Do you Believe that there is Extraterrestrial Life?

[Thunderbird]

Why would any intelligent and technologically capable extraterrestrial life want to contact us? What do the hairless apes of an insignificant planet orbiting an insignificant star in the outreaches of a typical spiral galaxy have to offer in the first place, much less before we get into just how violent that ape is?

C'mon anthropologists and assorted adventurers are tripping over each other investigating primitive societies.

I mean, aliens can't live on Earth.

You can't really say that.

I guess, other than observing humans and other life just out of curiosity, there's just nothing attractive about us.

Curiosity is enough.

 

[Thunderbird]

A civilization does not have to die to have war or disease or simply run out of the resources needed for interstellar travel.

What resources would a solar system lack?

You seem to think a failed society can never right itself.

 

[Montrovant]

A civilization does not have to die to have war or disease or simply run out of the resources needed for interstellar travel.

What resources would a solar system lack?

You seem to think a failed society can never right itself.

Who knows? We're talking about an entirely alien civilization. We have no idea what resources they would end up using to travel, nor how common those resources would be on their home planet, on any planet they colonize, or the places in between. That's my whole point; there is just too much unknown to make these kinds of probability determinations IMO.

I never said nor implied that a society must be failed to slow or stop expansion, nor have I said such a society could never 'right' itself. Again, it's a question of unknowns. Over the course of millions of years, who knows what might happen to an interstellar society or species which might slow or halt expansion?

And all of this is based on the idea that such interstellar travel and expansion is both possible and practical.

I just don't think the Fermi Paradox has much merit.

 

[Political Junky]

There are bacteria surviving at boiling temperatures right here on earth ... so it's possible that other species live in different climes than we do. BTW, there are Goldilocks planets out there.

 

[thanatos144]

Logic dictates the odds of there never being another planet with life on it is astronomical....No tyhe real question is can interstellar travel happen.....Because that will tell us the chances of ever seeing any other life other then ours.

 

[JimBowie1958]

1) Why wouldn't some group or individual within this civilization contact us?

Tricky question since I don't have any factual descriptions of who/what the aliens are.

I do think it is far more likely that whatever civilization exists among the aliens it is peaceful, far in advance of us technologically and morally, and that they want to make observations that are not skewed by us knowing that they are there. This is basic scientific method for observing intelligent life, I would imagine.

2) How do you know this kind of communication is possible?

Well, I don't KNOW that it is possible but there are things that look like they have a very decent chance of panning out, like using quantum entangled particles to communicate almost instantly across limitless distances.

I just see no reason to suppose that the aliens will still be using electromagnetic waves which simply are unsuitable for interstellar communications and are only suitable for local interplanetary needs at best. I do think they will not be used for even interplanetary communications within the next few centuries.

Why would any intelligent and technologically capable extraterrestrial life want to contact us? What do the hairless apes of an insignificant planet orbiting an insignificant star in the outreaches of a typical spiral galaxy have to offer in the first place, much less before we get into just how violent that ape is?

I mean, aliens can't live on Earth. Hell, I'm from here and my family has been here for a billion years and 3/4 of the globe is covered in a substance that will kill me, not including areas that are too hot or too cold or too arid or too high to sustain life. We haven't even gotten into weather patterns, earthquakes, landslides, or biological nasties like bacteria and predators. Earth is a deathtrap. I'd be better off on a geologically dead body like the Moon, since I'm going to be forced to engineer the place to suit my needs anyways.

There's nothing special about the Earth from a geologic standpoint. If aliens need something like iron or carbon or even water, it's far easier to mine asteroids.

And then there's humanity. We talk a good game about wanting peace, but kill each other over nothing.

I guess, other than observing humans and other life just out of curiosity, there's just nothing attractive about us.

Creative sentient minds are the most rare commodity in the universe. I imagine they want to add to the collective mind of commerce, technology and cosmology.

 

[JimBowie1958]

I do think it is far more likely that whatever civilization exists among the aliens it is peaceful, far in advance of us technologically and morally,

Think of all the societies that have been technologically advanced and immoral!

and that they want to make observations that are not skewed by us knowing that they are there. This is basic scientific method for observing intelligent life, I would imagine.

