Yep. Finding the existence of a civilization would be like finding a particular grain of sand in all of Earth's oceans. Come and gone, over and over again, well before we climbed out of the primordial ooze.
Reaction to proof of life/no life elsewhere in the universe
- Thread starter Aragorn
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Yep. Finding the existence of a civilization would be like finding a particular grain of sand in all of Earth's oceans. Come and gone, over and over again, well before we climbed out of the primordial ooze.
Also, suppose there is life on a planet just 5000 light years away. We’d notice any signals 5000 years after they are sent. Then we’d have to be able to accelerate to relativistic speeds, while carrying enough fuel to slow back down and enough food to feed the astronauts who volunteered to miss 5000 years of Earth history and possibly not have a civilization left to come home to.
Any aliens who came here would be in the same situation.
Any aliens who came here would be in the same situation.
I'm not sure such information would require God (or a god) to be involved..?
Science is perfectly capable of determining the existence of life on another world. If we see a world that shows evidence of life (be it plants and algae or animate), that's all we need to say "there is life on another world".
Whether God created that life, or not is for theologians to determine, not scientists.
Science is perfectly capable of determining the existence of life on another world. If we see a world that shows evidence of life (be it plants and algae or animate), that's all we need to say "there is life on another world".
Whether God created that life, or not is for theologians to determine, not scientists.
With number three being the most popular topic.
While I don't believe that we are alone in the Universe, I also believe that we might as well be because of the great distances that need to be overcome just to have incontrovertible proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, and that intelligent life may be far more rare than common to begin with. So unless we or the other guys can somehow unlock the light barrier, I think we'll be forever isolated on our little anthill in the Universe and constantly wondering if there are others out there. Conversely, other faraway civilizations will probably be wondering the same.
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Or - we could just invent an infinite improbability drive and go everywhere (at the same time, of course) to find out!
I think in the next couple hundred years we will find proof of bacterial life on other planets. Heck, fossilized bacteria found on Mars isn’t out if the question.
I believe any planet similar to Earth has a high probability of single celled life.
But I believe the odds of complex life, much less complex enough to reason abstractly, is much lower.
I believe any planet similar to Earth has a high probability of single celled life.
But I believe the odds of complex life, much less complex enough to reason abstractly, is much lower.
And turn into lizards? No thanks!
That or, turn into sofas or..? YIKES! Nevermind...
I find this thread strange it that the title starts with the idea of proof of life or no life, and then immediately we are into discussing Star Trek like scenarios. There are two considerations. First, we currently believe that the light barrier is not breakable, and hence traveling is going to be slow and time consuming. Second, how did we go from "life/no life" to "intelligent life with advanced technology" so fast?
In the near future we will be able to analyze the atmospheres of many of the earth-like planets that have been and are constantly being discovered. We might find good evidence of the signs of life on one of those planets. This might indicate that life is likely there but we won't know how complex that life might be, or whether intelligent life is there, or whether technology exists there.
This could be the basis for sending a probe. But, it might take centuries to get one out there and get answers back.
But just knowing that any kind of life is out there will be an earth-shattering discovery and possibly the greatest discovery in history.
Now imagine that there is a primitive intelligent life out there, and we send a probe to their planet. and they see our shiny reflective satellite go into orbit and take up the task of monitoring the planet. We may be the alien invaders depicted in so much of our sci-fi.
In the near future we will be able to analyze the atmospheres of many of the earth-like planets that have been and are constantly being discovered. We might find good evidence of the signs of life on one of those planets. This might indicate that life is likely there but we won't know how complex that life might be, or whether intelligent life is there, or whether technology exists there.
This could be the basis for sending a probe. But, it might take centuries to get one out there and get answers back.
But just knowing that any kind of life is out there will be an earth-shattering discovery and possibly the greatest discovery in history.
Now imagine that there is a primitive intelligent life out there, and we send a probe to their planet. and they see our shiny reflective satellite go into orbit and take up the task of monitoring the planet. We may be the alien invaders depicted in so much of our sci-fi.
