New study: there could be around 36 alien civilizations in our galaxy
- Thread starter Romulan_spy
- Start date
I like this answer but where's the optimism? ET must exist somewhere.
It likely does, I think it does, but I can’t prove it as zero tangible evidence exists.
For all we know we are aliens on our own planet given the age of Earth.
Unless we're the first planet to have a species get this far, technologically. All those sci fi stories with a progenitor race going around seeding the galaxy because they were lonely: what if that's us?
There might be a cure for cancer out there—but it is more likely we will be a cosmic Johnny Appleseed.
You need a violent planet to evolve life.
Something that was “perfect” all along is likely sterile.
It would be nice to see what water bears turn into with enough time
You need a violent planet to evolve life.
Something that was “perfect” all along is likely sterile.
It would be nice to see what water bears turn into with enough time
That's a good thought I like that. Also what if we're not the first species to have lived on our planet? Wouldn't that make us aliens, assuming we'd find evidence ever of the previous inhabitants, not that that is ever likely or possible but it's a nice thought.
They become Ripper and we get a spore drive.
That's staggeringly unlikely:
https://www.space.com/32793-intelligent-alien-life-probability-high.html
(Ignore the unfortunate illustration on the article.)
The fact is, we've barely begun looking for alien life, and have only sampled a tiny bit of the galaxy. It's absurdly hasty to jump to the conclusion that there's nothing there to find just because we didn't find anything in the first handful of places we looked out of billions. There are many reasons why we might not have detected anything yet in the tiny, tiny amount of time we've been looking:
https://www.businessinsider.com/alien-civilizations-may-have-already-colonized-galaxy-study-2019-8
I said nothing about life, not even intelligent life, i mean life with a technical capability for spaceflight.
My suspicion is life is actually quite common in the universe. Multi-cellular life probably not so common. Of multi-cellular life, intelligence might not be all that rare. Discussing animal intelligence is problematic, because we're basing it in some sort of comparison against our own. But if we employ an "I know it when I see it" mentality to deciding up on some smart animals, we know some of the apes exhibit intelligence, of a sort, as do some cetaceans. Parrots aren't going to write an Italian sonnet any time soon but can communicate well enough for their needs. So can bees and prairie dogs, once its understood what they are trying to say. Wild african hunting dogs exhibit complicated social behavior and group based multi step problem solving. Mantis shrimp are just plain fascinating. And of course there are the other extinct members of our own genus, long gone.
None of them built Apollo or developed the infinitely interesting digital watch.
And let's say there is a planet half a galaxy away, a billion years ago, where a civilization of beings gets its act together, solves the scientific hurdles and knows all the newtonian, maxwellian and einsteinian things to get out and about in the universe: just one problem: they live in a world with 5x earth gravity. So long suckas, you're never getting off that well.
Or a similar group. They inhabit an extra-galactic star flung out early in the formation process as galaxies passed one another and tore star systems off into the vast nothingness. The beings there look up every night to a view much darker and different to ours. They never developed astrology or an interest in the stars. By the time they've expended their fossil fuels and build technology as well as they can, when they consider outer space, they come to the sad truth: apart from their nearest planetary neighbors, they're never getting out there, they'll never know anyone else. They are and will always be completely and utterly alone. So why bother.
Earlier in our own galaxies history was probably marked by more supernovas and early star formations, along with quite possibly a lot more ejecta material bombarding planets. If the galaxy was more violent, it might not have been enough time for technical civilizations to develop before cataclysms wiped out said life. If, for instance, some variant of dinosaur had even reached a Greco Roman level of technology, it is unlikely we'd ever find a sign of it. Knock wood, if someone finds a marble Venus of Velociraptor one day.
I'm not stating for certain we are alone or first, but I don't think they odds are all that great as you state that we either are the first or at least among the first.
I find that idea fascinating as well.
I stand by what I said: It is insanely premature to assume that just because we haven't found anything in the tiny amount of looking we've managed to do so far, that makes it valid to start rushing to find excuses for why we're alone. Wait a thousand years, and if we still haven't found anything by that point, then it might be worth starting to wonder why. Until then, it's a foolish waste of time to jump to such conclusions, and it's pure arrogance to want to pretend we hairless apes are somehow The Most Important Race in the Universe. It's sheer ego to want to believe we're the first or only ones. It's the same petty narcissism that led our ancestors to assume we were created in God's image or that the universe literally revolved around the Earth. Reality has shot down that arrogance over and over again, and it's foolish to expect it to be any different this time.
You're getting a rock in your shoe over nothing. "insanely" "Sheer ego" "foolish" "narcicism" "Arrogance". That's pretty fucking harsh for a discussion of SETI. Can you lay off the insults?
I don't think SETI is a worthwhile scientific endeavor in its own right. If it leads to better astronomy, that's fine, and as a hobby like Ham Radio, I am all for it too. I am very comfortable in thinking we will never in my lifetime or any other in the foreseeable future have contact with an alien civilization. I'd wish that weren't true, but if wishes were dollars I'd be on the first SpaceX ship to Mars.
That is a really sad idea.. if we would be THE alpha species out here.. sad? Ye gads.. ultra depressing..
That is a really sad idea.. if we would be THE alpha species out here.. sad? Ye gads.. ultra depressing..
In that case we just have some long term goals. The universe's greatest practical joke. We're going to put monoliths everywhere just to mess with newly emerging civilizations.
IF monoliths - THEN this music must play if approached or touched:
EEEeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEeeeeEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeee
-from the official lyrics
If some future aliens found such monoliths making such strange sounds, they might assume we were either:
A: Gods
B: Insane
C: Insane Gods...
A: Gods
B: Insane
C: Insane Gods...
If we are the first species yikes .... I feel sorry for any future species.
Why? Every species starts somewhere and will inevitably make mistakes. Shouldn't curse them for eternity.