Would ALL aliens follow this rule?

I just see no reason to suppose that the aliens will still be using electromagnetic waves which simply are unsuitable for interstellar communications and are only suitable for local interplanetary needs at best. I do think they will not be used for even interplanetary communications within the next few centuries.

Why do people assume scientific advances will continue indefinitely?

Have you seen anything to the contrary?

Even in Europes 'Dark Age' the Muslims, Indians and Chinese continued to advance civilization quite fine without us.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Logic dictates the odds of there never being another planet with life on it is astronomical....No tyhe real question is can interstellar travel happen.....Because that will tell us the chances of ever seeing any other life other then ours.

Space travel using constant acceleration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From the planetary frame of reference, the ship's speed will appear to be limited by the speed of light—it can approach the speed of light, but never reach it. If a ship is using 0.5g constant acceleration or greater, it will appear to get near the speed of light in about a year, and have traveled about half a light year in distance. For the middle of the journey the ship's speed will be roughly the speed of light, and it will slow down again to zero over a year at the end of the journey.

As a rule of thumb, for a constant acceleration at one (Earth) G, the ship journey time will be the distance in light years to the destination, plus one year. This rule of thumb will give answers that are slightly shorter than the exact calculated answer, but reasonably accurate.

Ship reference frame[edit]

From the frame of reference of those on the ship the acceleration will not change as the journey goes on. Instead the planetary reference frame will look more and more relativistic. This means that for voyagers on the ship the journey will appear to be much shorter than what planetary observers see.

This is something many readers don't understand well, so it bears repeating: The journey times as experienced by those on the ship are not limited by the speed of light. Instead what they experience is the planetary reference frame getting relativistic.

It is already feasible, all we need is the fuel and energy source that can accelerate a crew at one G constantly.

Given that achievement, we would be able to go to nearby stars fairly easily and the crew would find it less of an issue as the 1G acceleration would constitute a form of 'artificial gravity' and enable them to live for long periods of time in the ship.

 

[Steven_R]

Only until they get to the halfway point of the trip, then the crew will start decelerating which means less and less gravity until we're back to zero g at the destination point.

 

[Steven_R]

I mean, aliens can't live on Earth.

You can't really say that.

I'm from here. 75% of the surface of this planet will kill me if I'm exposed to it for any length of time. There are vast swaths of Earth that are too hot, too cold, too arid, has air that is too thin for me to live on. I find it highly unlikely that some alien will come from an environment that is just the same as ours, with the save gravitational pull, same temperature ranges, same atmosphere, and so on. Not to mention food sources any aliens will need. There are too many plants, animals, fungi that will kill me dead if I eat them because of a lack of biocompatibility and/or toxicity. Aliens aren't going to be exempt from that.

Any aliens that come to Earth will need a habitat and supplies that cater to their needs. It's just unlikely that they can land here, pop the hatch or beam down, and be just peachy.

 

[JimBowie1958]

Only until they get to the halfway point of the trip, then the crew will start decelerating which means less and less gravity until we're back to zero g at the destination point.

No the perceived 1G deceleration force remains the same, though the velocity drops gradually in the last half of the trip.

 

[JimBowie1958]

I mean, aliens can't live on Earth.

You can't really say that.

I'm from here. 75% of the surface of this planet will kill me if I'm exposed to it for any length of time. There are vast swaths of Earth that are too hot, too cold, too arid, has air that is too thin for me to live on. I find it highly unlikely that some alien will come from an environment that is just the same as ours, with the save gravitational pull, same temperature ranges, same atmosphere, and so on. Not to mention food sources any aliens will need. There are too many plants, animals, fungi that will kill me dead if I eat them because of a lack of biocompatibility and/or toxicity. Aliens aren't going to be exempt from that.

Any aliens that come to Earth will need a habitat and supplies that cater to their needs. It's just unlikely that they can land here, pop the hatch or beam down, and be just peachy.

Yes, they will likely have some form of shelter and will use some form of travel vehicle to get here.

They will survive here as well as we do, even better because the technology they have is far better than the technology we have that lets us survive.