If we find aliens, they will be machines

[+DieChecker]

But you can't continue to accelerate at 1G. E = mc2, right, where c is the speed of light. A constant. So, if m (mass) increases, then Energy necessary must also increase. As you approach the speed of light, mass approaches infinity, as does the Energy needed to move that mass.

You might get up to 90%, or 95% eventually, but 100% is impossible to achieve. (Using today's technology)

Edited June 7, 2015 by DieChecker

[Shouldthisexist]

Nuclear powered propulsion?

I mean if you accelerate at one G, in one day you would reach a velocity of nearly 2,000,000 mph. In approximately a year at one G acceleration you would be approaching the speed of light.

It was meant to be a joke. And yes I have seen this theory but there are so many factors. I'm assuming your referring to detonating atomic bombs per say and using a pusher plate to catch the energy and propel you forward?

[Leo Krupe]

But you can't continue to accelerate at 1G. E = mc2, right, where c is the speed of light. A constant. So, if m (mass) increases, then Energy necessary must also increase. As you approach the speed of light, mass approaches infinity, as does the Energy needed to move that mass.

You might get up to 90%, or 95% eventually, but 100% is impossible to achieve. (Using today's technology)

Beat me to it. You're right -- the paradox is the faster you go, the more massive you are, so the more energy it takes to go faster. Truly a Catch-22 situation. You'd run out of fuel long before you could get to c.

[smokeycat]

But you can't continue to accelerate at 1G. E = mc2, right, where c is the speed of light. A constant. So, if m (mass) increases, then Energy necessary must also increase. As you approach the speed of light, mass approaches infinity, as does the Energy needed to move that mass.

You might get up to 90%, or 95% eventually, but 100% is impossible to achieve. (Using today's technology)

Beat me to it. You're right -- the paradox is the faster you go, the more massive you are, so the more energy it takes to go faster. Truly a Catch-22 situation. You'd run out of fuel long before you could get to c.

I did say approaching the speed of light.

[Varelse]

Beat me to it. You're right -- the paradox is the faster you go, the more massive you are, so the more energy it takes to go faster. Truly a Catch-22 situation. You'd run out of fuel long before you could get to c.

Now that, as a horsepower junkie always looking to go faster, I can understand.

[Leo Krupe]

Edit: no message at this time. Please check back later.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Leo Krupe

[FissionChip]

Of course, you just need to get up to a reasonable speed, then you can stop expending fuel and save the rest for when you need to slow down again. Well... and keeping any passengers alive, but if we're talking robots then that's not really an issue.

[JKoene]

So it'll be Borg

[Hartmut]

If we find machines, humanoids, aliens etc. is not really questionable - because in our billion upon billions of galaxies, they no doubt exist all somewhere - in one form or another,

on one, or several planets and galaxies. I think what most conveniently forget in all their UFO, Aliens etc. speculations and assumptions is - the Unimaginable Size of our Universe,

with near impossible to cross the vast Light Year Distances.

And on top of that, the Universe is expanding - making the those distances even more and more bigger by the hour.

Imagine you being an alien with a mission to find Earth. What would it be like ?

It would be like finding a tiny, single, specific grain of sand - in one of all the sandy beaches of the world.

Imagine that, next time you speculate or think Earth has been visited, or is is swarming with some 50 + alien races right now... :-)

Edited June 8, 2015 by Hartmut

[S I N]

Hydrogen ... isn't it the most abundant element in space? can't remember where i got that from

And what may fuel such craft through the enormous distances? Not like they can fill up at a gas station is it?

Unless they go as slow as the Voyager probe we sent out 36 years ago which, has only travelled one light DAY in all that time, and in 18.5 billion miles

edit, not miles, km's

.

[Silent Trinity]

Forgive me but I understand the physics behind this, and the insurmountable variables of such travel.....but isn't this just conventional thinking?

We are assuming our knowledge is the sum of all wisdom. Are we really going to go out on a limb and say we know everything about the universe and the law of physics that govern it?

