Should we be signalling to ET ?

[Spacenut56]

For all we know, there may be bacterial forms of life under the ice crust of Europa which is very interesting.

We are going to find out in the forseeable future, as NASA and maybe others plan on sending a probe capable of drilling into the ice and going down in the water for a search exploration. I know I cannot wait for this one!

[Frank Merton]

It would almost certainly be single-celled, but bacteria are an earth life form, and, absent some kind of contamination, that is almost infinitely unlikely.

[seeder]

For all we know, there may be bacterial forms of life under the ice crust of Europa which is very interesting.

Algae will be a bonus on Europa!!

see this: "AntiFreeze fish adapted to live in freezing conditions"!

"There are eight families of notothenioid fish, and five of them inhabit the Southern Ocean, the frigid sea that encircles the Antarctic continent. These fish can withstand temperatures that would turn most fish to ice. Their ability to live in the cold – and oxygen-rich – extremes is so extraordinary that they make up more than 90 percent of the fish biomass of the Southern Ocean.

University of Illinois animal biology professor Arthur DeVries discovered in the late 1960s that some notothenioids manufacture their own “antifreeze proteins.” These proteins bind to ice crystals in the blood to prevent the fish from freezing.

http://news.illinois...arcticfish.html

so as we see, life can adapt to all kinds of extremes!

And...

Robert Pappalardo, who works for the space agency's jet propulsion laboratory in Los Angeles, has urged NASA to abandon hope of finding life on Mars. If life had existed there it probably died out aeons ago, he told the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston.

He said conditions on Europa, the second-closest of Jupiter's main four Galilean moons and slightly smaller than our own moon, suggested it might be teeming with marine creatures.

It has an oxygen-rich atmosphere with enough radiation to spark life. Although its surface temperature does not rise above 162C, a deep ocean is thought to harbour life between its ice cap - which may be up to 32km deep - and its warm metallic core.

Mr Pappalardo said aquatic life resembling green algae could be evolving beneath the ice. "Europa is the most likely place in our solar system beyond Earth to possess life," he said.

The theory is supported by Richard Greenberg, professor of planetary sciences at Arizona University. Based on the estimated oxygen levels in Europa's deep tidal waters, he has suggested that it could be home to 3 million tonnes of "fish-like" creatures.

http://www.theaustra...6-1226584559860

For me Id be happy to know about such Alien life forms, ie Fish! OK it doesn't fit the mold of what we like to think alien life will be, but... it will still be life elsewhere!!

.

Edited June 16, 2013 by seeder

[DONTEATUS]

Life is Good where ever we find it ,Or it finds us ! It would be a great New Start of our Growth in the Universe !

[conspiracy buff]

If an advanced civilization wanted contact, don't you think they'd have done so by now? Us shooting signals into the heavens will not change that fact. What is troubling is the notion that these aliens may be hostile, then what? We have basically brought it all upon ourselves in that scenario. My answer is no, we should not be signaling. If a race is benevolent, they will contact us or find some way to peacefully communicate. If not, God help us if or when they arrive.

[Frank Merton]

I think if we were going to be colonized or otherwise destroyed they would long ago have done it. We are absolute newbies; a society several million years old could have combed the galaxy several times.

[Frank Merton]

Life is Good where ever we find it ,Or it finds us ! It would be a great New Start of our Growth in the Universe !

Life is good sometimes, but evolution is about the survival of the fittest.

[seeder]

I think if we were going to be colonized or otherwise destroyed they would long ago have done it. We are absolute newbies; a society several million years old could have combed the galaxy several times.

well I dont know about that, and heres why: Our galaxy, the Milky Way is more or less 100, 000 light years across. So even at the speed of light, it will take 100,000 years to cross it. So anything that is not immortal will be long dead even trying to cross it. Especially considering that the human life is approx 70 years, and aliens, being lifeforms too, will also have a finite number of years to live. So I dont think humans will ever leave the milky way, EVER!

But the good news is, WITHIN our galaxy, it has been suggested that there are 200 billion stars. And stars as we know are suns, and suns may have habitable planets around them, ie other solar systems. So if life ever has a chance of reaching us I would imagine it will have to be from within the milky way only. Just my opinion of course.

