What I Think About Aliens

JrDude · June 24, 2009, 02:30:03 AM

Aliens, originally thought of being green men with overgrown heads or something like that. Well I say bull. I say there are few possibilities. Either they are an animal of some kind, incapable of human-like intelligence, maybe cow-like intelligence or something. Or maybe they look exactly like us, human, just called something else, and possibly a different color, and different languages, but they won't have any physical differences, and no special powers of any kind. Either those or they just don't exist, that's how I think of it, my main thought it that they don't exist.
So what are your thoughts on aliens?

Kierou · June 24, 2009, 02:43:00 AM

I have to say, what with the immense size of the universe, there is a high probability that there is some form of sentient life on a planet other than earth.

Super · June 24, 2009, 02:53:49 AM

Aliens could be anything.

We have diverse lifeforms on this planet, why not elsewhere?

Zovistograt · June 24, 2009, 07:22:24 AM

I'm not ruling out any possibility. There's a high chance they're not in our dimension.

HTA! · June 24, 2009, 11:18:58 AM

Quote from: Zovistograt on June 24, 2009, 07:22:24 AM
I'm not ruling out any possibility. There's a high chance they're not in our dimension.

Eh... not really.
The other 7 spacial dimensions are far too small to contain anything....
Actually, all those dimensions do is shape the structure of the 10+ base particles.

However, there could be any number of sentient species in our universe, or in the multi-verse for that matter. Until we discover the origin of the Big Bang, we won't know.

If they are in this universe, we will find them eventually. If not, then we are alone.

StarWindWizard7 · June 24, 2009, 11:48:30 AM

Quote from: Kierou on June 24, 2009, 02:43:00 AM
I have to say, what with the immense size of the universe, there is a high probability that there is some form of sentient life on a planet other than earth.

I pretty much would of said it the same exact way...so um......
"QFT"...
:P

Mutilator7 · June 24, 2009, 01:05:57 PM

I say aliens are almost identical to humans, and we are advancing in technology at the same rate as them, when we get the power and technology to fly to other planets and systems, so will they and we will encounter each other. Or we are the only people in the universe.

Kierou · June 24, 2009, 05:44:05 PM

Quote from: Mutilator on June 24, 2009, 01:05:57 PM
I say aliens are almost identical to humans, and we are advancing in technology at the same rate as them, when we get the power and technology to fly to other planets and systems, so will they and we will encounter each other. Or we are the only people in the universe.

The only way the will hapen is if Albert Einstein was wrong about Faster-than light travel. And regardless of whether or not that is possible, do you honestly believe the human body could withstand that much force?

Macawmoses · June 24, 2009, 05:47:54 PM

Like others, I'm positively certain there are "alien" lifeforms. We are but one solar system of oodles. If say, 1 of every 25 solar systems bears life, then there is most certainly life besides ours.

Plus, take into consideration we don't know how life started on the planet. Biology has been unable to confirm it - only offer theories, even with the fossil record filling in. One very open possibility is that a meteor struck containing bacteria, protists, etc. and the result was the introduction of life. In which case, that flings the door wide open as to other life.

HTA! · June 24, 2009, 08:35:40 PM

Quote from: Kierou on June 24, 2009, 05:44:05 PM
The only way the will hapen is if Albert Einstein was wrong about Faster-than light travel. And regardless of whether or not that is possible, do you honestly believe the human body could withstand that much force?

Technically, there is a theory that claims that everything is connected outside of our 3 spacial dimensions and that instantaneous events over infinite distance is possible.

But if we were able to create a ship that moved at a sizable fraction of light speed, we should be able to travel great distances with little effect on the lifespan of the humans we send even though the time it would take to travel would be much greater than any normal person.

Nowhere in the foreseeable future for us... but possible.

Jono2 · June 24, 2009, 08:47:24 PM

Quote from: HTA on June 24, 2009, 08:35:40 PM
Technically, there is a theory that claims that everything is connected outside of our 3 spacial dimensions and that instantaneous events over infinite distance is possible.

But if we were able to create a ship that moved at a sizable fraction of light speed, we should be able to travel great distances with little effect on the lifespan of the humans we send even though the time it would take to travel would be much greater than any normal person.

Nowhere in the foreseeable future for us... but possible.

tbqh, if we ever invent near light speed travel (past light speed is impossible, but you can get very, very close), we'll have invented advanced cryogenics by that time.

mass amounts of humans travelling? Need an extensive crew? No problem. Make the controls simple, get the lower to middle class people to run the ships on the way there. They have families on the ships, their kids eventually inherit the ship to continue to run it.

A grim reality, but one that is likely to be true unless one believes that faster than light travel is possible. Inventing AI to run the ship is:

1. Dangerous (if it gains a personality of its own, what's to stop it from going rogue?)

and

2. Inhumane (you're creating a being that can think independently, and forcing it to do one menial task for it's entire existence. This is incredibly cruel.)

We will never leave this galaxy. Well, we might, but we wouldn't get anywhere else. The next nearest one is so distant, it's not even worth thinking about. Andromeda would be the likeliest destination, but even so, it's a intercourse ing long way off.

The next step we will take toward space travel will be a colony on the moon. Then mars, then an exploration of Europa (assuming no alien intervention). By this time, high nanotechnology will likely be invented, and people will be living with machines inside their brains, allowing them to live much, much longer than we currently do.

<3 Alistair Reynolds

HTA! · June 24, 2009, 08:53:37 PM

Eh...
Light speed travel would allow us to move one light year in one human year.

Not sure how far away other galaxies are, but should you want to travel throughout this solar system you could get from Earth to Mars in days in only a fraction of light speed.

Jono2 · June 24, 2009, 08:58:14 PM

Quote from: HTA on June 24, 2009, 08:53:37 PM
Eh...
Light speed travel would allow us to move one light year in one human year.

Not sure how far away other galaxies are, but should you want to travel throughout this solar system you could get from Earth to Mars in days in only a fraction of light speed.

even if we're accepting that light speed travel is possible, you wouldn't be able to accelerate to that speed in the space between earth and mars. it would simply be impractical and incredibly unsafe. The 4 month travel period would probably be cut down to a week, maybe even a few days, but to travel at even a quarter of light speed would require a TON of slowing down, AND accelerating. The sun's light takes 8 minutes to reach the earth. The space between mars and earth is much smaller than that.

if we could travel at light speed, we could travel beyond light speed. The problem is breaking that threshold.

Also, I wouldn't want to be there to see a ship break the light barrier. You know why there's that huge boom when a plane breaks the sound barrier? waves overlapping. It would be so frickin bright mang.

Gwen Khan · June 24, 2009, 08:58:58 PM

Quote from: HTA on June 24, 2009, 08:53:37 PM
Eh...
Light speed travel would allow us to move one light year in one human year.

Not sure how far away other galaxies are, but should you want to travel throughout this solar system you could get from Earth to Mars in days in only a fraction of light speed.

space is big, even at light speed it would take about four years just to get to the next closest star, Alpha Centauri, we may never leave our solar system

Jono2 · June 24, 2009, 09:15:16 PM

Quote from: Tom Servo on June 24, 2009, 08:58:58 PM
space is big, even at light speed it would take about four years just to get to the next closest star, Alpha Centauri, we may never leave our solar system

at near light speed, and when frozen, 4 years isn't a big deal.

not that there's anything of interest at AC.