school parking lot when the school was not in session, two others occurred when a drive by shooting happened near the school but not on school grounds and the bullets ended up coming to a rest on school property, another was at a college where a criminal justice student accidentally fired a gun that he thought was unloaded in a class demonstration (no one was hurt), and so on. In the end there are only three shootings that qualify as actual school shootings this year. Still too many for sure but it shows what liars the left is.