"Are We Alone in the Universe?"

[Frank Merton]

I have had suggested to me and I think it may be right that at some point an advancing society discovers something far better than physics allows and "poof," they are gone as far as we are concerned. That is why we don't see anything really advanced out there, and why I like building better and better atom smashers.

[spacecowboy342]

It has also been suggested and I think may be correct that shortly after reaching the tech level that they begin emitting radio waves that we could detect a civilization destroys itself so there would only be a very small window where they could be discovered

[Frank Merton]

It has also been suggested and I think may be correct that shortly after reaching the tech level that they begin emitting radio waves that we could detect a civilization destroys itself so there would only be a very small window where they could be discovered

Aw you would go and depress me by mentioning that.

[seeder]

watch this for just 12 mins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AnwtBtgrmo

[Lilly]

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

I disagree, distance is a very big problem. I like Michio Kaku's ideas too http://mkaku.org/ But, practical application of any idea has it's price in energy and resources. We've yet to see ETs touring our solar system and the reason may be as simple as it's just too darn costly for a civilization to travel too far. The vastness of the universe is mind boggling...if advanced ETs are on the other side of our galaxy it might be a game ender for visitation.

[Hazzard]

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

The dinosaurs had their chance, they had 135 million years to "evolve into some form of humanoid",... one would think that was enough, dont you?

As for your ancient civilizations on Mars - We both know that there is zero credible evidence that supports that belief.

[bison]

Dr. Tyson's talk was thought provoking, Thanks, seeder.

Dr. Tyson is an astrophysicist; primatology isn't his area of expertise. He tends to minimize the intelligence of apes. It actually has been possible to have conversations with them, using sign language. These conversations proved interesting enough to keep the primatologists engaged in this work for many years. We may represent a similar area of interest for more advanced extraterrestrials.

Dr. Tyson attributes our technological superiority over the apes to the one or two percent difference in our genetic make up. If that small difference can make the difference between a twig stripped of leaves to fish for termites in their holes, and men on the Moon and rocket propelled probes to the planets, then what might a species a few million more years advanced have accomplished? I'm not so certain travel to the stars would be beyond them. Given what we've been hearing lately about the multiplicity of habitable planets, they might not have to come from across the galaxy; perhaps nowhere near that far.

[qxcontinuum]

Dr. Tyson's talk was thought provoking, Thanks, seeder.

Dr. Tyson is an astrophysicist; primatology isn't his area of expertise. He tends to minimize the intelligence of apes. It actually has been possible to have conversations with them, using sign language. These conversations proved interesting enough to keep the primatologists engaged in this work for many years. We may represent a similar area of interest for more advanced extraterrestrials.

Dr. Tyson attributes our technological superiority over the apes to the one or two percent difference in our genetic make up. If that small difference can make the difference between a twig stripped of leaves to fish for termites in their holes, and men on the Moon and rocket propelled probes to the planets, then what might a species a few million more years advanced have accomplished? I'm not so certain travel to the stars would be beyond them. Given what we've been hearing lately about the multiplicity of habitable planets, they might not have to come from across the galaxy; perhaps nowhere near that far.

you know; South American and African human civilizations are eating monkeys and apes, including in modern times.!

I guess so much it goes for consideration of the Apes! ... i am not saying is normal, it is not at all but unfortunately a sad reality that can apply to Alien civilizations as well. I am sure there will be e few alien scientists mitigating for us but the big majority from the mother ship might devour us...they starved for so many years out there in space

Edited November 20, 2013 by qxcontinuum

[zoser]

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.

They are here but they operate to stealthily for us to monitor them. Their craft are too fast so we only get fleeting images of them. The best images have been taken out of the public domain.

They have made contact but not to you or me and definitely not to Billy Meier. They work and operate at area 51.

[Sweetpumper]

Who's this Billy Meier?

[zoser]

Who's this Billy Meier?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Meier

[scowl]

They are here but they operate to stealthily for us to monitor them. Their craft are too fast so we only get fleeting images of them. The best images have been taken out of the public domain.

They have made contact but not to you or me and definitely not to Billy Meier. They work and operate at area 51.

They control the government by beaming microwave messages into implants in our dental fillings. All human scientific progress has been the result of alien technology. Since Area 51 has been revealed on the Internet, all alien skunkworks have been moved to Area 52.

[qxcontinuum]

They control the government by beaming microwave messages into implants in our dental fillings. All human scientific progress has been the result of alien technology. Since Area 51 has been revealed on the Internet, all alien skunkworks have been moved to Area 52.

LOL that would explain why so many good citizens are going postal in rampant mass killings /shootings... or maybe not...

Edited November 20, 2013 by qxcontinuum

[zoser]

They control the government by beaming microwave messages into implants in our dental fillings. All human scientific progress has been the result of alien technology. Since Area 51 has been revealed on the Internet, all alien skunkworks have been moved to Area 52.

You would believe absolutely anything young Scowl.

