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75 Comments
- groof, on 01/05/2009, -0/+33The depressing part about this stuff is that I likely won't be alive when we finally make contact with/discover another life form.
Extremely cool though. - lazybuoy, on 01/06/2009, -0/+12If we were really alone in this universe, it would be one cruel, cosmic joke.
- blitzkriegpunk, on 01/06/2009, -3/+15Wow! More planets for us to ***** up! :D
- MeatyMcBeef, on 01/06/2009, -1/+10Depends on when you plan on dying. Theoretically in 15 years the average lifespan will begin increasing at more than 1 year every year.
- Paulorific, on 01/06/2009, -1/+10It's true that there is a very high probability of life on other planets, but that doesn't mean they visit us. It's very hard to believe that there's been a worldwide trans-governmental conspiracy to cover up extra-terrestrials only to have them tell us now. I believe in aliens, but I also believe they're likely as clueless as we are about the existence of other life.
- allocate, on 01/05/2009, -0/+9I had a few classes with nuclear physicists who were borderline insane.
- Treshnell, on 01/06/2009, -1/+9It's almost a guaranteed certainty that intelligent life exists out there, if not in our galaxy, then in another. The near insurmountable problem is finding and initiating contact with them. It just isn't likely to happen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox - michaelrsa, on 01/06/2009, -0/+7If they either neither existed or wiped themselves out then I am slightly more concerned for our species existence, not that there is much I can do about it.
- heyitsguay, on 01/06/2009, -0/+7Or perhaps the speed of light really is a universal speed limit, and there's no way of getting around it, keeping occurrences of life essentially isolated from each other, unless by accident it happens to evolve in a similar timeframe in two nearby areas.
- danthemanhan, on 01/06/2009, -1/+8the theory of "I don't want to die"
- Armor1901, on 01/06/2009, -3/+9Wasn't this pretty much common knowledge?
Who the hell could possibly imagine that as vast as the universe is, Earth is unique or even rare in its ability to sustain carbon based life?
In summation: No *****. - Paulorific, on 01/06/2009, -0/+6It's not unimaginable that there are complex organisms, but it is harder to fathom another species as intelligent as we are. I'm not saying that because I'm arrogant as a human, but because our intelligence is a byproduct of evolution, which is in many aspects random. At the same time, there is certainly some intelligent (comparable to our definition of intelligent) species our in our universe, but I'm not so sure about our galaxy.
Steven Hawking himself said that he believes it's very likely we're the only intelligent animals within a 100 lightyear radius from us. The other ones either never existed or have already wiped themselves out. - Rivetgeek, on 01/06/2009, -0/+5whoever is digging you down doesnt understand science
- Testies, on 01/06/2009, -0/+5Yeah, but how much are the taxes?
- heyitsguay, on 01/06/2009, -0/+5All of these comments about the likelihood of x number of planets in y distance from here and the like are speculative crap. We have no idea how common life is, let alone intelligent life, because our sample size for known planets is like 500, tops, and our sample size for inhabited planets is 1. Just because a planet has similar internal structure to Earth's doesn't necessarily mean it's even likely to be habitable, depending on where it is in relation to its star.
I could just as easily say that I'm pretty sure there's life within 50 lightyears of us, and be on equal footing with the previous statements. At this point it's just unfalsifiable. Of course I'd be surprised if we were alone in the universe, but that doesn't mean right now that saying "we are definitely alone" is any more a leap of faith than saying "we are definitely not alone", especially when you conjecture further as to how advanced life might be, or where it might be in relation to us, and the like. - Armor1901, on 01/06/2009, -0/+4I think you underestimate the sheer size and near infinite expanse of the universe.
- thcobbs, on 01/06/2009, -0/+4Gamma radiation can do that to ya!
- McNash, on 01/05/2009, -1/+4Hopefully the Obama administration will finally tell us whats going on. If these things don't exist (unlikely) than why are we being lied to about them?
- inactive, on 01/06/2009, -0/+3i want to believe...
