Evidence of alienlife

[dsawan 624]

Just noticed this.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/nasascientistfindsevidenceofalienlife

[+streakeagle 871]

Huge significance... and I hear nothing about it on the radio or TV. Perhaps if it is confirmed by the 100 experts it will take the media by storm.

[xclusiv8 35]

I cant understand that people actually doubt there is life in the universe. Just look at the math. How many galaxies are there? Billions if not more, how many stars per galaxy? Again billions and billions. How many planets per star? Lets assume 0.001% of all the stars in the universe have planets you would still get billions of stars that have planets. Then assume 0.0001% of those have earth like conditions. Again, billions of possible planets. The universe is just to damn big not to have life. Its all in the math.

[mppd 16]

It didn't make the news because Jennifer Aniston just got a new hair style last week....the popular press only covers what's really significant in the world today...

[+streakeagle 871]

Regardless of theory and probabilities, nothing in science is 100% accepted until you have rock solid proof... in this case, literally. I am skeptical myself, because similar claims have been made before and refuted. But if it is confirmed, it will mark a turning point in history. If life is absolutely known to exist elsewhere, it isn't too big of a reach to accept that there will be intelligent life comparable or superior to us elsewhere. If micro lifeforms can arrive by meteor, it also raises questions about the origins of life on Earth.

 

We need the ability to "jump" to other solar systems and find other Earth-like planets suitable for replacing our own, or the ability to terraform Mars or another body in our solar system to ensure the human race lives a bit longer than the limits of our own planet permit. But we can't even afford to replace the space shuttle, much less go to the Moon to build a stepping stone to Mars exploration. If it had not been for the Cold War arms race for ICBMs, we might not even have satellites or have ever put people into space. Given that politics then were little different than they are now, it is incomprehensible that the US government was able to fund the Apollo program. To this day there are significant numbers of US citizens angry that the government wasted so much money on the space program... as they text someone on their high tech touch screen phone that can reach anywhere in the world via satellite for just tens of dollars per month.

 

But I'm not bitter ;)

Edited March 6, 2011 by streakeagle

[Siddley 9]

The universe is just to damn big not to have life. Its all in the math.

 

There is a theory ( scientifically respected, but kind of a minority viewpoint ) that life outside our solar system may not actually be all that common - and intelligent life very rare indeed.

 

This is just to put the other side of the story....like you I agree with the mainstream viewpoint that life is probably everywhere.

 

I hope we find some evidence of it in my lifetime.

[FastCargo 412]

The universe is just to damn big not to have life. Its all in the math.

 

Yeah?

 

Answer the question:

 

"Where are they?" - The Fermi Paradox

 

Or, for a more comprehensive example:

 

The Rare Earth Hypothesis

 

There may be other life, but it A) may be nothing more than pond scum or B) is too far away to be able to notice at all, and therefore irrelevant.

 

Now, personally, I don't necessarily believe that, but simplistic "Its all in the math" statements ignore the realities of the universe.

 

FC

[xclusiv8 35]

I said nothing about intelligent life. I just meant life in generall, and that can be anything from microscopic lifeforms to full blown mamal like lifeforms.

The question where are they?

We havent really left our little neighbourhood what makes you think anyone else will? Even if life in another galaxie is intelligent that doesnt mean they have radio or can traverse the massive universe. The universe is huge. I dont think any civilization will ever master any means of actually traveling between galaxies or distant stars in one life time.

 

I wasnt really ignoring anything just saying that when you look at it from a mathematical point of view it should be there. Then again we cant really se antying so where is it??Question is how far can we look.

Edited March 6, 2011 by xclusiv8

[+streakeagle 871]

Already refuted. Less substantial evidence than the last time. Apparently, the guy making the claim is not a Ph.D. nor did he specialize in biology, just your run of the mill astrophysics type propped up by a media business needing a flashy story to generate income. Good thing I didn't get my hopes up too high.

[MAKO69 186]

I said nothing about intelligent life. I just meant life in generall, and that can be anything from microscopic lifeforms to full blown mamal like lifeforms.

The question where are they?

We havent really left our little neighbourhood what makes you think anyone else will? Even if life in another galaxie is intelligent that doesnt mean they have radio or can traverse the massive universe. The universe is huge. I dont think any civilization will ever master any means of actually traveling between galaxies or distant stars in one life time.

 

I wasnt really ignoring anything just saying that when you look at it from a mathematical point of view it should be there. Then again we cant really se antying so where is it??Question is how far can we look.

 

Neighbourhood, we just opened the door to the front porch.

 

I am a believer in the Drake Equation, but look at are planet now we have had radio/ satilite communications for a fraction of time on the Universal Clock. We could be the "BIG KIDS" on our block, or so the equation takes into account inteligent civilizations most likely destroy themselves. I have said it before if we can get past the next 25-30 years

I feel we can become the minority.

Edited March 11, 2011 by MAKO69

[fallenphoenix1986 603]

I tend tofollow the "just to damn many galaxies/stars/planets not to have life out there" train of thought. Though I dont have time to read the full page on the Fermi paradox what I have read so far strikes me as a pretty pathetic argument against there being life out there.

We cant see it so it probably isnt there...?

It wasnt until 1971 that we got close enough to Mars with Mariner 4 to discover it was a barnen wasteland. If we have only been able to look closely at our nearest neighbour for 40 years how can we possibly say what dosn't exist on the surface of planetts only just detectable orbiting stars many lightyears away?

. The argument that we see no evidence of alien probes or spacecraft is ludicrous, we have only just establihed what lies on the edges of our own solar system but we are supposed to detect somethig that may be only a few meters across, that given the vastness of the galaxy probably has no intention of coming anywhere near us :P

 

Craig

[FastCargo 412]

But we are talking cosmological timescales, not human timescales, nor geologic timescales. The basis of the Fermi paradox is simply time...there has been more than enough time for a galactic sized civilization to rise several instances over, even using our current technological level. But there has been no conclusive evidence of any of that anywhere.

 

Again, I'm not saying that life doesn't exist, even the Fermi paradox doesn't say that. But it asks...where are they?

 

FC

[fallenphoenix1986 603]

Didnt mean to sound like I was having a go at you o anything there FC, and I get that its a case of well wheres the evidence. My point is that even if the evidence was on our doorstep we have only just gained the technology to look for it. Any farther out and we havnt a prayer of detecting it, be it of a past or current civilisation. I'd also like to add that nowhere in the definition of inteligent life is space travel implied.

 

Craig

[JediMaster 451]

The issue perhaps is that people are overestimating a massive civilization's abilities. What's to say that after getting advanced enough to make it out into space they don't wind up dying off due to some natural disaster or disease they can't cure? If there's no way to travel faster than light, and the only way to cross the stars is in generational vessels, it's pretty obvious that almost no species would ever leave its home star.

 

In short, there could have been lots of other civilizations out there over the eons, but we wouldn't have found any evidence of them yet if they're all dead in their home systems.