[Star Man]

Alien and ET’s visitation are not openly, I think they try to hiding something for us. If they let us know the true, Do we feel happy about it ?

[DingoLingo]

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.

how can they fail to see the 'compelling evidence' I have yet to see any compelling evidence..

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

could be we are the elder race scarey thought that one..

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?

there is a bit of misconception regarding the radio/tv pollution we have been throwing out in the past 80 odd years.. it will be lucky to reach about 5 light years out and remain at a point where someone could see or hear it.. it will basically degrade to the point of being white noise or background static to put it on a simple term..

[scowl]

You would believe absolutely anything young Scowl.

See folks! Zoser is telling me that I'll believe anything! Right after telling me I should believe a bunch of third hand unsupported nonsense he posted.

He's also calling me "young", right after I quoted from my copy of Klass's "UFOs Explained" which I bought at J.C. Penny's in 1975.

[scowl]

there is a bit of misconception regarding the radio/tv pollution we have been throwing out in the past 80 odd years.. it will be lucky to reach about 5 light years out and remain at a point where someone could see or hear it.. it will basically degrade to the point of being white noise or background static to put it on a simple term..

But with extremely large antennas it would be possible to see that our star is generating slightly more energy in the radio spectrum than other stars and that the energy is increasing and changing over time. There would be no proof that the energy is artificial but it would be an interesting anomaly.

[zoser]

See folks! Zoser is telling me that I'll believe anything! Right after telling me I should believe a bunch of third hand unsupported nonsense he posted.

Always check your sources, do plenty of research and apply Occam's Razor is my advice.

He's also calling me "young", right after I quoted from my copy of Klass's "UFOs Explained" which I bought at J.C. Penny's in 1975.

I'm sure you are young at heart.

[PersonFromPorlock]

If life is a normal consequence of organic chemistry, there ought to be a great many planets supporting it; and if intelligence has survival value, most of them should have intelligent life. And if technology has survival value, these intelligent species ought to have technological cultures, some of which ought to be detectable.

And so far, nothing. Which makes it at least conceivable that conditions on Earth are unique.

[zoser]

If life is a normal consequence of organic chemistry, there ought to be a great many planets supporting it; and if intelligence has survival value, most of them should have intelligent life. And if technology has survival value, these intelligent species ought to have technological cultures, some of which ought to be detectable.

And so far, nothing. Which makes it at least conceivable that conditions on Earth are unique.

Where have you looked? You may need to go out of your own back garden to find evidence of ET. Try doing a little research.

[Spacenut56]

If life is a normal consequence of organic chemistry, there ought to be a great many planets supporting it; and if intelligence has survival value, most of them should have intelligent life. And if technology has survival value, these intelligent species ought to have technological cultures, some of which ought to be detectable.

And so far, nothing. Which makes it at least conceivable that conditions on Earth are unique.

While that is a possibility, its one that I and many others doubt. We are such a young relatively speaking civilization, who have just barely started to scratch the surface of all that is out there in the cosmos. We have much to learn. Given that there may be trillions of galaxies, and hundreds of billions of stars or more in each galaxy, I would like to think there is life out there. Its possible its been around for maybe thousands or millions of years ahead of us. As I mentioned in another thread, the most recent book I read on the subject of UFO's and ET's, by Don Donderi, PhD,its clear he believes as do ,I and many others, there is life out there and they have been and they are visiting us "intermittently" in his wording. There is alot of evidence of this. What happens next is anyones guess. I just hope I am around when it happens.

[spacecowboy342]

Aw you would go and depress me by mentioning that.

Sorry, I guess I'm a pessimist sometimes

[jakesteele]

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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=1881

That’s what I’ve always thought was the case until I read these articles. They gave me hope that one day I might be on the flight deck of Star Trek.

[psyche101]

http://en.wikipedia....lcubierre_drive

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=1881

That’s what I’ve always thought was the case until I read these articles. They gave me hope that one day I might be on the flight deck of Star Trek.

You will need hope, these concepts create more problems than they solve. The Alcubierre drive is an elegant design but we do not have the slightest clue as to how we might go about making one.

Alpha Centauri in a matter of hours? 25.6 trillion miles in a matter of hours?

If we built a generation ship that could travel as quickly as the fastest thing we've put in space, we'd still be looking at tens of thousands of years between wheels up and wheels down. Excluding orbiting vessels like NASA's Space Shuttles (which could circle Earth at up upwards of 17,500 mph/28,000 kph) and the Helios 2 spacecraft (which zips around the Sun at around 150,000 mph / 240,000 kph), the record-holder for fastest solar escape velocity belongs to the Voyager 1 probe, which for the last several decades has been coursing through space at speeds upwards of 38,000 mph / 62,000 kph. That's over 17 kilometers per second — but ven at those speeds, Voyager 1 is only just now poised to exit our solar system; were it heading in the right direction, it would still take over 70,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri.

LINK