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Your comments so far have been largely thoughtful and open minded. I like that!
I have always been fascinated by science, space and lots of other subjects where we have so little knowlege and lots and lots of possibilities. Personally, I can't wait for the next round of discoveries on the subject, no matter where they lead or how small the steps. O, and I'm glad US is getting into space again.
I do believe there is life on other planets.
I could not pick any of your poll choices.
Whether or not we will meet them is beyond me. I don't know why they'd just be lurking around.
I doubt they are.
Maybe there is a darn good reason for keeping everyone separated, too...
Based on Stephen Hawking's remarks about the fate of the Native Americans when coming into contact with the Europeans, it seems he would agree with you.
I suspect we are missing the point of the universe,while with billions of star systems in billions of galaxies there are probably sentient life forms out there the vast distances have me puzzled,
Just to get to our nearest neighboring star would take an 8 year round trip assuming you could instantly accelerate to the speed of light then stop on a dime, the cost to do this would be enormous.
Im thinking while there are probably many planets with some level of sentient life forms the main players of the universes arent us. but a different type of life entirely with a totally different reason for being,perhaps a life form that doesnt need to travel but communicates with its brethern through light alone,lives many billions of years and has a sentience derived from gravity rather than biology..
I do believe there is life on other planets.
I could not pick any of your poll choices.
Whether or not we will meet them is beyond me. I don't know why they'd just be lurking around.
I doubt they are.
Maybe there is a darn good reason for keeping everyone separated, too...
Sorry if that was confusing. I was trying to avoid slap-stick comments about illegal aliens from other countries...
You could be right about the possible necessity of keeping life forms away from each other; I just hope that we don't find out about it the hard way!
Thanks for considering my question, anyway. Good comments and conversation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RoaminRebel
Based on Stephen Hawking's remarks about the fate of the Native Americans when coming into contact with the Europeans, it seems he would agree with you.
You and Hawking have a good point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jambo101
I suspect we are missing the point of the universe,while with billions of star systems in billions of galaxies there are probably sentient life forms out there the vast distances have me puzzled,
Just to get to our nearest neighboring star would take an 8 year round trip assuming you could instantly accelerate to the speed of light then stop on a dime, the cost to do this would be enormous.
Im thinking while there are probably many planets with some level of sentient life forms the main players of the universes arent us. but a different type of life entirely with a totally different reason for being,perhaps a life form that doesnt need to travel but communicates with its brethern through light alone,lives many billions of years and has a sentience derived from gravity rather than biology..
Yes, I think you may be right about various life forms; really, why not? It seems unlikely that we might represent the average or norm in the universe.
Humans have a long way to go to answer these questions and we've barely taken our first step. For those of us with active imaginations, the wait is hard.
Thank you all for your comments. I'm enjoying our conversation and I hope you are as well.
Yes, I think you may be right about various life forms; really, why not? It seems unlikely that we might represent the average or norm in the universe.
Humans have a long way to go to answer these questions and we've barely taken our first step. For those of us with active imaginations, the wait is hard.
Thank you all for your comments. I'm enjoying our conversation and I hope you are as well.
As I recall, there was a symposium where they speculated what some of the physical characteristics of intelligent life would be (especially those that could develop interstellar travel). I don't recall at all what the results of those discussions were, but my thoughts would be that those life forms would most likely possess:
-Well developed brains (obviously)
-Some form of opposibility in their grip (to manipulate objects around them and build tools)
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the wait is hard.
