"Are We Alone in the Universe?"

[Gomar]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/opinion/are-we-alone-in-the-universe.html?_r=0

"THE recent announcement by a team of astronomers that there could be as many as 40 billion habitable planets in our galaxy"

ok, I buy it; however, why no contact, no signals, no alien invaders, colonists, army bases, etc.?

Now, it's possible we are too far from each other, but given say 1/10 are intelligent = 4B,

1/4 have high tech = 1B, 1/10th have space flight close to SOL = 100m.

I'll even reduce that by 10, giving us 10m.

Thus, there are 10m species in the galaxy which could come to Earth... any day now.

[Imaginarynumber1]

Just because they probably exist don't mean they know we are here.

[spacecowboy342]

Just because 40 billion are habitable doesn't mean 40 billion are inhabited. Also no one can really say what the odds of life becoming intelligent might be. Iy seems like a pretty unlikely accident here. Then it is not enough for them to be intelligent but also tool users and not just intelligent in the way dolphins are. And there tech must sync up in time with us and not a million years earlier or later and they must be close enough for their signals to have reached us. Or we could be alone who knows?

[Lilly]

Distance is the critical factor IMO. Even if there is advanced intelligent life 'out there' it may be so far from us as to render us (for all intensive purposes) alone.

[qxcontinuum]

I like how they are announcing numbers offering hope lol. How do they calculate these numbers? They are failing to see / admit the compelling evidence of Alien visitation on our own planet or surroundings.

As to answer to your question not all the alien civilizations are interested in developing Technologies to kill each-other or destroy their environment as we do. They don 't need internet, Facebook, porn sites, lady Gaga and Obama care. They are simply living happily in the grains of nature enjoying life's beauty, friendship admiring stars and moons wondering as well if there is life out there. Maybe even trying to communicate using empathic metaphysical means.

In the same time there might be others communicating on different frequencies others than ours. Yeah yeah ... Since hellium is so common in space will assume they can use frequencies to propagate their messages faster but perhaps they are using other means. Maybe employing black matter particles which we can't even see or higgs bossom , etc....

We are the slowest civilization out of all, egocentric, thinking insight the box , wasting resources on what is working for us only w/o even considering additional adjacent resources.

Edited November 20, 2013 by qxcontinuum

[spacecowboy342]

Or we could be the "elder race" the most advanced and all others might still be in the stone age waiting for us to come show them how to build pyramids

[qxcontinuum]

Distance is the critical factor IMO. Even if there is advanced intelligent life 'out there' it may be so far from us as to render us (for all intensive purposes) alone.

Distance is not a problem if you 're thinking outside the box. Read about bending space theories and their likeliness in theory.

[qxcontinuum]

Or we could be the "elder race" the most advanced and all others might still be in the stone age waiting for us to come show them how to build pyramids

My concern and question is why there was life on earth for so many billions of years. I am talking about complex dinosaurian life 300 millions ago and we humans have started to evolved only 200.000 years ago. We,ve actually lost so much time. Other civilizations might have flourished and disappeared already all of that time, like on Mars.

If dinosaurs wouldn't have been wiped out they would have evolved long time ago in some sort of reptilian humanoid race

Edited November 20, 2013 by qxcontinuum

[spacecowboy342]

My concern and question is why there was life on earth for so many billions of years. I am talking about complex dinosaurian life 300 millions ago and we humans have started to evolved only 200.000 years ago. We,ve actually lost so much time. Other civilizations might have flourished and disappeared already all of that time, like on Mars.

You have a point, but it seems to me that had not a chance asteroid strike not wiped out the dinos we still would not have intelligent life here so intelligence could be exceedingly rare and we could in fact be unique. I doubt we are unique but how to rule it out?

[qxcontinuum]

The problem with intelligence and supremacy of a specie is that it can be achieved mostly through competition and fight for survival reaching to the top of the trophic chain.So if another civilization made it through time and they are flying through galaxy, they must have blood on their hands same as we do. You won't want to show your presence because they like to compete as well and likely war mongers. In the same time same as we humans see other creatures inferior and mostly food source Aliens can see us too. I dunno why we believe they would see us their equal. Do we consider monkeys or apes our equal? They have same body as we do, it is the use of technology that makes us special and different. But monkey use tools as well, but different tools very primitive. You get the picture

Edited November 20, 2013 by qxcontinuum

[spacecowboy342]

The problem with intelligence and supremacy of a specie is that it can be achieved mostly through competition and fight for survival reaching to the top of the trophic chain.So if another civilization made it through time and they are flying through galaxy, they must have blood on their hands same as we do. You won't want to show your presence because they like to compete as well and likely war mongers. In the same time same as we humans see other creatures inferior and mostly food source Aliens can see us too. I dunno why we believe they would see us their equal. Do we consider monkeys or apes our equal? They have same body as we do, it is the use of technology that makes us special and different.

I agree that it is quite likely that any intelligent aliens evolved from predators and if advanced enough they could view us as we view termite mounds.

[SpiritWriter]

We'll find each other one day if we dont die first. Just like crossing the oceans, that took time to figure out too.

[spacecowboy342]

Yeah but these are some awfully big oceans

[Likely Guy]

The problem with intelligence and supremacy of a specie is that it can be achieved mostly through competition and fight for survival reaching to the top of the trophic chain.So if another civilization made it through time and they are flying through galaxy, they must have blood on their hands same as we do. You won't want to show your presence because they like to compete as well and likely war mongers. In the same time same as we humans see other creatures inferior and mostly food source Aliens can see us too. I dunno why we believe they would see us their equal. Do we consider monkeys or apes our equal? They have same body as we do, it is the use of technology that makes us special and different. But monkey use tools as well, but different tools very primitive. You get the picture

Sorry Qx, I can see how the perceived superior intelligence of a species might be equated to a inherent belief in the supremacy of that species and a desire to control/disenfranchise/eat a so- called 'lesser species', but a truly intelligent species wouldn't believe that.

