Do you think we are the only ones...

Live forum: http://forum.freeipodguide.com/viewtopic.php?t=60569

petieroman

24-04-2007 18:47:31

Space is huge, we cant be....

http//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18293978/[]http//www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18293978/

givmea1032

24-04-2007 18:50:43

You would think that if there were other intelligence, at some point one would find the other? Not saying we are alone, but strange that we'd both be close in technology and that they haven't found us....

tylerc

24-04-2007 18:52:02

Who knows?

I don't.

Doesn't affect me not knowing, so probably won't affect me if it turns out there are people there.

J4320

24-04-2007 18:56:32

There's some really weird stuff about aliens if you look into it. There have been tons of weird implants on people that contain unidentifiable metals on them. Also, there have been MANY average people who are not psycho claiming that they were abducted. It's quite a strange phenomenon.

Take a look at this video ---

Link[=http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2-6N6akjto&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ejollyjo%2Eorg%2Fscoming%2F2007%2F4%2F11%2F57%2Dalien%2Dspecies%2Dcataloguedreal%2Dcrazy%2Dstuff%2Ehtml]Link

It's REALLY interesting.

Also, I'd like to say that my grandma had a friend who was a pilot. One night on a test flight he saw a cigar shaped thing flying around, then like lightening, it zipped away. There's some weird stuff out there. I really do wish this kind of stuff gets explained before I die.

ilanbg

24-04-2007 18:59:10

I think of it mathematically.

If there is even a 4.1^-10^10 chance of life on any given planet, and there is a near-infinite amount of planets, mathematically there would be quite a few planets with life on earth.

bballp6699

24-04-2007 18:59:16

I wonder if the toilet water flushes counter clockwise on that planet.

petieroman

24-04-2007 19:07:07

you know what else is crazy, SPACE. It goes on and on and never stops.

ilanbg

24-04-2007 19:14:55

[quote124ea1d073="petieroman"]you know what else is crazy, SPACE. It goes on and on and never stops.[/quote124ea1d073]

Possibly. Possibly not.

J4320

24-04-2007 19:21:43

It's hard to imagine what would be there if space suddenly just stopped. Stuff like this makes me want to be born in 5,000 years but then again you never know what it'll be like then. I think I'm pretty lucky to be born at this time in this place.

JUNIOR6886

24-04-2007 19:38:50

yeah dude imagine if you were born in like 1100AD and there was no toliet paper....

ilanbg

24-04-2007 19:44:21

The more we learn, the more questions we'll have. In 5000 years we may know the boundaries of the universe, but you can be sure we'll have far more unanswered questions. Such is the thirst for knowledge.

justinag06

24-04-2007 19:58:09

Even if there is life on another planet, it is most likely tens of thousands of light years away. How would we know that the other even exists? If we did, how could we travel to meet them over there.

Killer722

24-04-2007 20:02:22

[quote1047895949="ilanbg"]The more we learn, the more questions we'll have. In 5000 years we may know the boundaries of the universe, but you can be sure we'll have far more unanswered questions. Such is the thirst for knowledge.[/quote1047895949]Yeah, like where did it all come from?


That was a good video J4. The other day, my friend told me something about the president of Mexico admitting the existence of aliens. Anybody know anything?

bballp6699

24-04-2007 20:11:11

[quote8ddd9deeb2="justinag06"]If we did, how could we travel to meet them over there.[/quote8ddd9deeb2]

I don't know why the way you phased that made me giggle.

petieroman

24-04-2007 20:14:14

If the vikings and others didnt destroy all the records when they invaded back in the day, we could have been alot more advanced. Just look at all the stuff we are re-inventing. (the history channel-modern mavels)

J4320

24-04-2007 20:24:17

This is an interesting article too --

http//www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070322143210.oy201j5u&show_article=1

Killer722

24-04-2007 20:58:14

That's what I heard, France and Mexico.

JennyWren

24-04-2007 21:00:18

There's a lot of problems with trying to find life on other planets. The search for extrasolar planets is tricky, there are only a few ways of detecting them.

1) If a planet is big enough, and if the plane of its orbit is lined up towards up, there's a chance that we can detect a change in the amount of light coming from the star it orbits when it passes in front of the star. For this to be detectable, the planet has to be pretty big though, and we have to be lucky to have the orbits line up.

2) Again, if the planet is big, or if its orbit is small (it is close to the star), we may be able to detect changes in the radial velocity of the star relative to earth. The radial velocity is the velocity of the star along the line-of-sight direction from us to the star (ie moving directly towards or away from us). How this works is that if the planet is big enough, the centre of gravity of the star/planet pair is somewhere between them, and so the star and the planet both orbit around this common point. We can detect that the star is "moving" away and towards us if the orbits are (again) aligned along our line of sight. By measuring the spectrum of the light coming from the star over time, we can observed a redshift/blueshift difference indicating that the star is changing its radial velocity.

