Alone?

[Khandro]

Does Ming the Merciless really live on the planet Mongo, or do you think we all alone in the universe?

[tonyav]

Yes he lives there, I know this because Flash Gordon told me so.

[Baldric]

Only for the summer season!

[naomi24]

I'm not sure his name is Ming, or that his planet is Mongo, but I think there are many more than one of him out there somewhere.

[Wharton]

I don't know where Ming lives but his sister is watching me as I type this.

[douglas9401]

He's around somewhere Khandro, I saw him on Question Time a few days ago.

[bookbinder]

We might as well be all alone. Where's Ming when you need a hand?

[Khandro]

Re. //I think there are many more than one of him out there somewhere.//
According to Martin Rees - The Astronomer Royal, he, (Ming) could be right here ! He states there might be a three-dimensional universe just a millimetre away from us, and if that millimetre was measured in a fourth spatial dimension we would be completely unaware of it. He goes on to say "That reality may include aliens existing right in front of us, but if they don't have humanoid features we might never recognise them." Any takers for this?

[Hopkirk]

If there are intelligent creatures on far away planets watching us, then all they can see is dinosaurs.

[jomifl]

I think that 4th spatial dimension 'a millimetre away' would really be another universe, (depending on definitions) in whch case it might just as well be a billion light years away.

[starone]

Given the millions of stars and planets out there it stands to reason that we are not alone but if the others have the same problems as we have with space travel I doubt if we shall ever meet any of them. So don't worry, khandro, short of some kind of miracle you are perfectly safe from Ming the Merciless and the (shudder) Clay Men.

[NOX]

I think it would be terribly arrogant of us to assume that we are 'it'.

[jno]

I think that's Rees's argument, that there are many possible universes. But I don't buy the idea of merciless plankton.

[d9f1c7]

we are definately not alone, we will also never meet or communicate in any way with aliens.

[Khandro]

//we will also never meet or communicate in any way with aliens.//
What, - even if they are only one millimetre away?

[d9f1c7]

I have no idea what planet you are on mate!

[murraymints]

are you really david ike !..I am a lizard !!honest I am !

[LazyGun]

Its a slightly anthropocentric question isnt it Khandro? Are we, as a planet full of a myriad of different species of organic, thriving life, alone in the universe? It would seem extremely unlikely, given the sheer vastness of numbers of galaxies and stars and planets within the universe.

Are we, humans, as a conscious, intelligent species, alone in the universe? Slightly different question. Does intelligent life exist elsewhere in the universe? Probably. Just playing the numbers game should guarantee that. But at a stage in their civilisation where they can focus on such things as spaceflight and interaction with other races? Assuming, of course, that their drives and motivations are broadly similar to our own.Given the vastness of the universe, and the limits that form the basis of our current understanding of interstellar travel, that would seem extremely unlikely.Are we ever likely to meet and have meaningful, useful interactions with such a species? Much, much more difficult to say.. Should such an interaction occur, it seems far more likely that it would be at the instigation of an advanced alien species.....

As to the multiverse thing - its a theorectical construct, but regardless of the "thinness" of the "walls" that separate the various multiverses, communication or travel across such a boundary would be even more hypothetical, even less likely that developing FTL travel............

[heathfield]

Maybe we should drop this discussion...

Ming: "Every thousand years, I test each life system in the Universe. I visit it with mysteries, earthquakes, unpredicted eclipses, strange craters in the wilderness... If these are taken as natural, I judge that system ignorant and harmless - I spare it. But if the Hand of Ming is recognized in these events, I judge that system dangerous to us. I call upon the great god Dyzan, and for his greater glory, and for our mutual pleasure, I destroy it utterly."
[From the movie 'Flash Gordon', 1980]

[LazyGun]

So thats what the mayans were predicting!!! The return of Ming the Merciless! We are all doomed.... doomed, I tell ya! )

[boxtops]

I still believe in the Soupdragon.