- Zarimus, on 01/06/2009, -0/+3There's a very great difference between suspecting that earthlike planets are common to actually confirming it.
Remember, the only reason we used to think there were earthlike planets everywhere was because when you have a sample size of one, you assume that's the average. It was simply less likely that we were unique. - inactive, on 01/06/2009, -2/+5i actually would love to have my own planet to ***** up, drive hummers, launch nukes,drill baby drill...doesn't sound bad at all.
- yayster, on 01/06/2009, -0/+2100 light years is still on the couch that you are sitting on, if the galaxy were your house. The Galaxy is ~100,000 light years across.
- korvan504521, on 01/06/2009, -0/+2In the scope of the universe, a few thousand years is pretty inconsaquential. For all we know the aliens flew by, saw we were still throwing rocks at deer, and figured "lets give it another hundred millenia or so".
- inactive, on 01/06/2009, -0/+2I await the discovery of Dog Doo 7
- TSK05, on 01/06/2009, -1/+3"Theoretically....[etc]" - based on what theory?
- macfan93, on 01/06/2009, -0/+2I would rather it be like firefly where we terraform other planets to live on. GO BROWNCOATS!
- alittleroy101, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1Universe != galaxy.
- slide2k, on 01/08/2009, -0/+1Best way to ensure survival of our species is by spreading to other planets.
- Ratteler, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1So let me get this straight. There are 2 ***** who would rather follow me to a primitive frontier planet so they can continue to ***** with me, rather than have the entire Earth to themselves.
This is why we need to exterminate all *****!!!! - macfan93, on 01/06/2009, -1/+2Evolution isn't random. Its trial and error. The strongest traits live on.
- arkwald, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1It's also about chemical abundance. You need to have enough heavy elements to make a planet like Earth. Those elements are being produced out of hydrogen in the hearts of massive stars and that process does take several million years in the biggest stars and ten to hundreds of millions in the far more plentiful lower mass stars. So for a given population of stars to synthesize enough heavy elements in a random interstellar cloud could easily take several stellar generations.
On top of that you also need the proper interstellar distances to make it work. For instance in a galactic center you have high enough concentrations of heavy elements however since you also have bigger and closer large stars. Those planets also get bombarded with supernova blasts every few million years or so. The key here is that you need to get the right materials in the right place to make a Earth like environment doable. Where we are in the galaxy and with the frequency of 'seed' supernovas here, several billion years might actually not be all that bad.
Before we come to any real conclusions though we need to be able to answer a few questions. First, what are the comparative chances of generating Earth like planets (those planets with enough mass, an active magnetic field and a compatible composition for life) out of a general interstellar dust cloud. Second what are the real effects to ecospheres from nearby supernova and how do they impact the development of complex lifeforms. Lastly, what is the typical evolution of a planetary system (i.e. how likely is it the solar system we see now would be stable as it has been taking into consideration all statistical anomalies can occur to a given star system over a several billion year time frame) - inactive, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1I wanna digg you down for shattering my existence.
- orion2013, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1Exponential Growth.
- jgubbe, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1I want my very own galactic traveler, so I can zip around from star to star. But really, we just discovered America I mean give me a fricking second alright.
- michaelrsa, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1Sounds good, but is there any possibility of intelligent life out there? Everything points to simple organisms, but is there any possibility of a world with organisms like ourselves?
- Ashenfield, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1I'd guess that while even if we found a planet capable of sustaining life, and were able to get there in a reasonable time, it would be so full of native bacteria and viruses that our immune systems would take generations to adapt and evolve to it.
The only reason we can survive in our soup of microorganisms is that we evolved over millions of years to a state where we can live ~100 years in it. Even now there are new bugs evolving just as fast as we are trying to kill us :)
I doubt it would be much like Trek where we could hop off the ship, grab and eat the first piece of "fruit" we see growing on a tree before having sex with the locals, poison their culture, then warp off to the next planetary hotspot.
