What is Digg?156 Comments
- angusm, on 06/08/2008, -7/+111To quote from the article: "Advanced civilizations would have the tools to make a chemical analysis of Earth's atmosphere .... which would reveal our planet's atmosphere is rich with water and oxygen ... The inescapable implication is that Earth has life ..."
Inescapable implication? Not unless your ET's have body chemistry similar to ours. They might look at it and go "Oxygen? That *****'s incredibly reactive. Nothing could live there."
Or perhaps it would be "Yes, Graduate Student Zhuuorg, I am aware of those science-fiction stories about miniature creatures living on the tiny, rocky worlds that orbit perilously close to their system's primary. But I must remind you that the Academy of Sciences has conclusively shown that only planets with a hydrogen-helium-methane atmosphere are capable of supporting life, and that actual intelligence is impossible in organisms less than 67 sqlonks (Translator's note: 1 sqlonk = 33 metres) in size. That system does have four potentially promising gaseous planets - but each one is below what we know to be the minimum size necessary to harbor life. Next solar system, please." - Harabeck, on 06/08/2008, -1/+48Thank you. Its good to know someone else finds it weird that scientists believe all life must be oxygen breathing and carbon based.
- honutt, on 06/08/2008, -2/+47Why waste all the money on arrays of satellite dishes when when we all know that the only thing needed to detect the existence of an alien civilization is to point a nightvision camera out your bedroom window?
- FeloniusMonkey, on 06/08/2008, -2/+42Why is everyone so quick to assume that the only possibilities for space/time travel are based on what we know. Does anyone else agree that we've just barely scratched the surface of understanding space/time?
I think it's safe to assume that if they know we're here, and they can get here, then they know a great deal about physics that we don't. - docfaraday, on 06/08/2008, -0/+32The presence of large amounts of a highly reactive element in an atmosphere is a very strong indicator of life, because it implies that something is generating it rapidly enough to compensate for the fact that it will not stay in the atmosphere very long.
- Ryanr14, on 06/08/2008, -2/+13what ever happened to the "real" alien video that guy was releasing to the press? Did he ever do it?
- Yage2006, on 06/09/2008, -1/+12People should boycott discovery.com until they pull those awful anti-science shows off there channels such as Ghost hunters, UFO hunters , Psychic detectives And on and on the list is huge and that network is a Effin disgrace.
- JustusUnlimited, on 06/08/2008, -1/+11Yes because in a universe of unimaginable proportions, with traces of life found on planets in OUR OWN SOLAR SYSTEM, there's no chance of intelligent life ANYWHERE. That would just be ludicrous.
Idiot. - smotpoker, on 06/08/2008, -0/+10"long gone for whatever reason"? It seems to me that most races who might be advanced enough to travel faster than light would be able to foresee most race-endangering threats well before they actually so they could plan for/mitigate them to some degree. If they can travel faster than light, most would have established self-sufficient off-world colonies ASAP (which is what we will do if we're smart). This would provide greater redundancy if one planet/colony is somehow destroyed and provide varying conditions and perspectives which would not only be useful for experimentation but also for astrological observation and increasing chances of establishing contact with alien races.
In other words, most alien civilizations who technologically advanced to any real degree probably have at least a few off- homeworld colonies and are more likely trying to discover us and communicate faster-than-light using some unknown method. Assuming they sent first radio signals 5-10k years ago as you suggest, by the time they reached us they will have developed some new FTL communication mechanism and flooded the entire galaxy (or universe) by the time those first radio waves reach us...
Anyway, I think the flaws in your comment seem to originate from the fact you seem to think humanity is doomed and all sentient species will be as willfully ignorant as most of us. The universe is infinite enough to indicate there are many intelligent species in existence and that at least a few will manage to survive in some form or other for as long as the universe exists. - Harabeck, on 06/08/2008, -1/+10Ya but we cant make much progress if we just go, "well, theyd obviously be much smarter, so we just shouldnt try to figure out how we can contact them". The only way we make any progress is to work on the most reasonable hypothesis and adjust our methods as our technology and knowledge progresses.
- inactive, on 06/08/2008, -2/+11They wouldnt have to have sent the signals thousands of years ago, in fact there are planets known to exist much closer than 1000 light years away. Not saying that these planets have life, that the life is intelligent and that they are sending transmissions in our general direction, just saying that there are a lot of places much closer they could come from.
Additionally, an advanced race could be more advanced for a couple of reasons, lets look at a comparison against earth for some examples.
First they could have started out earlier than we did, if they had a similar evolutionary path, scientific development, etc, but started 100 years, 1000 years, or even 10,000 years (all small enough percentages based on how long man has been around compared to the universe) they would appear to be quite advanced.
