Aliens? (the ones that aren't from Earth)

[Mowque]

(btw, i'm not sure of the rules. I have another thread, i started just recently. it is not spam, so how lond should i wait before posting another?)

Do you think Extra-Terrestrial's are real?

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Extra-terrestrial whats? Living organisms? Self-aware, intelligent organisms?

 

[Perfection]

Hell do I know.

 

[ArneHD]

On the bacteria level, perhaps, but I doubt that there are sentient, or obvious life anywhere near us, let alone anywhere on earth.

 

[El_Machinae]

I'm willing to bet that there's intelligent ET life, though I don't expect to run into it any time soon.

What I haven't yet decided upon, is whether to think we'll run into sub-intelligent life before we run into the product of intelligent life.

Intelligent life can spread, and so an intelligent race could have its fingerprints spread out over many star system. Sub-intelligent life probably only occurs on the planet where it forms.

 

[Dubai Vol]

I voted too far away to matter, but it's important to understand that "far away" means in time as well as space. Man has been capable of sending and receiving radio signals for barely a century, and by the looks of things, won't be able to for all that much longer. So if we are anything to go by, a civilization has a "life span" measured in centuries, meaning before or after that time, sending or hearing radio signals is beyond the technical capacity of the civ. Sounds pessimistic, but anyone care to bet how many centuries man will have radio? One, ten, a hundred, a thousand? Still nothing compared to the size of the universe.

So not only is the universe big, but it's OLD. A civ that lasted a million years would never know about us if was two million light years away and died tomorrow. And two million light years is practically next door.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Intelligent life can spread, and so an intelligent race could have its fingerprints spread out over many star system. Sub-intelligent life probably only occurs on the planet where it forms.

True, but I expect non-intelligent life is far more common. Our planet has had life for 3.5 billion years and intelligent life for about 150,000.

 

[Perfection]

I'm willing to bet that there's intelligent ET life

Why?

So not only is the universe big, but it's OLD. A civ that lasted a million years would never know about us if was two million light years away and died tomorrow. And two million light years is practically next door.

Nah, <10 lightyears is my idea of next door

 

[GoodEnoughForMe]

Somewhere out there there's probably intelligent life. We just haven't seen any yet, and probably won't for a long time, if ever.

 

[El_Machinae]

True, but I expect non-intelligent life is far more common. Our planet has had life for 3.5 billion years and intelligent life for about 150,000.

Non-intelligent life will likely be more common and plentiful if we don't count migration. Intelligent life probably has to start up from non-intelligent life, but then it can spread.

There's going to be evidence of life on star systems near ours in the next couple centuries, and so an ET investigator would be able to find samples of life on (say) Alpha Centauri if he looked.

But that life will entirely be there because we put it there. Probes, monitors, colonists, etc.

That's why I haven't decided. I have no clue as to the 'likely' density of spontaneous life in the universe, and then I can't compare that to how far intelligent species will spread their influence

Why?

Why not?
Actually, because I'm a pragmatic investor. I'm thinking along lines of Pascal's Wager. Planning to eventually run into ET life will lead to a different gameplan than not. And the consequence of being wrong (either way) is lower (imho) my way.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Non-intelligent life will likely be more common and plentiful if we don't count migration. Intelligent life probably has to start up from non-intelligent life, but then it can spread.

I don't know how habitable a planet would be to alien (including us!) intelligent life without native non-intelligent life. What exactly does it take to make a planet livable?

I'm thinking along lines of Pascal's Wager. Planning to eventually run into ET life will lead to a different gameplan than not. And the consequence of being wrong (either way) is lower (imho) my way.

I always said Pascal's Wager was good for something, even if it is useless for its orignal designed purpose . . .

 

[Fugitive Sisyphus]

For those of you who think there MUST be intelligent life simply because there are so many stars, so many planets, etc read up on Fermi's Paradox. Basically it says that if intelligent life has existed elsewhere then even a very slow expansion rate would mean that that life and signs of that life would spread across the galaxy in a short amount of time(in galactic sense). But if this is the case, why haven't we discovered it?

 

[Dubai Vol]

Nah, <10 lightyears is my idea of next door

According to this:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040524.html

the universe is 156 BILLION light years across. So relative to the earth scale we're used to, 2 million light years is the same as 270 yards compared to around the world.

Fun with math!

 

[El_Machinae]

I don't know how habitable a planet would be to alien (including us!) intelligent life without native non-intelligent life. What exactly does it take to make a planet livable?

CHNOPS and energy.

Only hydrogen if you're advanced enough, and can make your own CHNOPS with fusion.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I suppose, although it probably takes a little while to set up.

(Not a little while in actual historical terms - if you can travel light years it should be easy - but in dramatic terms, maybe, which I think of as I am writing science fiction.)

 

[Mirc]

They do not exist.

 

[Godwynn]

Surely somewhere out there they exist.

I highly doubt that are here.

 

[Bronx Warlord]

I'd have to vote for Alien:2 really, with the Marines ( suprise )

1 was great, 3 and 4 got a bit tame and tired.

 

[Dubai Vol]

They do not exist.

Proving a negative is pretty tough; care to make an argument? Might be fun.

Personally, I'm a fan of infinity, which is one way of trying to argue that everything exists. Not married to the idea, but....

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Not married to the idea, but....

At least, not in this reality . . .