And the figures mentioned dont even hint at the tremendous distances between the different galaxies...heres a visual

typos

Edited June 17, 2013 by seeder

[Frank Merton]

Your picture is very misleading. It is of deep galactic space and has nothing to do with the size of our galaxy.

I suspect in a few hundred years we will know how to prevent aging and death. You assume too much there. Further, even if not, people can reproduce in space. I certainly foresee that we will be doing things along those lines, so it should have already happened, in fact, several time if not a million times.

[conspiracy buff]

I think if we were going to be colonized or otherwise destroyed they would long ago have done it. We are absolute newbies; a society several million years old could have combed the galaxy several times.

If a truly benevolent race is advanced and civilized, we would be of no consequence to them. If anything, we would just be contacts of sorts. The whole "War of the Worlds" scenario is overhyped and unrealistic. Unless we get the hostile kind of ET, then all bets are off. With the size of the universe and potential planets out there, it is only a matter of time before life is found. I just hope we don't damn ourselves by trying to communicate with those malevolent races because they will most likely want to destroy or colonize. If those guys were the ones that had been surveying us, we would be slaves already. I guess time will tell....

[Frank Merton]

I don't know if they need to be malevolent to destroy us. All they really need to do is set up shop before we evolved, and landing on an empty planet any time over the last billion years this is what would have happened. That we are here tells me that they haven't been.

[seeder]

Your picture is very misleading. It is of deep galactic space and has nothing to do with the size of our galaxy.

I suspect in a few hundred years we will know how to prevent aging and death. You assume too much there. Further, even if not, people can reproduce in space. I certainly foresee that we will be doing things along those lines, so it should have already happened, in fact, several time if not a million times.

But my picture is not misleading, it was posted to give a visual on the distances "between" the galaxies, not the distance across the milky way!!

Maybe in a few hundred years we will learn how to delay aging and death, but death must occur at some point.

About reproducing in space, astronauts on the space station, after just 6 months, suffer muscle loss and a degree of bone loss. Just 6 months! While the physical act of reproducing may be possible, its a plain old fact that space travel is extremely detrimental to human health. we literally waste away without a source of gravity

heres a quote:

"The news that University of Montreal researchers found that reproductive processes in plants were affected by changes in gravity is very important because it gives us a clue as to how the human reproductive system might react to micro- or hyper-gravity. That study only increases my concern that there could be trouble ahead for babies conceived in space, as well as for the mothers.

According to the University of Montreal study, changes in gravity affect both the "traffic flow" and the formation of the cell. Can you imagine how those kinds of changes would affect a human embryo? At this point in time, I hope that no one would want to do that experiment".

we did not evolve to live without gravity, therefore it may be impossible to live long term without gravity

.

Edited June 17, 2013 by seeder

[Xzenox]

I don't think we should. I don't know why people think an advanced civilization equals a peaceful civilization.

Because in order to reach true advancement there has to be some sort of structure and peace in a civilization in order to get to that point. Prime example would be "us" the human race would be far more ahead if we would stop waring and wasting our time and resources on all the wrong things.

[Frank Merton]

But my picture is not misleading, it was posted to give a visual on the distances "between" the galaxies, not the distance across the milky way!!

Maybe in a few hundred years we will learn how to delay aging and death, but death must occur at some point.

About reproducing in space, astronauts on the space station, after just 6 months, suffer muscle loss and a degree of bone loss. Just 6 months! While the physical act of reproducing may be possible, its a plain old fact that space travel is extremely detrimental to human health. we literally waste away without a source of gravity

Think about this a minute. We can't travel now but we presume technology will proceed. If it doesn't then why would you think it has with others? Sure we will die, but a few hundred years of life is adequate. Most top species evolve longer and longer lifespans anyway.

Edited June 17, 2013 by Frank Merton

[conspiracy buff]

I don't know if they need to be malevolent to destroy us. All they really need to do is set up shop before we evolved, and landing on an empty planet any time over the last billion years this is what would have happened. That we are here tells me that they haven't been.

