aliens?!

[Yellow]

Whats everyones thoughts on hawkings latest alien fits?

[Jete]

Helps to give people some background!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hoWW144NaE

[Omnimorph]

I already believe in the existence of aliens. A logical person would agree with me.

What's funnier is that people think contact with them would be like in science fiction. Either their development as a species would be completely primitive to ours, in which case communication or interaction in general would be impossible (like single celled organisms etc) or they'd be more advanced than us, in which case I can't see them wanting much to do with us at all.

Factor in the vastness of space, the limits of travel (for us at least) and contact with them seems very unlikely.

In terms of the existence of extraterrestrial life, consider the amount of solar systems in the universe, coupled with the diversity of life we see JUST on our planet (lifeforms existing without light at the bottom of the sea bed etc.) and the probability of life existing on at least one other planet seems a practical certainty.

[Jete]

Well I'd like to point a few things out-

First, anyone saying "Any logical person believes like I do," is the reason why we thought the world was flat for so long.

Second, it is illegal in the U.S. to make contact with an Extra-Terrestrial. http://www.v-j-enterprises.com/etlaw.html

And lastly, we would most likely disease the E.T.s and wipe them out. Just AIDs them up!

[YendorLootmonkey]

One interesting (yet depressing) theory, and I can't remember what it's called, is that the reason we have not been visited by intelligent life after billions of years during which other civilizations could have advanced, is that there is always some sort of point at which civilizations wipe themselves out before getting to the point where they can perform interstellar travel. Part of this theory is that before they get to that point, civilizations wipe themselves out due to:

a) depletion of resources (via war, famine, disease, etc), or

b) planetary catastrophe during technological/scientific advancement.

Now the most interesting thing about b) is that it has been postulated that, if finding the Higgs-Boson particle is a pre-requisite for the understanding of physics necessary to develop interstellar travel, every civilization could advance to the point where they search for Higgs-Boson and create their equivalent of the Large Hadron Collider, at which point something goes horribly wrong and they create a black hole that devours their entire planet.

Taking that theory even further, it could be theorized that at least some black holes that we have detected are the results of past civilizations getting to that point and then inadvertantly creating a black hole on themselves.

[Shannacore]

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Mulder and I have the same poster!

[Rogean]

lol black holes NOMNOMNOMNOM

[Ihealyou]

Originally Posted by YendorLootmonkey [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

One interesting (yet depressing) theory, and I can't remember what it's called, is that the reason we have not been visited by intelligent life after billions of years during which other civilizations could have advanced, is that there is always some sort of point at which civilizations wipe themselves out before getting to the point where they can perform interstellar travel. Part of this theory is that before they get to that point, civilizations wipe themselves out due to:

a) depletion of resources (via war, famine, disease, etc), or

b) planetary catastrophe during technological/scientific advancement.

Now the most interesting thing about b) is that it has been postulated that, if finding the Higgs-Boson particle is a pre-requisite for the understanding of physics necessary to develop interstellar travel, every civilization could advance to the point where they search for Higgs-Boson and create their equivalent of the Large Hadron Collider, at which point something goes horribly wrong and they create a black hole that devours their entire planet.

Taking that theory even further, it could be theorized that at least some black holes that we have detected are the results of past civilizations getting to that point and then inadvertantly creating a black hole on themselves.

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

Its some pretty depressing stuff, but not all of it is that bad. One of the theories that seems to make sense is a civilization has a relatively short "radio age" where they are broadcasting signals that we can pick up. Already we are moving away from radio waves, replacing analogue tv with digital, and internet tv for example. We've only been broadcasting radio waves for maybe 100 years now, and even if it takes another 100 or more before they're gone, its still a drop in the bucket when you're talking about the lifespan of a civilization.

Another not depressing theory is that we're just too far away from any aliens to communicate. We're sending a signal to stars 24,000 light years away. Assuming that there are aliens there, what are the chances that they are still listening? Even if they are listening, we would have to wait another 24,000 years to hear a response, and much longer if we were to expect some kind of visit or other contact.

[Hasbinbad]

It never ceases to amaze me how basic math evades even the smartest amongst us. Light travels at an insanely fast speed, and yet there are billions of stars which will nova and then wink out of existence before the first photons start being perceived by our best telescopes. The fact that some people think that in the time frame of the universe, "aliens" could evolve, develop civilization, develop intergalactic travel, and then possibly beat that light to here.. ..is amazing.

Two words: light years.

[Hasbinbad]

Originally Posted by Ihealyou [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Another not depressing theory is that we're just too far away from any aliens to communicate. We're sending a signal to stars 24,000 light years away. Assuming that there are aliens there, what are the chances that they are still listening? Even if they are listening, we would have to wait another 24,000 years to hear a response, and much longer if we were to expect some kind of visit or other contact.

That would be true if radio waves traveled at the speed of light.