As cool as that might be :) - vertigo32, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1Ah yes, 15 years in the future.
That's when flying cars, cures for every disease / cancer, and cheap clean and nearly limitless energy are going to be widely available.
I hate to break it to you, but those things have been 15 years in the future for the past 50-60 years. - cantaclaro, on 01/06/2009, -2/+3According to Star Trek, I know this to be true.
- acteon29, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1Many people tend to think it would be scientificly surprising to find intelligent life at other places of the universe; but the surprising scientific fact would be just the opposite, to discover that we were alone in the universe.
An observation: if there is an intelligent form on life at other planet, then they should have a developed technology, and if they have a developed technology, that means they became a tool-making species, and so their anatomy should be somehow oriented to the skill of manipulating and making tools. In this sense, their anatomy should have certain attributions common to our own anatomy, that is, they should have prehensile limbs, etcetera.
Our prehensile (primate) anatomy had its origin and cause in arboreal life and in locomotor requirements of arboreal life (not in requirements of tools making or object manipulation), so if an intelligent species have developed tool making abilities, it seems that they should have crossed an evolutionary stage similar to our arboreal life. That is, there should be something similar to trees in their original planet; and in general, their original planet's biota should have certain attributions and characteristics common to Earth's biological stratum. - longbow486, on 01/07/2009, -0/+1as many as i can get my grimy little hands on >:-)
*Evil laugh* - geekanarchy, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1Who's up for some Soylent Green?
- TSK05, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1You're going to have to be a little more specific, ie show me someone credible applying exponential growth to human population and lifespan and achieving results that indicate that by 2025 the average lifespan will increase by more than 1 year per year. I am pretty sure that if this is the case then the average person will be immortal... that seems to be what happens if your lifespan increases by more than 1 year in a year as MeatyMcBeef says.
- toejamz, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1Look at all the intelligent life HERE that can't manage to even put together a radio. That we happened to evolve in the exact direction necessary to develop technology as we know it doesn't mean that it's commonplace.
My guess: Intelligent life in the universe = very common. Exo-biological technology = very rare. - Cerebron, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1First they screw over our friendly Pluto, and now they already want to replace it.
- korvan504521, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1Missionaries. That's how they'd deal with it.
And we'd probably have an alien pope in a couple hundred years, and everyone would consider it a great step forward against anti-alien discrimination. - korvan504521, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1More likely it'd be like firefly, where we go around building new planets best we can.
- cuoops, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1source - http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2 ...
- Sonixunite, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1Man just discovered America? I seem to remember America being populated for the past thousand years.
- vertigo32, on 01/06/2009, -0/+1The Zoo Hypothesis is one interesting response to the Fermi Paradox, but in my eyes it's a cop-out. Taking that hypothesis as more than a passing consideration is bordering on blind faith or religion.
Here is a simpler way of looking at it: The window for detecting other civilizations is very narrow, and we've only had the most basic ability for ~100 years and been actively searching and had a realistic chance of detecting another civilization for about 25-30 years.
Taking a look at our planet, there is a very narrow window where we could be detected as well. We've only been broadcasting for 100 or so years in any form, and the window for being detected by a comparable civilization is already closing - we are transitioning from high power analog broadcasts to lower power digital broadcasts. Those lower power broadcasts are less likely to be detected offplanet, and even if they are detected are far more likely to be mistaken for random noise - the encoding of digital broadcasts is far less universal than analog radio or TV.
It is difficult to make any assumptions on life using a sample size of 1, but intelligent life has only evolved once in ~1.2 billion years of multi-cellular life and at least 3 billion years for the earliest life. Even if the earth is a typical example of evolution / life throught the universe / galaxy / nearby stars, at any point since life began there is only a .00000003 chance you would detect radio transmissions coming from earth.
Considering there are ~1000 stars within the 50 light-years of earth that could possibly have detected any of our radio transmissions and sent a response back yet, it's no surprise that we haven't gotten a message from anyone. -
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