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Location: The Frenchie Farm, Where We Grow 'em Big!
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The universe is such a big place. Can we drop the religious beliefs on this one and say if there is intelligent life beyond our planets. What is your perspective?
I can't possibly see how there couldn't be! Given the incomprehensible vastness of the universe; the uncountable number of galaxies, suns within galaxies, planetary systems around suns; and thereby the incredible variety of conditions that could exist on those planets, to think that our particular spinning rock is the only one on which intelligent life could ever, has ever, or will ever appear, would be simply....... too naiieve!
Location: Midessa, Texas Home Yangzhou, Jiangsu temporarily
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Quote:
Originally Posted by brikag
The universe is such a big place. Can we drop the religious beliefs on this one and say if there is intelligent life beyond our planets. What is your perspective?
I think the answer is that there is not other intelligent life because of Fermi's paradox. Basically put, if there are other intelligent species why haven't we detected them? The galaxy is old and there are like 400 billion stars in it, so there should be others out there just because of the law of averages. But even by conservative estimates an interstellar civilization could colonize the entire galaxy in as little as 10 million years. Surely in the course of 14 billion years several would have branched out to point that we could detect them by now. But the galaxy and the universe is quite, it seems that we may be truly alone.
I can't possibly see how there couldn't be! Given the incomprehensible vastness of the universe; the uncountable number of galaxies, suns within galaxies, planetary systems around suns; and thereby the incredible variety of conditions that could exist on those planets, to think that our particular spinning rock is the only one on which intelligent life could ever, has ever, or will ever appear, would be simply....... too naiieve!
I don't see credible evidence that other forms of life have been here, specifically, but since I believe in a scientific creation of the cosmos, then if it happened here, sure, it could have happened or be happening somewhere else.
I don't know that other life forms would even be detectable by us. They could be so drastically different that even the concept of communication could be different, much less the methods--I hope that makes sense. For example, we can not even conceive of a non-carbon-based form of life (or non-living matter). Everything on our planet, animate and inanimate, is carbon-based. Isn't it possible that in some far-off universe, the life forms wouldn't be carbon-based? (I hope I'm right about that and am not coming off like an idiot--someone correct me if I'm wrong.) If they weren't, then the differences would be so drastic not only physically but conceptually that we possibly would not even be able to comprehend each other's existance, and therefore pass one another by entirely without realizing it.
So sure, numbers-wise as far as the sheer quantity of planets out there, and give then fact that conditions have happened to be compatible with life here, there could be life somewhere else.
I don't believe any Close Encounters- or Star Man-type contacts have been made, though.
Location: The Frenchie Farm, Where We Grow 'em Big!
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I would have to agree with windflower. It would be naive to think we are the only ones in the universe. Trying to contact life out there would take a millenia or two. But, the life that is out there could also be single-celled organisms to gelatenous gooo.
But even by conservative estimates an interstellar civilization could colonize the entire galaxy in as little as 10 million years.
You're assuming that intelligent creatures would necessarily want or need to colonize all or even part of the galaxy they inhabit, or even nearby ones.
Also, detection presupposes that one can recognize something once it is "found" or even stumbled upon. Our great-great-great-grandparents could not detect atoms or DNA molecules, because they had neither the necessary technology nor a frame of reference to tell them what to look for. Yet both of those things existed at the time, despite our ancestors' inability to either look for or detect them.
I believe they're coming to Earth, to exterminate the human race, but...water is poison to them!
The reason life is carbon based is because of it's molecular structure. It's not possible for life to be oxygen or sulfur based. However, it's theoretically possible for life to be silicon based (silicon's structure is very close to carbon, it just has one more shell of electrons). Actually, I think I heard that there are some silicon based organisms on Earth, IIRC.
Location: Midessa, Texas Home Yangzhou, Jiangsu temporarily
1,506 posts, read 4,280,302 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by windflower
You're assuming that intelligent creatures would necessarily want or need to colonize all or even part of the galaxy they inhabit, or even nearby ones.
True, but I am just considering that among the possibly millions of intelligent species out there at least a few would colonize much of the galaxy unless there is some reason unknown to us why that would be impossible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by windflower
Also, detection presupposes that one can recognize something once it is "found" or even stumbled upon. Our great-great-great-grandparents could not detect atoms or DNA molecules, because they had neither the necessary technology nor a frame of reference to tell them what to look for. Yet both of those things existed at the time, despite our ancestors' inability to either look for or detect them.
This is also true, but we would all live by the same laws of physics. Any intelligent species should be detectable by some form of electromagnetic radiation. For example our simple communications will detectable by future species because we send out radio transmissions all the time. Millions even billions of years from now species with radio telescopes will know that we were here.
The fact that we have yet to detect a single artificial radio signal is not a good sign. The galaxy should be humming with these type emissions. The absence of them is surely significant.
I believe they're coming to Earth, to exterminate the human race, but...water is poison to them!
The reason life is carbon based is because of it's molecular structure. It's not possible for life to be oxygen or sulfur based. However, it's theoretically possible for life to be silicon based (silicon's structure is very close to carbon, it just has one more shell of electrons). Actually, I think I heard that there are some silicon based organisms on Earth, IIRC.
Oh, ok. There are silicon-based organisms on Earth??? Wild. That's one I never heard.
And...LOL at the water-poisoning comment (Signs?).
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