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Aliens from Outer Space

Skwim

Veteran Member
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18889541.jpg


It's been estimated that there are about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that's 1 billion trillion) stars in the universe, and considering the likelihood that many of them have planets capable of harboring life, some even containing sentient life with an intelligence equal to or greater than our own (no need to bother with the Drake Equation) how likely do you think it is that they could and would visit little ol' Earth?


closeencounters-alien.jpg



What's your reasoning?



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Altfish

Veteran Member
I reckon (based on probability) that there are other life forms but the chance of them visiting here is much smaller.

That's my very unscientific analysis.
 

steveb1

Member
Per A.C. Clark, any sufficiently advanced technology would look like magic - and behave like magic. That said, of course space aliens could visit or invade or spy on our planet...but an even spookier possibility is that they could fool us with projections, holograms, etc. to misrepresent their real identity.

An even spookier consideration is that the UFO/alien contact-abduction scenario may not be extraterrestrial at all. It may be a local manifestation of interdimensional beings, or "ultraterrestrials" or paranormal, or paramental entities, or even the old Angels'n'Demons gambit.

Researchers like John Keel, Jacques Vallee and others suggest that these phenomena as a whole support an uncanny-weird theory rather than the E.T. theory.
 

David1967

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
I think that if they have the capability then yes, I think it would be probable. Possibly already has happened. Why would they? Curiosity perhaps. Need for resources maybe.
 

Estro Felino

Believer in free will
Premium Member
My reasoning? Carbon chemistry can produce life in other planets, of course, but with completely different modalities than Earthly life.
There is one insurpassable limit: speed of light. If extraterrestrial life can reach Earth, it must deal with a kind of matter that can travel beyond the speed of light. No carbon chemistry, then.
 

Ellen Brown

Well-Known Member
Aliens have been here checking up on us all along and we are just too dense to know it. It started happening a long time before Ahura Mazda. Humanity is similar to an Australian Cattle Breeding Station. There you go mate. That's fair dinkum init?
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
I think the chances of being visited by aliens are rather slim, even if we assume the probability of life evolving on other planets.

For one thing, space is just too big.

Also, I can't find the article I read on this (although I've heard the same idea expressed elsewhere) is that life may evolve to exist on its homeworld, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can survive on other planets - even if they appear able to support life. Our atmosphere could be poisonous to aliens - or possibly our food or water. The reverse could also be true.

But the main thing is, space is just...huge. I think sci-fi captures a lot of imaginations by showing starships traveling from system to system in just a few minutes, but even at high warp, it still takes a while. And we don't have any ships that go that fast. I don't know if FTL travel will ever be possible - by anyone in the universe.
 

Salvador

RF's Swedenborgian
I believe there's a good chance Earth has been surveyed by extraterrestrial probes, recording how life on Earth has evolved,; this has disappointed extraterrestrial intelligence; hence, aliens would not want to live on this god-forsaken planet.

 

Nimos

Well-Known Member
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how likely do you think it is that they could and would visit little ol' Earth?
What's your reasoning?
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If they knew that there was life here, I think it would be quite likely that they would visit to check it out. I also think that we would be aware of them, meaning I don't think they would have any issue whatsoever showing up Indepence day style. Being much more advanced than us, they would care little about us knowing they were there, also I think we could assume that we would not be the first life they had encountered.

Also I would think that they would be friendly and more interested in science and examining (Don't mean anal probing :)) the different life forms than killing us as they as us have most likely learned the hard way, what colonization can do if not done careful. And therefore they would approach us with care. I don't think they would come here for resources, which seems to be the most likely excuse of why aliens would be hostile. If an alien race is at a point of technology, where they can travel around the Universe, they most likely have access to all the resources they need and Earth would be of little interest. I would assume that, if they should end up killing us, it would be if they needed fuel or something and maybe drained the sun or something, not really caring that it would kill us :D

I might however be wrong!! So I would advice everyone to be prepared and follow the directions below (Better save than sorry right? :)):

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Subduction Zone

Veteran Member
There are several factors to consider. First how likely is life itself? I would say that life elsewhere is very likely. With many systems having appropriate planted in the Goldilocks zone and apparently multiple possible pathways to life planets with life should be a dime a dozen. But that is only the first hurdle. The next one is complex life. It took our planet roughly two billion years to develop multicellular organisms. That is going to cut down the candidates massively. The next hurdle is huge. That of intelligence. That took our planet another billion years, and we have no clue if it is a trait for long term survival. For a rather small fraction of a percent of our planet's history there has been intelligent life. The numbers are getting rather small.

Next an alien species has to develop the drive and technology to get into space. And then we hit what might be the ultimate miss of death. Is interstellar travel even feasible for life anyway? Physics may be the ultimate death to ET.

And then last!y how would aliens find us? Unless there is some easy cheap workaround for relativity I don't see it happening.
 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
.

18889541.jpg


It's been estimated that there are about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that's 1 billion trillion) stars in the universe, and considering the likelihood that many of them have planets capable of harboring life, some even containing sentient life with an intelligence equal to or greater than our own (no need to bother with the Drake Equation) how likely do you think it is that they could and would visit little ol' Earth?

closeencounters-alien.jpg



What's your reasoning?



.
Not likely I'm afraid. I think they might be able to detect us if they're out there 'close' enough.

I don't think a fair number of people realize just how unfathomably long the distances to nearest solar systems and stars are where even light moves like a crippled tortoise.

I also suspect where we are is what could be called a rural area of the Galaxy.

Weeze out in the sticks.
 