2) The third way is a one-off chance that happens VERY rarely. There is an effect called lensing which occurs if you are observing a distant object, and something with large mass gets "in the way" of your line of sight (something closer). You may not be able to actually OBSERVE whatever it is that is in the way (might not be bright at the wavelengths you are observing at) but you can detect the effect that the gravity of this object has on the light coming from behind it (the light you are observing from the distant object). There is a recorded case where this effect had a "bump" on it, and scientists were able to extrapolate that the object that passed in front was a star, and that the "bump" was a planet orbiting the star. The problem with this is that once we have "observed" the extrasolar planet, we can't go back for more observations, because it will no longer be "in front" of the thing we were originally observing.

To get an idea as to whether or not a planet is habitable for human life, we can try to measure elements in the atmosphere by observing differences between the chemical spectra of the star when the light comes directly from the star, as opposed to when the light is passing through the atmosphere of the planet (when the planet is in front). Again it's tricky because the atmosphere may be quite thin.

Our best guesses can only be based on the one life-bearing planet we know, Earth. Unfortunately, we would not be able to detect a planet like Earth around a different star, because it is small and farther away from the Sun. Most of the extrasolar planets that we HAVE detected are "Hot Jupiters", very large gaseous planets that orbit close to their stars and would be much too hot to support life as we know it.

That being said, techniques for detecting planets are getting better all the time, and we are detecting planets more and more like Earth as scientific methods improve. However, even if we did find other life, without faster-than-light travel or communication, contact would be impossible. Consider that we are looking for radio signals from other sources (assuming that other life would try to contact us via radio, which travels very far). We've only been broadcasting (intentionally and unintentionally) in the radio waveband for less than a hundred years. Chances are we will stop using radio in the near future, or we will wipe out our planet and ourselves sometime soon. Assuming that other life is like us, we are trying to get a message sent from us to them that will get to them within some window of time ~300 years long when they limightli be using radio technology and receive our signal. Let's say by some miracle, out in the void somewhere someone happens to hear our signal. Well, so they reply. Unfortunately, by the time the return phone call arrives, we're not going to be here to find it.

It's one-way communication, boys and girls. Let's make sure we mean what we say the first time, because if they don't get it, we can't go back to explain!

Killer722

24-04-2007 21:09:21

http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/22/AR2007032202132.html

This article talks about some of the phenomenons the French government released.

gnznroses

24-04-2007 21:09:42

[quoted40fa8aad4="ilanbg"]I think of it mathematically.

If there is even a 4.1^-10^10 chance of life on any given planet, and there is a near-infinite amount of planets, mathematically there would be quite a few planets with life on earth.[/quoted40fa8aad4]

google "drake equation".

i'm confident we'll find some sort of life within our own solar system. on mars or a moon of saturn.
i definitely think there's intelligent life out there, and i'd say i'm 60/40 on whether they've been here. i've seen ufo-ish things before, but you can't rule out that they're not govt craft. and eye-witness accounts and stories aren't all that reliable. afterall, religion is based on personal accounts and it's all bs...

Killer722

24-04-2007 21:18:11

[quotecaf2ab4964="gnznroses"]afterall, religion is based on personal accounts and it's all bs...[/quotecaf2ab4964]
Get out of here with that.

ilanbg

24-04-2007 21:42:49

As far as aliens observing us, it seems far likelier than the other way around. We're not very good at space travel yet; the best we can do is hope to see something really obvious (i.e. as obvious as our own presence on earth), or very close to us (i.e on the moon).

If there's anything else out there, and it's any good at travel, I'm sure we'd stick out pretty clearly, what with our thousands of satellites and huge planetary development. If you think about it, the possible interaction with aliens would not be abnormal; they'd be acting perfectly natural for a group interested in studying another planet and its life forms.

Considering our exponentially growing technology, I'd say we're getting pretty close to finding out at least a great deal more than we did before.

This is a fucking awesome generation to be alive in. I wouldn't want to live in any other, to be honest.

justinag06

24-04-2007 21:44:56

[quoted2e326b2af="gnznroses"][quoted2e326b2af="ilanbg"]I think of it mathematically.

If there is even a 4.1^-10^10 chance of life on any given planet, and there is a near-infinite amount of planets, mathematically there would be quite a few planets with life on earth.[/quoted2e326b2af]

google "drake equation".

i'm confident we'll find some sort of life within our own solar system. on mars or a moon of saturn.
i definitely think there's intelligent life out there, and i'd say i'm 60/40 on whether they've been here. i've seen ufo-ish things before, but you can't rule out that they're not govt craft. and eye-witness accounts and stories aren't all that reliable. afterall, religion is based on personal accounts and it's all bs...[/quoted2e326b2af]
ummmmm...no, not so much. Maybe mars can be made livable but the odds of there being any life on it or saturn are pretty bad buddy.
Scientists did find an earth like planet though some 20 light years away.
Link

JJPRO11

24-04-2007 21:44:59

[quotedf8d6aa529="Killer722"][quotedf8d6aa529="gnznroses"]afterall, religion is based on personal accounts and it's all bs...[/quotedf8d6aa529]
Get out of here with that.[/quotedf8d6aa529]

no shit.. lets not turn at least one thread into a holy war.

anyways, its hard to imagine there not being any kind of life out there. theres just been too many eyewitness accounts and alleged experiences for them all be made up or be military craft. forms of ufo sightings have been around since the days of the bible.

ilanbg

24-04-2007 21:58:49

Forms of UFO sightings have been around since the time of the Caveman. There are cave drawings of the stereotypical alien (bug-eyed, long, smooth head, etc).

akalic

24-04-2007 22:12:33

this is awesome.