What if we are wrong? And if we are right, then what about Einstein-Rosenberg Bridges or other phenomena that we do not yet know about. We are a race who has barely reached beyond our own moon with anything other than primitive probes yet we are going to claim that we know everything regarding the ability to travel across the universe.

If that is the case then pack, up the labs, sack all the physicists, dismantle the Large Hadron Collider, we already know everything so why bother?

Apologies if that sounds combative or abrupt, it wasn't my intention, but there is a supreme arrogance attached to the human race that we know everything, and we possess the sum of all knowledge....until we are proven wrong then we quietly change our thinking.

Just my humble opinion anyway

[acute]

First contact with alien machines makes perfect sense to me. The technology of our own probes is in its infancy. We would pilot them with humanoid robots if we could. A civilization advanced enough to make a comparable leap may also have developed alternative means of propulsion or transportation. Maybe a little space-bending or some such wizardry.

[Shouldthisexist]

Forgive me but I understand the physics behind this, and the insurmountable variables of such travel.....but isn't this just conventional thinking?

We are assuming our knowledge is the sum of all wisdom. Are we really going to go out on a limb and say we know everything about the universe and the law of physics that govern it?

What if we are wrong? And if we are right, then what about Einstein-Rosenberg Bridges or other phenomena that we do not yet know about. We are a race who has barely reached beyond our own moon with anything other than primitive probes yet we are going to claim that we know everything regarding the ability to travel across the universe.

If that is the case then pack, up the labs, sack all the physicists, dismantle the Large Hadron Collider, we already know everything so why bother?

Apologies if that sounds combative or abrupt, it wasn't my intention, but there is a supreme arrogance attached to the human race that we know everything, and we possess the sum of all knowledge....until we are proven wrong then we quietly change our thinking.

Just my humble opinion anyway

We'll yes we are applying our limited knowledge to the possibilities of space travel. We have no reason to believe that they are any more intelligent than we are. Plus scientists aren't found of proposing fringe theories. We try to use our understanding and make the most educated guesses we can. We are constantly learning new things and revising old knowledge.

I know a few(to say the least) astrophysicists who do claim that the only feasible way to travel the universe is worm holes. Certainly though we don't understand the universe, dark matter and energy, black holes, gravity as some of the more famous mysteries, We know we still have a lot to learn.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Shouldthisexist

[paperdyer]

Anyway, can you imagine the time lag it will take for an alien machine to report back it had found life...us? Depending from where they originated it would take quite some time to report back to HQ wouldnt it?

If the machine was sentient like V'ger, would it even recognize humans as a lfe form?

[Shouldthisexist]

If the machine was sentient like V'ger, would it even recognize humans as a lfe form?

I guess that depends on what it was sent here for, and what it's search parameters are. If it's sole purpose is finding say minerals like gold then we may not even register.

[+Hammerclaw]

It's the size of the the Universe that staggers the imagination and humbles the intellect. It's immensity dwarfs even the the time scale of it's existence. The human mind cannot grasp the distance to even the nearest of stars. We just look at the numbers on the page, blink and look again. It's like static to the mind that never resolves itself into a meaningful signal. It's tiny, finite organisms with lives of incredibly short duration trying and failing to grasp infinity. Our fantasies of starflight are modern mythology with little substance or reality. We are still but primitive savages gazing up from our campfires into that ocean of night, that bright, star flung abyss about which we can still only dream.

[Shayde]

Hmm... so if we get any contact, it might be a machine that answers Sort of like this mayhap...

Picture a high-tech room, low lighting, display screens on the walls. A mass of various people standing, waiting for the newly developed - in secret - to finally tell them what this monumentous message from the stars will reveal. With a few deft movements, it's down to a lowly air force corporal to hit the final button, and the message plays.

First, we hear hissing, then a click, then three short bleeps, before the message is heard.

"I'm sorry, but the species you are trying to call in unable to come to the phone right now. Please leave a message after the tone!"