Polymath257

Think & Care
Staff member
Premium Member
There are several factors to consider. First how likely is life itself? I would say that life elsewhere is very likely. With many systems having appropriate planted in the Goldilocks zone and apparently multiple possible pathways to life planets with life should be a dime a dozen. But that is only the first hurdle. The next one is complex life. It took our planet roughly two billion years to develop multicellular organisms. That is going to cut down the candidates massively. The next hurdle is huge. That of intelligence. That took our planet another billion years, and we have no clue if it is a trait for long term survival. For a rather small fraction of a percent of our planet's history there has been intelligent life. The numbers are getting rather small.

And if an intelligent species 'only' lasts 50,000 years, then the likelihood of *overlap in time* between species gets even lower. Life, even technological life, might be common in some senses without it being common enough for more than one species to exist in the galaxy at any given time.

Next an alien species has to develop the drive and technology to get into space. And then we hit what might be the ultimate miss of death. Is interstellar travel even feasible for life anyway? Physics may be the ultimate death to ET.

And then last!y how would aliens find us? Unless there is some easy cheap workaround for relativity I don't see it happening.

And if some species manages to get out into space, how much competition is there between different space-faring races? Perhaps the solution to the Fermi paradox (if life is common, why haven't we seen it?) is that everyone tries to stay quiet so they aren't killed off by the more advanced races.

Thanks to the book 'The Three Body Problem' by Cixin Liu.
 

David1967

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Not likely I'm afraid. I think they might be able to detect us if they're out there 'close' enough.

I don't think a fair number of people realize just how unfathomably long the distances to nearest solar systems and stars are where even light moves like a crippled tortoise.

I also suspect where we are is what could be called a rural area of the Galaxy.

Weeze out in the sticks.

So what you're saying is that we may well be the undesirable hillbillies of the Galaxy..
 

FooYang

Active Member
.

18889541.jpg


It's been estimated that there are about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that's 1 billion trillion) stars in the universe, and considering the likelihood that many of them have planets capable of harboring life, some even containing sentient life with an intelligence equal to or greater than our own (no need to bother with the Drake Equation) how likely do you think it is that they could and would visit little ol' Earth?

closeencounters-alien.jpg



What's your reasoning?



.

Very little, if taken as corporeal beings like ourselves.

Very likely though, if taken as "paranormal" (as if the word "normal" means anything to begin with) entities or spirits etc.


I don't really have an opinion about ufos/aliens though.
 

Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
Staff member
Premium Member
.

18889541.jpg


It's been estimated that there are about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (that's 1 billion trillion) stars in the universe, and considering the likelihood that many of them have planets capable of harboring life, some even containing sentient life with an intelligence equal to or greater than our own (no need to bother with the Drake Equation) how likely do you think it is that they could and would visit little ol' Earth?

closeencounters-alien.jpg



What's your reasoning?



.
Depending on travel time and so much to see, I doubt that we really rank that high as a must see destination.
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
And if an intelligent species 'only' lasts 50,000 years, then the likelihood of *overlap in time* between species gets even lower. Life, even technological life, might be common in some senses without it being common enough for more than one species to exist in the galaxy at any given time.



And if some species manages to get out into space, how much competition is there between different space-faring races? Perhaps the solution to the Fermi paradox (if life is common, why haven't we seen it?) is that everyone tries to stay quiet so they aren't killed off by the more advanced races.

Thanks to the book 'The Three Body Problem' by Cixin Liu.

I was reading a thread on a discussion board for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and someone mentioned one possibility of sending a ship full of frozen human embryos, along with a supercomputer which could act as the ship's pilot and caretaker for the embryos until they reach a planet suitable for human life - which could take hundreds of years (or longer).

The AI "caretaker" would then act as surrogate parent and teacher for the youngsters as they slowly acclimate themselves to their new home. All Earth cultures and history would be stored in the computer's database so that these humans would know their origins and where they came from.

I thought it was an interesting idea, although it seems it would have very little hope of success. But that may be the only possible way of humans colonizing other planets.
 

Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
Staff member
Premium Member
I was reading a thread on a discussion board for 2001: A Space Odyssey, and someone mentioned one possibility of sending a ship full of frozen human embryos, along with a supercomputer which could act as the ship's pilot and caretaker for the embryos until they reach a planet suitable for human life - which could take hundreds of years (or longer).

The AI "caretaker" would then act as surrogate parent and teacher for the youngsters as they slowly acclimate themselves to their new home. All Earth cultures and history would be stored in the computer's database so that these humans would know their origins and where they came from.

I thought it was an interesting idea, although it seems it would have very little hope of success. But that may be the only possible way of humans colonizing other planets.
Simple robotic probes could be built and sent out to look and see then return.
 

Dan From Smithville

What's up Doc?
Staff member
Premium Member
And if an intelligent species 'only' lasts 50,000 years, then the likelihood of *overlap in time* between species gets even lower. Life, even technological life, might be common in some senses without it being common enough for more than one species to exist in the galaxy at any given time.



And if some species manages to get out into space, how much competition is there between different space-faring races? Perhaps the solution to the Fermi paradox (if life is common, why haven't we seen it?) is that everyone tries to stay quiet so they aren't killed off by the more advanced races.

Thanks to the book 'The Three Body Problem' by Cixin Liu.
Despite the age of the universe we could still be among the first sentient life and so we have not heard from anyone, since there are few or none to hear from. Or we could be among the most recent in a long line of cosmic intelligence that are keeping quiet to avoid trouble.
 
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