We are pumping out MTV into space, they don't need to get that close to know its best to stay away.
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Do you believe in Aliens or some other form of living life other than ours?
- Thread starter WhiteIphone5
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We are pumping out MTV into space, they don't need to get that close to know its best to stay away.
The key to traveling across the universe is a mechanism conveniently referred to in science fiction and the ability to access and transit it- worm holes or some kind of hyper space which still has limits, but would put other possible civilization locations within reach. If those don't exist, then I suspect the distances are too vast to establish meaningful contact.
I wonder if some of the closer locations we could establish contact allowing for transmission distance with a message every couple or hundreds of years?
That would be the key; shortcuts in space, i.e. the wormhole theory and/or FTL (faster than light) speeds.
Unless either of these things come to fruition and proven, conventional transportation (rocket technology) and even light speed will be the barriers preventing us from detecting and interacting with other life forms that possibly exist.
Unless, if the 'aliens' are a more advanced, intelligent civilization than we, and found a way to achieve wormhole transportation and/or FTL and they find us. Then we may have something.
Even Voyager 1, which is speeding into space at approximately 38,000 mph, would take 75,000 years to reach the nearest solar system to ours.
Even Voyager 1, which is speeding into space at approximately 38,000 mph, would take 75,000 years to reach the nearest solar system to ours.
Our perception of space travel vs. reality has largely been shaped by years of science fiction movies/tv/books. The harsh reality is that we're unable to safely send people to Mars which is only 225 million kilometers away, never mind looking to send them to another solar system.
This is a cool site that visually communicates the distance to mars
http://www.distancetomars.com/
Given the numbers, to assume that we are the only life in the universe seems to me to be the height of hubris.
As far as alien life forms visiting our planet...not so much!
As far as alien life forms visiting our planet...not so much!
That's a pretty cool site, I like it thanks!
I think it's pretty obvious with all the stars and galaxies out there that we are not alone in the universe. When we evolve to communicate, explore, and respect other beings individualities instead of fighting and invading each other then perhaps we will be able to handle other species. The way we have set up our civilization today, we would visit another planet and try to invade them - not cool.
It's inevitable. Some of the newest studies and theories indicate that our entire universe is just one of billions. MASSIVE black holes suck up tons and tons of matter, and when they reach their breaking point, they explode. It's the big bang theory, but on a much larger scale.
We have yet to detect any life in our Milky Way galaxy. That's the only chance we would have of any communication from another world. Why?
The next closest galaxy is Andromeda, approximately 2.5 million light years away. We started broadcasting radio signals into deep space like 50 years ago when the space race really started. So, even if there was life on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy that could respond to us using a method we could detect, it will be approximately 2,499,950 years until they even receive the signals we started sending. Then it would be another 2.5 million years before we received their reply. So essentially, it's going to be a minimum of 4,999,950 years before we would be able to get any type of signal from any other world if they were replying to ours.
We have yet to detect any life in our Milky Way galaxy. That's the only chance we would have of any communication from another world. Why?
The next closest galaxy is Andromeda, approximately 2.5 million light years away. We started broadcasting radio signals into deep space like 50 years ago when the space race really started. So, even if there was life on a planet in the Andromeda galaxy that could respond to us using a method we could detect, it will be approximately 2,499,950 years until they even receive the signals we started sending. Then it would be another 2.5 million years before we received their reply. So essentially, it's going to be a minimum of 4,999,950 years before we would be able to get any type of signal from any other world if they were replying to ours.
Even Voyager 1, which is speeding into space at approximately 38,000 mph, would take 75,000 years to reach the nearest solar system to ours.
To top that, the fastest man-made space object was the Helios space probe which, with the help of the Sun's gravity, helped it reach 150,000 mph. At that speed, it still would take a long, long time to get anywhere.
That is a pretty neat site.
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The multi-verse. That's a theory that I can subscribe to since, from the documentaries I've seen, it makes plausible sense.
Sounds like someone subscribes the infinite monkey theorem. In a nutshell, infinite number of monkeys, in infinite time, hitting typewriter keys at random will write the complete works of Shakespeare. Well, it ain't zero, but it ain't a sure thing either.