For a moment, I thought that you were about to describe the plot of Mac & Me.
I don’t think discovering microbial life is that far off.
Obviously we can’t prove there is not some way to circumvent time dilation and go faster than light. It just seems extremely unlikely.
The rapid advancement of science in the last century or two I think created a false expectation of sustained momentum and the idea there is no hard ceiling. But I think it’s extremely likely that hard ceiling is the warp barrier. Unless there’s something that hasn’t even been theorized yet and leaves no evidence we can currently detect.
Although I do question if you can use quantum entanglement like a telephone over long distances. If you can, and we can digitize our consciousness like in Black Mirror. Eh, who knows? Virtual transporters? Transport robot bodies somewhere, call home, transfer our consciousness into them?
Obviously we can’t prove there is not some way to circumvent time dilation and go faster than light. It just seems extremely unlikely.
The rapid advancement of science in the last century or two I think created a false expectation of sustained momentum and the idea there is no hard ceiling. But I think it’s extremely likely that hard ceiling is the warp barrier. Unless there’s something that hasn’t even been theorized yet and leaves no evidence we can currently detect.
Although I do question if you can use quantum entanglement like a telephone over long distances. If you can, and we can digitize our consciousness like in Black Mirror. Eh, who knows? Virtual transporters? Transport robot bodies somewhere, call home, transfer our consciousness into them?
Sometimes I think we might be the progenitors, but still living in an eon of the dark ages.
If we were to find simple life that we had a chance to directly examine, it could lead to new understandings in biology, biochemistry, genetics, and similar sciences that have the potential to greatly affect our health and longevity.
If we found a way to communicate with intelligent life, even indirectly, see the above but apply it to every endeavor of human behavior.
If we directly encountered intelligent life... we are either profoundly changed or profoundly screwed. Possibly both.
If we found a way to communicate with intelligent life, even indirectly, see the above but apply it to every endeavor of human behavior.
If we directly encountered intelligent life... we are either profoundly changed or profoundly screwed. Possibly both.
In any of those cases, everyone would immediately race to determine whether that life was related to us (i.e. diverged from us), or whether it evolved entirely independently. An awful lot of the aforementioned social and scientific impact would depend on the answer.
I think this relates close enough to this thread to put it here.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...way-but-is-it-habitable-or-glacial/ar-AAF99iI
"A potentially habitable 'super-Earth' has been discovered just 31 light-years away from our solar system, astronomers announced Wednesday.
The planet, named GJ 357 d, is about six times larger than Earth and orbits a dwarf sun GJ 357, much smaller than our own, every 55.7 days. The international team of astronomers that discovered the planet said in a news release that it could "provide Earth-like conditions."
“With a thick atmosphere, the planet GJ 357 d could maintain liquid water on its surface like Earth, and we could pick out signs of life with telescopes that will soon be online,” Lisa Kaltenegger, the director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell and associate professor in astronomy, said in a statement.
If GJ 357 d were to show signs of life, it would be at the top of everyone’s travel list – and we could answer a 1,000-year-old question on whether we are alone in the cosmos.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...way-but-is-it-habitable-or-glacial/ar-AAF99iI
"A potentially habitable 'super-Earth' has been discovered just 31 light-years away from our solar system, astronomers announced Wednesday.
The planet, named GJ 357 d, is about six times larger than Earth and orbits a dwarf sun GJ 357, much smaller than our own, every 55.7 days. The international team of astronomers that discovered the planet said in a news release that it could "provide Earth-like conditions."
“With a thick atmosphere, the planet GJ 357 d could maintain liquid water on its surface like Earth, and we could pick out signs of life with telescopes that will soon be online,” Lisa Kaltenegger, the director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell and associate professor in astronomy, said in a statement.
If GJ 357 d were to show signs of life, it would be at the top of everyone’s travel list – and we could answer a 1,000-year-old question on whether we are alone in the cosmos.”
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