The theory has been proposed before that there is some sort of understanding between all of these races of ETs that prohibits them from interfering in human affairs and altering free will. Depending on what your world view is, you can interpret this however you like. Personally, I think the universe is complex enough and not random or coincidental meaning I believe in God. If you follow that viewpoint and logically follow the progression, God would be the direct source prohibiting aliens from interfering with us down on Earth. Some of the stories involved in the alien abduction phenomena seem to indicate some of these intelligences are indeed malevolent. If there were not some force stopping them, say God for argument's sake, then you are correct. Aliens would have long ago destroyed us or enslaved us so that would imply something above those intelligences not allowing them to do so. That's just my view of it so take it for what it is worth, just another opinion in the sea of thoughts.

[Q-C]

I say what the hey, but let's get elementary school kids to compose the greetings, not some fuddy adults.

[DONTEATUS]

E.T is in the same Boat as us ! Trying to finger out what to Say?

[Spacenut56]

Then there is this: www.science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/18/19023123-nows-the-time-to-place-your-call-to-an-extraterrestrial?lite

Edited June 18, 2013 by Spacenut56

[Capt. P. Lilandra]

I don't honestly see the issue when you think about it. This is just a public attempt to make contact these efforts have been made for years, when you hear of things like this billing done publicly you can be sure that it been done out of the public eye for at least a decade

[psyche101]

If an advanced civilization wanted contact, don't you think they'd have done so by now? Us shooting signals into the heavens will not change that fact. What is troubling is the notion that these aliens may be hostile, then what? We have basically brought it all upon ourselves in that scenario. My answer is no, we should not be signaling. If a race is benevolent, they will contact us or find some way to peacefully communicate. If not, God help us if or when they arrive.

Perhaps that was the point of the WOW! signal, things is we just do not know, and comms is a better idea than physical travel. Carl Sagan is long gone, but we are still watching the voyager probes. These projects do not end with their creators, they only begin the steps we need to take. If a species is hostile, then comms seems a good way to go. As you say, in most cases the wait just for a signal is going to be decades, so physical matter has to take much longer. If we are ever going to find out what iss out there we need to take some steps at some time, and if we are awaiting an impending invasion that takes thousands of years to arrive, we have some decent prep time. No matter how you look at it, massless particles are always going to win the race against time, making them the most promising option.

[DONTEATUS]

Its like "No Mass,No Mass" my latino buddys will say ! E.T will call home some day It will mostlikely be Us calling from a far away place ! The Important thing to know Is tomorrow Is the Best day you can make it !

[Asadora]

Personally, I do not think we should be signaling to ET. Why? Because, I agree with what Mr. Stephen Hawking said in regards to the matter:

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," warned the fretful astrophysicist. He said that aliens might simply come to Earth, raid it for resources and move on. Hawking explained his fear: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet." (http://sciencefocus.com/blog/stephen-hawking-and-alien-invasions

Don't invite anyone to visit, if you don't have anything in the house to feed them.

Kind Regards

[Ma0773]

Hey All

I personally believe we are the ones who should be making the effort to advance our technologies to a point where other civilisations will be sending us messages to come and visit, why should we sit back and wait for ETI to reply to our messages which for all intensive purposes, ETI may not be able to understand. Even the Arecibo message that was transmitted in 1974 was interpreted by scientists on earth in a multitude of different combinations, what chance does that give our neighbours of understanding this message if it is ever received.

Taking a proactive approach to this problem, rather than sitting back, sending messages and hoping for the best is more likely to produce better results.

[ambelamba]

Personally, I do not think we should be signaling to ET. Why? Because, I agree with what Mr. Stephen Hawking said in regards to the matter:

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," warned the fretful astrophysicist. He said that aliens might simply come to Earth, raid it for resources and move on. Hawking explained his fear: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet." (http://sciencefocus....alien-invasions

Don't invite anyone to visit, if you don't have anything in the house to feed them.

Kind Regards

Surely we have something to feed them: Us.

[DONTEATUS]

Well Ron you just maybe right on that ,Ive been trying to tell these guys formany years in here Its Not How Far ,and How Smart,and How powerful one is.Its How hungry you are when you pull thru the Drive thru !

Tastie wins the War !

Edited June 27, 2013 by DONTEATUS