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In this Discussion
- John_Brady July 2012
- paul June 2012
- philbod July 2012
- Stephen June 2012
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Great links Stephen, I think some of the mistakes we make when thinking of other beings is thinking they're going to share a lot of the things with us. Building radio transmitters, looking up at the stars, searching for other beings.
They could for example be an under water civilisation, unable to live outside and so have never studied the Galaxy. They could of course take any form, something completely different to our walking upright humanoid form of two arms, two legs etc. (dolphins are pretty intelligent). They could be something well beyond what we could ever imagine. They might even know we are right here but choose to not communicate with us for their own reasons, or even lack of interest.
But considering the over 200 billion stars in our Galaxy, and estimations of even more planets, the odds might be quite good that there's actually an alien race out there capable of putting out communications with radio or light...or gravity even? ...and one that wants to reach out across the Galaxy just like us.
This subject is endlessly interesting and everyone has an opinion. I think that this eventually will just be a huge extension of the chipping away at humanity's arrogance. The Sun orbits around the Earth (actually no, the Earth orbits the Sun)...we're at the centre of the solar system (actually no we're not)...we're at the centre of the Galaxy (nope again)...we're alone and the most intelligent race...(?)
What are member's opinions on this ? Are we alone, or is the universe filled with other intelligent beings?
This is a brilliant video of a talk by Seti astronomer Seth Shostak 'ET Is Probably Out There' http://www.ted.com/talks/seth_shostak_et_is_probably_out_there_get_ready.html -
nice link betelgeuse. yes, i am certain there is other life out there. we just cant be alone. what makes us so special to be the only living thing in the universe or the multiverse for that matter. (if they discover it) if i was an intelligent being from another world i wouldnt contact us. would you? i dont think they would want to know us because we are doing a pretty good job of destroying our planet and ourselves. who knows what form life may take or even if we could tell that it is ''alive." it might be something so bizarre that we just cant detect. i do think we will discover something in the next century though, hopefully sooner.
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I have this theory that its all about size, whats to say other galaxies do not already exist within what we call our earth, for example inside a tiny grain of sand there are whole galaxies they are just so tiny we have no way of detecting them, and to carry on from that maybe our whole universe as we understand it is enclosed within just a tiny grain of sand that someone else sees in what they call earth?? A small bacteria living below the ocean would have no concept of the relative size and distance to a bacteria living say on top of a mountain, the sizes are just incomprehensible? OR MAYBE I AM JUST MAD!!!!!!!
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Yeah Stephen, one rocky world around one pretty normal star, in a universe of trillions upon trillions. Thing is though, the universe could now be packed to the rafters with intelligent civilisations, let's say there's one in every 10 galaxies. We still have the problem of the huge distances separating them. Our nearest major galaxy is Andromeda, light/radio travel time 2.5 million years.
But if an alien society somewhere hit advanced technology many million of years ago (and maybe not even still exist), then yes it's possible we could detect their signals.
That tiny bacteria living below the ocean with no concept of the relative distance of another living on top of a mountain is a good analogy Paul. That bacteria has no concept of the wider world, as it acts on instinct in the area of it's own tiny environment.
Scientists can see to the edge of the visible Universe, to the point where they hit a brick wall, the point beyond it where the cosmos hasn't been in existence long enough for light to reach us yet. Who knows what's beyond that? How infinitely small is our own visible universe? Could we be a bit like that bacteria?
Scientists don't know the true size of the universe. -
I wonder if extraterrestrial life, even simple life will be discovered in our lifetime, out there in space ?
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I am a big believer in that other life is out there and maybe others like ourselves to. looking up to the heavens like we do wondering like we do if other life out there exsist..the way progress is moving here on earth scientifically and tecnology in building better scopes and radio scopes..i think within the next 20 yrs we could know or maybe we are contacted..i doubt too that we would have anything to fear if it does happen...I think that if and when we find our neighbours in the vast universe, it will be so exciting for us and maybe just as exciting for them...I hope it happens in my life time and in yours..can just picture it like the film Close Encounters...wow a very nice subject this ..heres hoping
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With all the science going on in astrobiology, and the relatively recent realisation that life exists in places on Earth that were never even thought possible. It's now getting more and more likely that life forms could be living in even the most hostile environments on other worlds/moons.
But they'll likely be very simple life forms, although if found would still be world changing.
But if an irrefutable signal was actually detected from another civilisation, in this extremely critical world would SETI scientists have an uphill struggle just convincing people? Or would people accept it? I mean there are those who still can't even believe we landed on the Moon.
How would something like this go down?