You asked, "Do we consider monkeys or apes our equal?" I (for one) bow down before my new simian overlords.

[psyche101]

We'll find each other one day if we dont die first. Just like crossing the oceans, that took time to figure out too.

I find it amazing that people liken Oceans to space.

And they say Apples and Oranges are dissimilar! By comparison to oceans and space, they seem to be exactly the same thing!

Most if us will die first.

All that distance, yet we all think species will try to cross it physically before making a phone call. Why is that?

Edited November 20, 2013 by psyche101

[psyche101]

I dunno why we believe they would see us their equal. Do we consider monkeys or apes our equal?

Why not? Does a Monkey have to build a spaceship and travel into space to be seen as our equal, or just be able to read a book and discuss it?

You know, I do believe that latter would qualify, don't you?

I do not know why everyone thinks every species in the Galaxy except us is incredibly advanced, and would see us as some experiment. I think FTB's take movies way to seriously.

[Nighthawk9653]

Possibly in these planets being 'habitable', the things that could habit them may be not as evolved. It took millions of years to get us, but these different planets are in different areas and experience different things. They may not be in time with us. They might still be at microbes and bacteria level, or get all the way up to ape like creature level, but get wiped out by something. Life is very delicate and creating creatures such as us is almost like a balancing act. You gotta make sure everything's perfect, like the air has just the right amount of different gasses in it, the temperature has to be just right, and then on top of that, the creature has to survive. A huge catastrophe could wipe out millions of years of work in a day.

[coolguy]

There is life out there and I bet they say the same about us we are not alone

[wallarookiller]

http://www.nytimes.c...verse.html?_r=0

"THE recent announcement by a team of astronomers that there could be as many as 40 billion habitable planets in our galaxy"

ok, I buy it; however, why no contact, no signals, no alien invaders, colonists, army bases, etc.?

Now, it's possible we are too far from each other, but given say 1/10 are intelligent = 4B,

1/4 have high tech = 1B, 1/10th have space flight close to SOL = 100m.

I'll even reduce that by 10, giving us 10m.

Thus, there are 10m species in the galaxy which could come to Earth... any day now.

Comes down to really understanding how incredibly far away these planets are and how old/young they are. Many of them very well might have or used to have or will have life for sure, but it doesn't mean that it will be inteligent. and it doesn't mean that our time in this universe and their time will match up either. There's a lot of weird factors to consider.

[Controller Junkie]

Anyone that would be so skeptical to really think or believe that we are alone in the universe is very small minded or unintelligent. Not just our universe but of all the universes and galaxies which is probably infinite or too large for us to comprehend, There has to be something somewhere, more likely alot of different somethings in a lot of different places. To think this is it, all that exist is here and now...Yeah right you've got to be kidding. You dont seriously think that we are that special, really? No matter what ideological beliefs you have scientific or religious or any other, the possibility of other life not only is possible but probable and will fit into the parameters of both scientific evolution and religious or otherwise creation. As well as divine intervention. No matter your beliefs you still must admit that othe life forms more than likely are all too reall...But the hardliners and those who have drank the kool-aid willl never believe, or at least admit too it... Srry for the rant, just pasionate about tbe subject.

Edited November 20, 2013 by Controller Junkie

[donktheclown]

I would guess that there has been no contact (actually plenty) because we are the only "dumb" asses in the galactic neighborhood that broadcasts their position with reckless abandon. Perhaps other beings run all their communications and energy waves through a shielded system, who knows?

[EnderOTD]

Anyone that would be so skeptical to really think or believe that we are alone in the universe is very small minded or unintelligent. Not just our universe but of all the universes and galaxies which is probably infinite or too large for us to comprehend, There has to be something somewhere, more likely alot of different somethings in a lot of different places. To think this is it, all that exist is here and now...Yeah right you've got to be kidding. You dont seriously think that we are that special, really? No matter what ideological beliefs you have scientific or religious or any other, the possibility of other life not only is possible but probable and will fit into the parameters of both scientific evolution and religious or otherwise creation. As well as divine intervention. No matter your beliefs you still must admit that othe life forms more than likely are all too reall...But the hardliners and those who have drank the kool-aid willl never believe, or at least admit too it... Srry for the rant, just pasionate about tbe subject.

[ambelamba]

Maybe someone smuggled out the schematics of PS4 and replicate the hell out of them at a sweat shop in Wolf 359.

[Frank Merton]

Anyone that would be so skeptical to really think or believe that we are alone in the universe is very small minded or unintelligent. Not just our universe but of all the universes and galaxies which is probably infinite or too large for us to comprehend, There has to be something somewhere, more likely alot of different somethings in a lot of different places. To think this is it, all that exist is here and now...Yeah right you've got to be kidding. You dont seriously think that we are that special, really? No matter what ideological beliefs you have scientific or religious or any other, the possibility of other life not only is possible but probable and will fit into the parameters of both scientific evolution and religious or otherwise creation. As well as divine intervention. No matter your beliefs you still must admit that othe life forms more than likely are all too reall...But the hardliners and those who have drank the kool-aid willl never believe, or at least admit too it... Srry for the rant, just pasionate about tbe subject.

All this may and probably is true, but it may be that nevertheless "they" are so far away (rare) that we will never find them.

[Controller Junkie]

you are right we will not find them not with current or near future technology, but have any found us is the question? there is a chance that they are far more advanced than, but they may be far less also. More than likely there are both species out there somewhere. If we do find them it will be from finding them in our atmosphere not in theirs. we just dont have the tech