[Hartmut]

Forgive me but I understand the physics behind this, and the insurmountable variables of such travel.....but isn't this just conventional thinking?

We are assuming our knowledge is the sum of all wisdom. Are we really going to go out on a limb and say we know everything about the universe and the law of physics that govern it?

What if we are wrong? And if we are right, then what about Einstein-Rosenberg Bridges or other phenomena that we do not yet know about. We are a race who has barely reached beyond our own moon with anything other than primitive probes yet we are going to claim that we know everything regarding the ability to travel across the universe.

If that is the case then pack, up the labs, sack all the physicists, dismantle the Large Hadron Collider, we already know everything so why bother?

Apologies if that sounds combative or abrupt, it wasn't my intention, but there is a supreme arrogance attached to the human race that we know everything, and we possess the sum of all knowledge....until we are proven wrong then we quietly change our thinking.

Just my humble opinion anyway

Of course we know nothing of what could be possible in the future, nor what other races or beings in the Universe are capable of, but we must also be realistic and look at the facts, like the inconceivable Vast Light Year Distances between and within galaxies - no matter how far advanced science or technology is or may become. Cheerio, Hartmut :-)

[+HerNibs]

Erasmus and Omnius.

That will suck.

Nibs

Edited June 8, 2015 by HerNibs

[BeastieRunner]

Since it's probably the most logical way we'd make contact with another for of life, it makes sense that it's probably the most logical way another form of life would contact us. We have lots of probes and satellites floating around out there and perhaps another form of life does as well.

[TheGreatBeliever]

Im sure they have their own curiosity/viking rovers..

[S2F]

Forgive me but I understand the physics behind this, and the insurmountable variables of such travel.....but isn't this just conventional thinking?

We are assuming our knowledge is the sum of all wisdom. Are we really going to go out on a limb and say we know everything about the universe and the law of physics that govern it?

What if we are wrong? And if we are right, then what about Einstein-Rosenberg Bridges or other phenomena that we do not yet know about. We are a race who has barely reached beyond our own moon with anything other than primitive probes yet we are going to claim that we know everything regarding the ability to travel across the universe.

If that is the case then pack, up the labs, sack all the physicists, dismantle the Large Hadron Collider, we already know everything so why bother?

Apologies if that sounds combative or abrupt, it wasn't my intention, but there is a supreme arrogance attached to the human race that we know everything, and we possess the sum of all knowledge....until we are proven wrong then we quietly change our thinking.

Just my humble opinion anyway

Whoever said anything about scientists knowing everything there is to know? Scientists are actually a very humble group and are in a prime position to understand just how much we don't know, more so than anyone else. The flip side of that is they are very confident of the things we do know, simply because of the rigors of the scientific method and the confidence it inspires when done correctly. Plus no theory exists in a vacuum. There are always tangential research and experiments that will either support or destroy a theory. Theories are always being tested, it's not a one and done kind of deal. Nobody is assuming our knowledge is the sum of all anything.

[Podo]

I'm just holding out hope that we'll find the Geth hanging out somewhere.

[psyche101]

In that link I find Agatha Christie's quote spot on. "The impossible could not have happened,

therefore the impossible must be possible in spite of appearances". Think about it.

Didn't Sherlock Holmes say that first??

[psyche101]

Which is why it would be logical not to waste time sending signals back to where they came from and waiting for a reply, I think the ideas about exploration of space being likely to follow a colonial pattern seem quite sensible. For example, by setting up a forward base in each planetary system that looks promising (and there's so much more than just this planet in this system that would repay study, after all).

Signals move at the speed of light already. We could use spectrographs to utilise signals to see if any planets are worth sending probes to., otherwise, it is likely that few missions would meet with success, turning into a massive waste of time, resources and effort.

Radio and observation is the only sensible first option, followed by probes then perhaps followed up further as the situation permits. It is what we do now.

Of course any line of exploration would have to have stop over points, base camps if you will. The vastness of space demands such.