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Fascinating Talk Connecting Cosmology To Life

BR52

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Anthropic principle - if it never happened, we wouldn't be here talking about it. All we can say for sure is that of millions of species on earth, only one has gone technological.

However, there are enough stars in the universe that even if it's effectively impossible for a technological species to arise, it's not actually impossible.

It's said there are 10^25 planets in the universe.

Even if the odds are 1-in-a-million against technological life arising in an entire galaxy, there are still 2 trillion galaxies and therefore 2 million technological species out there. That doesn't do much for our odds of meeting one, but it does put in perspective how rare something has to be to LITERALLY NEVER happen.

Hard to say. We have a ton of UFO sightings, which are almost definitely bogus or manmade, but if a galactic civilization had sent out a fleet of observation probes... what if?
2 milion technological species, at the same time ? We should not forget we are looking always in the past.
 

kemmler3D

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2 milion technological species, at the same time ? We should not forget we are looking always in the past.
Maybe, although on cosmological scales "at the same time" is not very meaningful, as you note.
 

Randy Bessinger

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I have a question for anyone who may know. One of the obsevations that leads to a possible conclusion that we are “alone in the universe” is that we have been sending out radio waves for many years but have not heard same from our listening (SETI). My question is if other worlds in a different galaxy developed radio and television would those waves get to earth over time. In other words, do the waves travel outward forever or over time and distance are they reduced to basically nothing that our technology could detect. It sure is a big universe.
 

BR52

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I have a question for anyone who may know. One of the obsevations that leads to a possible conclusion that we are “alone in the universe” is that we have been sending out radio waves for many years but have not heard same from our listening (SETI). My question is if other worlds in a different galaxy developed radio and television would those waves get to earth over time. In other words, do the waves travel outward forever or over time and distance are they reduced to basically nothing that our technology could detect. It sure is a big universe.
Many years: max 150 years if we count the time of unwanted and wanted RF emissions together means the max area ball with 150 light years around in cosmical scale is quite nothing.
To your question: there is the problem of signal-to-noise ratio because the signal intensity will surly degrade with the 3 potency. And to filter it out of the cosmic noise is only a limited option.
Some of the technical things in audio here are easily transferable, It's all physics.:)
 

kemmler3D

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My question is if other worlds in a different galaxy developed radio and television would those waves get to earth over time.
Technically yes, but as a practical matter we can't really detect them with known technology, the signal would get too faint. Also, keep in mind that the next nearest galaxy to earth is 2.5 million light years away, meaning we would be viewing alien TV at least 2.5 million years after it airs.

Most galaxies are billions of years away, meaning that aliens could invent TV, broadcast for a million years, die out, their star explodes, and THEN we see their TV show another 500 million years later.

If we want to know whether there are presently any aliens in our own galaxy, let alone other galaxies, we will probably need to invent FTL travel, and I mean way FTL.

However, once we start traveling faster than light, the memory usage in the simulation is going to spike and they'll probably shut it down.
 

BR52

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Maybe, although on cosmological scales "at the same time" is not very meaningful, as you note.
If we expect, it takes a not too short time for civilizations to develop and stars coming and going and civilizations as well the "at the same time" makes sense.
 

BR52

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Technically yes, but as a practical matter we can't really detect them with known technology, the signal would get too faint. Also, keep in mind that the next nearest galaxy to earth is 2.5 million light years away, meaning we would be viewing alien TV at least 2.5 million years after it airs.

Most galaxies are billions of years away, meaning that aliens could invent TV, broadcast for a million years, die out, their star explodes, and THEN we see their TV show another 500 million years later.

If we want to know whether there are presently any aliens in our own galaxy, let alone other galaxies, we will probably need to invent FTL travel, and I mean way FTL.

However, once we start traveling faster than light, the memory usage in the simulation is going to spike and they'll probably shut it down.
As long as we can only below light speed we have to take care of mother earth;)
 

JayGilb

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We are but one species on a planet. We are self aware and may be the only one who is.
Our singular purpose is to propagate our genetic material and replicate, nothing more. Anything else is just a side effect of our presence.

I'm just a tiny spec of carbon who tries to understand the beauty and mystery of our universe for the short span in time allowed by our life cycle.
 

BR52

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We are but one species on a planet. We are self aware and may be the only one who is.
Our singular purpose is to propagate our genetic material and replicate, nothing more. Anything else is just a side effect of our presence.

I'm just a tiny spec of carbon who tries to understand the beauty and mystery of our universe for the short span in time allowed by our life cycle.
you are also part of one ore more super novas.
 
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