Zero evidence of something's existence; but the merest possibility it might exist is enough to have one say with conviction that it does. No different than all those who believe in a God. After writing this, it makes me feel like an idiot for believing in God. Well, it ain't zero possibility.
So somewhere out there, there are billions of copies of me who aren't married. Now I feel like a douche for not inviting any of them to my wedding.
I feel equally bad for not attending the funerals of those other me who have died.
Here's my $.02.
I have no idea. I understand statistically there has to be life given the size and complexity of the universe. Taking my spiritual beliefs into account, I don't think the Bible really states one way or another.
To put it this way, God could have created life on another planet, or he could have chosen not too. My opinion on whether life exists somewhere else has no bearing on reality.
This pretty much sums up my view as well.
Yup. History channel had a great one this summer.
The craziest thing about all of it is that we've really only started to study this type of stuff in the last 25 years or so. Everything we know about black holes, gamma ray bursts, quasars, supermassive black holes at the centers of every galaxy, etc we've learned in just that short period of time. With the rate that technology is advancing, it will be interesting to see how much more we can learn in the next 25 years.
In the video below, Carl Sagan uses the Drake Equation to estimate the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.
Yep, if technology keeps getting better, we should learn more and learn it quicker all the time.
That was a pretty interesting video.
Even Voyager 1, which is speeding into space at approximately 38,000 mph, would take 75,000 years to reach the nearest solar system to ours.
But how long would it take to send an electronic message? I assume for the nearest solar system it would be doable, but admit I don't have a clear idea of the transmission time to get a message from one location to another. Where is that solar system btw? My impression is that it takes a very long time to receive something from the other side of our own galaxy.
Edit: If my impression is that electronic signals transmit through space at the same speed as light, a quick calculation is that if a planet is 2,850,000,000 miles away (75000x38000- based on your figures), and the speed of light is 186000 mps, then it would take a electronic message a little over 4 hours to get there. From a communicating and exchanging info standpoint, if my calculations are correct, this would be very doable.
Agreed, our species has a LONG way to go in this department.
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It's 75,000 years, not hours.
The nearest solar system is the Alpha Centauri system, which is 4.37 light years from the Sun. If you're correct about electronic signals travelling at the speed of light, the message will take 4.37 years to get there.
It's 75,000 years, not hours.
The nearest solar system is the Alpha Centauri system, which is 4.37 light years from the Sun. If you're correct about electronic signals travelling at the speed of light, the message will take 4.37 years to get there.
You're correct. All types of electromagnetic radiation travels at the speed of light. That includes visible light, radio waves, microwaves, infrared, ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma rays.
It's 75,000 years, not hours.
The nearest solar system is the Alpha Centauri system, which is 4.37 light years from the Sun. If you're correct about electronic signals travelling at the speed of light, the message will take 4.37 years to get there.
Oh snap... Ok so instead of 4 hrs that would be 4 years to send a message. Still doable if the goal is exchanging info, just not convenient.
Might be life out there? But why are they the aliens if they exist, and not us the aliens? Would we not all be aliens?
Not sure where you've read that, can you point me in the right direction? As far as I know, black holes have no 'breaking point' and they're not predicted to explode. I personally don't buy in the multi-verse idea, at least not the one talked about in quantum mechanics whereby the universe splits every time a wavefunction collapses. I'll believe it when they can demonstrate it
I'd love to agree, but I just can't. Sure, 10,000 or 100,000 years would provide HUGE leaps of technology. But the distances between stars is so vast I doubt they would even spot us to say hello. Unless you're saying *we* would see evidence of *them* across our galaxy? In which case I'd argue the same point; distances are so huge the chances of us stumbling across them in our telescopes is pretty slim.
On the idea of other life though, I absolutely believe there is life in the Universe. 100's of billions of stars in 100's of billions of galaxies makes pretty good odds. Sentient life will be more rare, and intelligent life rarer still. I wonder where we would be if the dinosaurs hadn't been around, and *we* had had those 300 million years on earth to advance our technology, instead of the mere 200,000 years we've had so far?
Alex
I didn't read anything in this thread; I'm just wondering how this isn't in PRSI already based upon the title.