Why Haven't We Found Life Yet In the Universe?

[Dryson]

Wrong link?

NextStep is the program that NASA is receiving funding for from Congress for the purpose of creating a deep space habitation augmentation module.
http://time.com/4164477/nasa-congress-space-habitat/

When I think deep space I think Jupiter or Saturn. When Congress thinks deep space its probably a few thousand kilometers on the other side of the Moon.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

$55 million.

 

[Dryson]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nasa-deep-space-habitat-mars_56836f72e4b014efe0d99912
NASA had its budget increased by 1.3 billion dollars this year up to 19.3 billion dollars annually.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

Unfortunately, as both your sources clearly state, only 55 million of that was for a deep space habitat.

 

[Dryson]

Unfortunately, as both your sources clearly state, only 55 million of that was for a deep space habitat.

I think that the allotment was geared more towards computer generated graphics and proposals than an actual working prototype.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

Agreed. 55 million barely gets the project started.

 

[Tim Walker]

I was reviewing the exoplanet thread for the Future Timeline forums. One discovery mentioned was rogue planets (also called nomad or free floating planets), including those in the sub-brown dwarf range.

If there any significantly closer than Alpha Centauri, I think that will be the destination for the first expedition beyond the solar system. And if so, likely the only exoplanet(s) to be visited during the next few centuries.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

The nearest known brown dwarf is a binary pair of them called Luhman 16, 6.5 light years away.

With the WISE mission's completion, it seems very unlikely that any closer brown dwarves remain to be found, since WISE could detect objects of 2-3 Jupiter masses (much smaller than a brown dwarf) at up to 7-10 light years away.

 

[Spot261]

It is notable from this thread, along with many other such discussions, just how seamlessly the "search for life" becomes "the search for intelligent life".

SETI is a noble enterprise, but we may oneday find the universe offers us plenty of pets but few freinds

 

[Doom Shepherd]

It is notable from this thread, along with many other such discussions, just how seamlessly the "search for life" becomes "the search for intelligent life".

SETI is a noble enterprise, but we may oneday find the universe offers us plenty of pets but few freinds

 

[Tim Walker]

Perhaps many of the brighter species are aquatic, like dolphins.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Evolution seems to favour breeders rather than thinkers.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Could civilizations be using things like lasers or other exotic radiation sources for communications?

 

[Gov Kodos]

Evolution seems to favour breeders rather than thinkers.

There's a Darwin meme.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Unfortunately, the Darwin meme isn't a good a breeder as the creationist meme -- perhaps because its greater complexity requires more energy to propagate.

 

[Dryson]

Evolution seems to favour breeders rather than thinkers.

Yep breed more so your clan will dominate. Establish a king and queen and peasants. Breed the peasants to the point of societal collapse, give them weapons and a cause and conquer the next clan. Sounds like Darwinism to me. I would have to think that most alien species would maintain a Darwinism societal order.
Evolution would be a combination of breeders and thinkers where the emphasis is placed on thinking instead of mass breeding for fodder.

Could civilizations be using things like lasers or other exotic radiation sources for communications?

I would say yes. If you able to manipulate elements within space-time itself to send a message you would achieve superiority over another planet because your planet was able to communicate faster without being detected by the other planet.

 

[B.J.]

 

[PurpleBuddha]

Could civilizations be using things like lasers or other exotic radiation sources for communications?

As an empirical matter the answer has to be yes, it is possible. Our civilization already does both.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Unless planets like Earth are farms.

Let the population expand and expand to a point where it can't sustain itself then you harvest the crop

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Yep breed more so your clan will dominate. Establish a king and queen and peasants. Breed the peasants to the point of societal collapse, give them weapons and a cause and conquer the next clan. Sounds like Darwinism to me. I would have to think that most alien species would maintain a Darwinism societal order.
Evolution would be a combination of breeders and thinkers where the emphasis is placed on thinking instead of mass breeding for fodder.

Could civilizations be using things like lasers or other exotic radiation sources for communications?

I would say yes. If you able to manipulate elements within space-time itself to send a message you would achieve superiority over another planet because your planet was able to communicate faster without being detected by the other planet.

I don't think you know what Darwin's theory of natural selection entails. You seem to be confusing it with some form of Social Darwinism that involves selective breeding in a feudal context.

Lasers, masers, and other coherent EM sources seem the best bet for advanced communication. Charged particles would be a bad choice as they would be deflected by magnetic fields or interact with matter in the beam path. Neutrinos have such a small cross-section for detection that they've incredibly inefficient for communication. Gravitons are an even worse choice as they're both hard to generate and to detect.