Poll & discussion: UFOs / UAPs / Other Intelligent Life in Universe

[Chester]

The problem I see is the tyranny of distance. Nearest star to us is about 4 light years away. Unless there is some really high, near luminal speed technology developed by other beings elsewhere (or us chickens, bedawk!), I don't see us being visited any time soon. With our current rocket technology, it would take us 70,000 years to cover 4 light years' distance. I can't hold it that long!

I think if they did happen to have something like a thousand years on us, then nothing’s off the table in my view.

 

[Wes]

Why would they bother to visit Earth?

Didn't infamous politician say that Earth is one of the sh**thole planets?

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

I think if they did happen to have something like a thousand years on us, then nothing’s off the table in my view.

...

Why would they bother to visit Earth?

Didn't infamous politician say that Earth is one of the sh**thole planets?

...on their way to Uranus?

 

[Chester]

Why would they bother to visit Earth?

Didn't infamous politician say that Earth is one of the sh**thole planets?

It all depends how common intelligent life is…..if it isn’t that common, we might be quite interesting to them. If it’s ten a penny out in the wider universe, maybe not worth the effort.

Or it may be so competitive out there in deep space, a nice resource laden planet like ours, with a healthy star, could be very appealing.

Basically we have no idea, but it’s fun to hypothesise.

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

'Basically we have no idea'
That's about the size of it

 

[MRC01]

I searched this thread and was surprised nobody's mentioned the Drake Equation. The universe is so big, and so old, it's virtually certain that there are other forms of sentient life. But time is so vast, and the speed of light so slow, that it's almost equally certain that we'll never meet any of them.

 

[StevenEleven]

I searched this thread and was surprised nobody's mentioned the Drake Equation. The universe is so big, and so old, it's virtually certain that there are other forms of sentient life. But time is so vast, and the speed of light so slow, that it's almost equally certain that we'll never meet any of them.

The Drake equation is good to know about, really an essential and constructive part of the discussion, I agree, but I am doubtful as to its value as a modern analytical too. I read up on the Drake equation some time ago. It’s kind of old school (1961), with certain very limiting assumptions about how intelligent life might arise—assuming it must be quite similar to what happened on earth. Kind of a stretch of an assumption when we have a sample n=1, IMHO. Also, IIRC, the variables in the Drake equation were so uncertain that even under its very limiting assumptions it facilitated a huge range of plausible outcomes. I also think I remember that it was intended as a ballpark estimator to make a broad point, and not as a serious predictive tool. YMMV, etc.

Still, the general point, that there may well be, or perhaps there is even a strong probability of, intelligent life elsewhere, but we may never cross paths because of the vastness of the Universe, I think that’s still a strong possibility to think about seriously.

But you know, the chance that lightning is going to hit you seems pretty low, until, well, it hits you, and then how did that math work out.

 

[Mart68]

I think if they did happen to have something like a thousand years on us, then nothing’s off the table in my view.

What if they have a million years on us? Or ten million years on us? Just as plausible. They've worked out how to manipulate space-time and can go anywhere they want instantaneously using some version of the Einstein-Rosen bridge,

Or they could be from another dimension. None of these things can be ruled out as they are all theoretically possible, and there is a phenomena that requires some explanation.

 

[mansr]

I searched this thread and was surprised nobody's mentioned the Drake Equation. The universe is so big, and so old, it's virtually certain that there are other forms of sentient life. But time is so vast, and the speed of light so slow, that it's almost equally certain that we'll never meet any of them.

The Drake equation is useless. Half the factors are not only unknown but unknowable, and each of them might be anywhere within several orders of magnitude. You'll do just as well by simply picking a number at random.

 

[MediumRare]

What if they have a million years on us? Or ten million years on us? Just as plausible. They've worked out how to manipulate space-time and can go anywhere they want instantaneously using some version of the Einstein-Rosen bridge,

Or they could be from another dimension. None of these things can be ruled out as they are all theoretically possible, and there is a phenomena that requires some explanation.

I think you meant an Ellis Traversable Wormhole. Easy peasy! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellis_wormhole

 

[Wes]

What if they have a million years on us? Or ten million years on us? Just as plausible. They've worked out how to manipulate space-time and can go anywhere they want instantaneously using some version of the Einstein-Rosen bridge,

Or they could be from another dimension. None of these things can be ruled out as they are all theoretically possible, and there is a phenomena that requires some explanation.

canna' change the laws of physics captain

 

[Chester]

canna' change the laws of physics captain

You have to be sure you know them all before claiming that

 

[Wes]

incoherent speculation is no substitute

 

[Chester]

incoherent speculation is no substitute

We can do nothing but speculate at this point, given the absence of data on the topic.

If we only discussed the things we knew about the subject in question, we would have exhausted the matter by the 4th post

 

[Berwhale]

The Drake equation is useless. Half the factors are not only unknown but unknowable, and each of them might be anywhere within several orders of magnitude. You'll do just as well by simply picking a number at random.

I wouldn't say it was useless. The Drake equation is at least a scientific attempt to qualtify the likehood that we are not alone. It does help to separate factors which we understand, from those which we have some knowledge and those which we have no understanding of or ability to measure. I agree that whilst the equation includes some factors of which we don't have a clue, then it's output has no practical use. But I don't think that was the original point of the equation.

 

[MediumRare]

canna' change the laws of physics captain

Afterall, the science of gravimetric field displacement manifolds using deuterium and antideuterium regulated by dilithium crystals is well known.

 

[Wes]

absence of data on the topic.

huh - when I was a physics major they did NOT tell me there was an absence of data on the laws of physics

 

[Chester]

huh - when I was a physics major they did NOT tell me there was an absence of data on the laws of physics

Choosing the right school is tough……don’t worry too much about it

 

[raistlin65]

Afterall, the science of gravimetric field displacement manifolds using deuterium and antideuterium regulated by dilithium crystals is well known.

And barring that, we could start a major initiative to dig up the Middle East or Antarctica for a Stargate.

 

[Wes]

Choosing the right school is tough……don’t worry too much about it

It was one of the xIT's.

I know you are trying to use grade school humor to cover up ignorance, but it is not working.