Now what if they prized scientific discovery above sports and music stars? Imagine a world where people really dont care that much about who paris hilton did not sleep with (shorter list that way) and cared more about scientific advancements. Where the super bowl was replaced with academic championships, but still got the same viewers. People would be driven to excel in these environments, and there would be more people pushing the edge of science.
And finally what if the church never said things like the earth is flat, the sun revolves around the earth, jupiter cant have more moons than earth because earth is the center of everything, barometers cant exist because there is no vaccuum in space, etc. And they did not have the death penalty imposed for those that disagreed.
Any of these things on earth would have catapulted us further along scientifically speaking, so it stands to reason that if someone evolved at the same time we did they would be more advanced, if they get all of this they will be super advanced, especially if they have been around longer.
With all that said I do not think we have been visited, I do not think we have made contact, but I do not rule anything out immediately, I think that its possible that life is out there (statistically speaking its likely in fact), and that some day we may just make contact with them.
I also think that a sufficiently advanced race wouldnt be using radio, they may use a quantum comminications device which can, via quantum entanglement, send data instantly regardless of distance (we can already do this with photons and electrons but they decohere quickly, so its only a matter of time before that is stabilized and works on more than subatomic particles).
And finally "ET" may not be from another planet, there are 3 options I see for ET.
1. from another planet - the most common theory
2. from the future - goobacks for south park fans, but they are from this planet and came back for exploration or whatever
3. from a different universe under the multiverse theory - darkstar949, on 06/08/2008, -0/+8There is some chemical reasonings behind it - here's an article that gives a brief reason as to why - http://www.space.com/searchforlife/water_overview. ...
- vortexau, on 06/08/2008, -1/+9Yes, but I'm not sure if what we have on Earth classes as 'actual intelligence' :)
- dekuscrub, on 06/08/2008, -0/+8The distance between us and any possible ET life is mind-boggling.
Any civilization with the means to travel this far would have to be so advanced, it'd be hard to even comprehend. - Shadowgamers, on 06/08/2008, -2/+9Seti@Home?
- Shadowgamers, on 06/08/2008, -0/+7Best comment I've read all week
- Pledio, on 06/08/2008, -1/+8I swear with all the conflict in this world, Star Trek: First Contact is going to be the way we get in touch with alien races. Watch your back when the borg show up.
- skunks, on 06/09/2008, -0/+6Why would ET want to contact a civilization that continues to spread one half page of information across two pages? Obviously we are still in a primitive stage of our development: the Revenue Maximization Epoch.
- bravo1995, on 06/08/2008, -0/+5I know it's silly to assume that other civilizations operate in the same way as ours, but at least it's a good starting point.
- pumacub, on 06/08/2008, -0/+5I think it would be interesting to contact another planet in a similar state of advancement as our own. Perhaps we'd be at different stages in different fields of study, and we could share what we've learned.
- bravo1995, on 06/08/2008, -1/+5"Is the creature carbon-based, or silicone-based?"
"The second one. Xylophone." - smotpoker, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4Granted, it is all just human speculation and rooted in a specific human's knowledge, but it is based more on what seems to be the most logical course of self-preservation than my hope of humanity's future.
Mathematically it is more-or-less proven that altruistic and cooperative actions are the most beneficial to any given groups of entities, so I assume other intelligent races would have determined that and be seeking allies with which to share resources and knowledge.
Terraforming and colonizing other worlds seems the most plausible way of indefinitely supporting a large number of people in case some great catastrophe on their home world... this too I assume many may have realized unless they found some other means of indefinitely sustaining large numbers (ie replicators somehow wired into a warp coil conduit :P) - bitterbug, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4nano or pico sqlonks?
- Protoss, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4I'd like to boycott, but Man Vs. Wild and Mythbusters are too damn good.
- aaabatteries, on 06/08/2008, -1/+5I think it's most likely that they'd be carbon based.
DNA, as far as we know, is the primary building block of life. Nothing else has been observed that could be a firm basis for life.
Granted, it's possible--but with our current information it makes sense to assume that they will be carbon based. Yes, they may not be and we may discover something else capable of life--but we haven't yet. - fearlessfx, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4Weird, I measure my penis in sqlonks.
- bsonline, on 06/08/2008, -4/+8The aliens will make contact through Mr Baby Man - the news will be reported here first, but no one will know until he dupes it.
- PabloIV, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4um... what?!?!
- ligyron, on 06/08/2008, -1/+5Yes. The press were mildly amused. It'll be included in his documentary
Don't worry, if we ever make contact with aliens, NASA or another reputable organization will give an official announcement and you won't have to worry about "what ever happened to ..." because it'll be all over the news and talked about for weeks without end. Everything else you can just ignore unless you enjoy fiction - VitriolAndAngst, on 06/09/2008, -0/+4I don't believe all the UFO and alien accounts but I do believe that ;
1) That the universe has lots of life and advanced civilizations.
