If Aliens Ever Discover Us........

[Zacs-Master]

Thought provoking:
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/cgi-bin/version_printable.pl?story_id=TheyMade.shtml

[Togo]

I remember reading the Dune Trilogy in the 70s I think, all the space pilots were on 'spice'. So take me to your dealer.

[Retrochic]

tora wrote" this is the closest planet that could in theory support life.

correction -'life as we know it to be possible'

[ToraToraTora]

The age of the universe means that there is certainly intelligent life out there, very probably more advanced than ourselves but they would have the same issues as us. Physically visiting I believe will never be achieved, any hope of contact will come from communication but even if we achieve speeds of many multiples of C it is still impractical. Even if we could achieve 10000c and aim a radio beam at the closest star system, the power needed to focus and prevent dissipation would exceed what we could generate and that is to the back door, at 10000c. even if we could talk to someone on a planet in the Centuari system it would take 7 hours to exchange "hello" at 10000c, still not practical and that is the closest star. I'm afraid Sci Fi has given false impressions. So to answer your question yes I believe we will never have any form of contact with aliens.

[ToraToraTora]

jim/zacs anyone by all means, I'd love to know how they could visit us, this is a subject I have pondered for many years and I cannot see how it could ever happen. Perhaps I have no imagination.

[Retrochic]

The problem is we can only search for and detect life within the parameters of what we know. Even on earth we are still discovering life forms in certain parts of the Earth where scientists previously thought no life could exist. The chances of Humans finding Alien life forms that we cannot even begin to imagine are very slim.

[Zacs-Master]

How about if I (I can't speak for Jim) said 'we don't know'. To try and imagine the future is impossible. Imagine telling your great grandparents that you could hold a device in your hand and see & hear pictures from the other side of the world or that man had been to the moon, or that you could travel,from London to NY in a little over two hours. Have a Google at NASAs EmDrive resonance chamber.

[jim360]

You're lecturing the wrong person about the vastness of the Universe. I totally get that. But a definitive answer is not possible, for two reasons. In the first place, it's entirely possible for an alien culture to have discovered us, in the sense of determining the existence of life on Earth, but never being able to travel here. There are already principles for being able to do that.

And secondly, of course, never is such a long time that you can't rule it out definitively anyway. So far as I can see the chances of an alien culture visiting earth are incredibly slim, for the reasons you've mentioned and more -- but it's still not impossible.

[Zacs-Master]

Retro, we're talking about them finding us.

[jim360]

Or, rather, it's impossible to say that it's impossible with absolute certainty.

[Retrochic]

Well if they are of a life form we are not aware of and cannot detect, then how do we know they aren't already trying to contact us, or are in fact among us?

[Zacs-Master]

Retro Google 'Fermi paradox'.

[Togo]

I hope that you are all aware that Men In Black Is a documentary.

[ToraToraTora]

yes zacs those things would seem miraculous but they are as nothing as to what would be needed for an alien race to contact us. Jim yes never is a long time but when i say never I mean in the life time of the earth not in universe spanned time. This is a young universe so assuming the big crunch is off the table, several hundred stellar cycles down the line societies in this and other galaxies may well discover new principles that enable communication and travel I don't think it will happen in the next 4.5 Billion years though. Jim care to speculate on how your statement above: "In the first place, it's entirely possible for an alien culture to have discovered us" - may have happened?

[jim360]

Men in Black? Never heard of it *strangely glazed-over expression*

[Retrochic]

"Carl Sagan speculated that an alien species might have a thought process orders of magnitude slower (or faster) than humans. Such a species could conceivably speak so slowly that it requires years to say even a simple phrase like "Hello".A message broadcast by that species might well seem like random background noise to humans, and therefore go undetected.

Another thought is that technological civilizations invariably experience a technological singularity and attain a post-biological character. Hypothetical civilizations of this sort may have advanced drastically enough to render communication impossible."

[Togo]

// *strangely glazed-over expression* //
The eyes on which head jim?

[Togo]

//"Carl Sagan speculated that an alien species might have a thought process orders of magnitude slower (or faster) than humans. Such a species could conceivably speak so slowly that it requires years to say even a simple phrase like "Hello//
Ents.

[Retrochic]

Ents?

[Zacs-Master]

Some interesting theories as to why they haven't contacted us here:

http://uk.businessinsider.com/why-aliens-have-not-contacted-humans-2015-9

[Zacs-Master]

Lord,of the rings Retro. Talking trees.