J4320

24-04-2007 22:19:47

I swear, if I was a director, I would make the scariest alien movie ever. Why aren't there any scary alien movies? I don't get it... I want to write a horror story about aliens now. Just imagine a 12 foot tall gray crouching to get through your bathroom door staring at you... Or waking up at 3 AM with 6 of them surrounding your bed. That is probably my greatest fear. Anyway, when I was in 8th grade, I was doing a research paper and I rented this book from the library ---

Link[=http//www.amazon.com/gp/product/031218557X/ref=pd_cp_b_title/103-1011027-0147059?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_r=1FXJ2HKN18HWVHMT6EQP&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=252362401&pf_rd_i=0312967047]Link

This book scared me shitless. I'm serious. There's a section in the book where he just put in a bunch of stories that he had received from people (he's not saying they're all true or anything) and they gave me nightmares.

jy3

24-04-2007 22:41:52

i am an alien

gnznroses

24-04-2007 23:20:50

much better story on the new finding
http//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/ap_on_sc/habitable_planet

btw, i didn't say there could be life ON saturn ;) it's a gas planet so there's no way. but it's moons are prime candidates. titan, europa, some other one.

for mars, i think there could be miscroscopic or bacterial life there -- nothing more -- but there may have been more in it's past, when it was earth-like. that's anyones' guess tho...

mnx12

24-04-2007 23:41:54

It's amazing how little we know about the universe. I don't think there has ever been alien life on Earth, but I have no doubt in my mind that there are many many planets full of life. Then you start to think what different types of plants and animals we can't even imagine are on those planets, and it's intelligence.

Wolfeman

24-04-2007 23:52:52

I know I'm the only one...

Tholek

25-04-2007 00:06:10

[quoted5cffa402b="gnznroses"][quoted5cffa402b="ilanbg"]I think of it mathematically.

If there is even a 4.1^-10^10 chance of life on any given planet, and there is a near-infinite amount of planets, mathematically there would be quite a few planets with life on earth.[/quoted5cffa402b]

google "drake equation".[/quoted5cffa402b]

Actually, isn't that obsolete now?

I remember reading (and saw on TV) a report a couple years back stating that a new theory has gained ground that lowers the odds of earth-like terrestrial planets existing. Apparently, due to the increased radiation nearer the center of the galaxy, and the lack of something at the edge (I forget if was heat, or dark matter) that solar systems in those regions could not contain earth-like planets, although they may have terrestrial ones. There was a graphic used (Can't find it atm) that showed this "temperate" region as a donut ring withing the galaxy. I remember it depressing me a bit. It looked like a lot less area.

http//www.sherylfranklin.com/images/trek/women/classic/vina2.jpg[" alt=""/imgd5cffa402b]

Face it people, she's not out there. ;)

JennyWren

25-04-2007 00:45:56

The Drake equation is not at all scientific or mathematical, except in the sense that it indicates how poorly we can estimate our chances at communicating with other life forms.

The factors have huge margins of error (ie the fraction of planets where life evolves => could be really high (80%), could be really low (0.000000000001%)).

Try it out here to see what a huge range of results you can get http//www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html

It's a nice liideali but scientifically useless.

gnznroses

25-04-2007 11:09:03

yeah, nothing can obsolete the equation because it contains no actual data, just variables for you to fill in yourself.

JennyWren

25-04-2007 12:43:45

[quote415ebf8037="gnznroses"]yeah, nothing can [b415ebf8037]obsolete[/b415ebf8037] the equation because it contains no actual data, just variables for you to fill in yourself.[/quote415ebf8037]

?hunh?

[i415ebf8037]I do not think it means what you think it means[/i415ebf8037]

- Inigo Montoya

gnznroses

25-04-2007 14:01:22

ob·so·lete /ˌɒbsəˈlit, ˈɒbsəˌlit/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ob-suh-leet, ob-suh-leet] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation adjective, verb, -let·ed, -let·ing.
–adjective 1. no longer in general use; fallen into disuse an obsolete expression.
2. of a discarded or outmoded type; out of date an obsolete battleship.
3. (of a linguistic form) no longer in use, esp., out of use for at least the past century. Compare archaic.
4. effaced by wearing down or away.
5. Biology. imperfectly developed or rudimentary in comparison with the corresponding character in other individuals, as of the opposite sex or of a related species.
–verb (used with object) [be2e2f9ebca]6. to make obsolete by replacing with something newer or better; antiquate Automation has obsoleted many factory workers.[/be2e2f9ebca]



meaning no data can come along that would make the equation outdated or useless ;)

JennyWren

25-04-2007 14:29:47

OOh my bad. I've never heard it used as a verb before. Also, didn't really make sense (to me at least).

TFOAF

25-04-2007 15:00:58

Eventually we'll have technology to detect other living beings from other planets/worlds. It's only a matter of time.