2) Communications that we would recognize; analog radio waves, would only be used for about 50 years.
3) It is likely that the AVERAGE advanced civilization would be industrialized for thousands or even millions of years more than ours (due to the age of the Universe), and that many would already be aware of us.
Given those beliefs, I would say that; Aliens do know about earth, and are not contacting us for a reason. We'd be complaining about the weather, cancer and asking them to do something about our tyrannical leaders. Religions would try to co-opt what the "supreme alien wants" and progress would go to a standstill as people would wait for some uber-alien to give them the answer.
It is likely, there is an embargo on contacting primitive races. It's the only thing that best explains the reality we experience. Not having an advanced race is nearly impossible. Life-bearing worlds are not unique. Therefore, advanced races have organized to leave less advanced races alone.
SETI will turn up nothing until we are at a point that they think contacting us makes sense. That is my personal opinion on the matter. It is a pointless endeavor. - geobay, on 06/09/2008, -1/+5And then annihilate them from orbit.
- radzack, on 12/02/2008, -2/+6maybe they just want to phone home?
- Harabeck, on 06/08/2008, -0/+3The money going into SETI to try and find intelligent life is nothing compared to the money going into Iraq to kill it.
- Shaman760, on 06/08/2008, -3/+6Politicians. The evil aliens who want to kill us.
- Tenlow, on 06/08/2008, -1/+4....On earth. Who's to say there isn't a bizzaro world where everything is silicon based or something. Just because it's all we can see, it doesn't mean that's all there is.
- greenlight2001, on 06/08/2008, -0/+3touché
- bjmoose, on 06/08/2008, -1/+4"Advanced civilizations would have the tools to make a chemical analysis of Earth's atmosphere, Henry said, which would reveal our planet's atmosphere is rich with water and oxygen."
Well I sure hope there are more advanced civilizations out there. For all we know what's out there could be a stupid as we mere mortals are, maybe worse. - Yage2006, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3Yes that channel is also terrible.
I do like The Universe though that's a quality show on the history channel. - Dylson, on 06/09/2008, -2/+5If the government lets NASA tell us.
- LiberalKid, on 06/09/2008, -2/+5Humans are a threat to ET? A civilization so advanced it has discovered a way to get around the speed of light barrier in intergalactic travel and we're a threat to them?
Also I have to love the "The truth honestly is out there (on the internet) if you want it:" Oh yea the truth is out there on the internet, definitely out there.. on the internet... - bsmang, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3Why would they do that? If they're highly advanced enough to travel to different solar systems, hopefully they're highly civilized, too.
- PabloIV, on 06/09/2008, -0/+3Dude, they track viewership by shows. You don't have to boycott everything, just the crap you don't like. You also don't need to do anything, unless you're a Nielsen household, they really don't know either way.
- rustyrobot, on 06/09/2008, -1/+4Yes, life does not have to be oxygen breathing, but ALL life has to be carbon based. It is incredibly unlikely that there would ever be non-carbon-based life.
- jhails, on 06/09/2008, -1/+4Correct me if I'm wrong but historically speaking, one society coming in contact with another results in the annihilation of the society least able to defend itself.
There will be no exchange of advanced technologies. The stronger, smarter, more ruthless/ ambitious society will rapidly take advantage of the other and either destroy them or subjugate them or both.
Tell me I'm wrong. - Frost9999, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2Angusm - If aliens are as stupid as you make out, there's no hope for the universe.
- jhails, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2The ability to travel, whatever distance you choose, is a physical and technical problem that can be mastered by anyone with the brains and ambition. How you choose to use that ability is not a product of your relative level of advancement. It has everything to with threat levels, politics, tactical maneuvering, economics, power, influence, real estate, resources etc etc.
The Nazi's were an advanced society led by a charismatic leader. Britain was an advanced society and it ran much of the world. So to the Spanish, the French, The USSR, Belgium, America and now the Chinese.
The society's of this world broker deals in exchange for measured amounts of leniency from the World Bank. Failure to comply is not an option unless you have a great deal of financial and military capital at your disposal.
I would also argue that in an any meeting with extraterrestrials, 50% of the process of integrating their presence with ours would be mediated by humans. Humans don't have a great track record at working out amicable peace arrangements with one another? - inactive, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2Yes, esp since Earth makes up 98.7% of the Universe.
- Hetman, on 06/09/2008, -0/+2Here is the problem with your theory. We can track back our scientific process. Its not like one day we had no computers and then the next day we had pc. I mean seriously technological advances are documented and can be seen. I mean the laser did not just appear out of no where. People were trying to figure it out since the early 1910's and people hypothozied about it before then.
- Milo45, on 06/08/2008, -1/+3I'm pretty sure alternative fuels are not overlooked.
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