Are we alone

[*bfine32*]

As the 50th anniversary of the Apollo landing approaches there seems to be a renewed interest in space. We have Trump talking about going back to the moon, we have talks of a raid (most likely a hoax) on area 51, and we have a general increase in UFO talk. So I ask the following.

Do you think there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe?

Do you think think there is anything more than the most simple forms (bacteria, etc..) of life in our solar system?

Do you think we've been "visited"?

Of course more than simple yes/no answers would be great and let's try to keep it non-combative (ie...supreme being, Trump is why Pluto is no longer a planet, ect..)

[BmorePat87]

I don't think there's anything more advanced than bacteria in this solar system, but I want to believe there's something out there.

[GMDino]

(07-15-2019, 10:02 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: I don't think there's anything more advanced than bacteria in this solar system, but I want to believe there's something out there.

Maybe.  WE need to explore some icy oceans further out to be sure though.

But then we haven't fully explored OUR oceans so I don't know if we'll see that in our lifetime.

[CKwi88]

It's egotistical to think that we're the only life that exists in the universe.

I'd say it's a near certainty that there is life of some form out there. Given that it has taken Just shy of 14 billion years to arrive where we are now, and "modern" civilization is only (depending on how you define it) 6  thousand years old, I'm a subscriber to the belief that whatever life is out there is either vastly more primitive than we are, or vastly more advanced than we are.

I believe that it is entirely possible that we've (as in Earth) been visited, and perhaps even influenced by extraterrestrials, but, kind of going back to the more advanced part, we might never actually know it. It's fun to speculate about, but unless there really are some real eye openers over at Area 51, that's about as far as it will go.

[*bfine32*]

(07-15-2019, 10:02 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: I don't think there's anything more advanced than bacteria in this solar system, but I want to believe there's something out there.

(07-15-2019, 11:40 PM)CKwi88 Wrote: It's egotistical to think that we're the only life that exists in the universe.

I'd say it's a near certainty that there is life of some form out there. Given that it has taken Just shy of 14 billion years to arrive where we are now, and "modern" civilization is only (depending on how you define it) 6  thousand years old, I'm a subscriber to the belief that whatever life is out there is either vastly more primitive than we are, or vastly more advanced than we are.

I believe that it is entirely possible that we've (as in Earth) been visited, and perhaps even influenced by extraterrestrials, but, kind of going back to the more advanced part, we might never actually know it. It's fun to speculate about, but unless there really are some real eye openers over at Area 51, that's about as far as it will go.

Thanks for keeping it solely on the OP and I too think there is intelligent life elsewhere; after all space is infinite. 

As to being visited: That's harder to answer IMO. But as you say It's fun to speculate.

Like many I was enthralled by space at an early age and wish I'd kept up the pursuit. 

[Benton]

I don't rule it out.

I know a lot of folks saybreligously there can't be, but the abrahamic religions predate flight, trying to explain to themlife on other planets would be difficult.

I dont think there's anything much locally,but the universe is a big place.

[hollodero]

(07-15-2019, 09:47 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Do you think there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe?

Probably. There's this Drake formula that used factors like number and birthrate of stars, probability of exoplanets around those and some other terms to predict the number of intelligent lifeforms in the universe. It seemed almost impossible that there isn't. But obviously, that prediction got severely modified lately, making it way less probable... so logically, there seems no real way to know.

Critics say that even on earth, there are 50 billion species and only one is intelligent. (That'd be me.)

(07-15-2019, 09:47 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Do you think think there is anything more than the most simple forms (bacteria, etc..) of life in our solar system?

No. Reason for that is that the other planets don't seem to provide the conditions for more sophisticated chemical processes necessary for forming the kind of complex molecules that would be the basis of higher developed life.

(07-15-2019, 09:47 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Do you think we've been "visited"?

No. That idea makes zero sense to me. Why would an alien race visit earth in secret all the time, what's the purpose. And even if, why would they never get caught.
Also, if there's intelligent life out there it still would probably not be able to avoid the Einstein barrier, eg. it could not travel faster than light and hence would need a truly astronomical number of years to even get here from their home planet.
And if a species could live that long, it couldn't develop as highly (for generations and generations are necessary for life to evolve). Sure they could travel for generation after generation after generation on some spaceship, but that raises questions a) about energy and supplies (there's no reststops in space) and b) why would they do that.

[treee]

I wish there was. Humans could really use a benevolent higher force in their lives right now.

[*michaelsean*]

(07-16-2019, 07:13 AM)hollodero Wrote: Probably. There's this Drake formula that used factors like number and birthrate of stars, probability of exoplanets around those and some other terms to predict the number of intelligent lifeforms in the universe. It seemed almost impossible that there isn't.  But obviously, that prediction got severely modified lately, making it way less probable... so logically, there seems no real way to know.

Critics say that even on earth, there are 50 billion species and only one is intelligent. (That'd be me.)



No. Reason for that is that the other planets don't seem to provide the conditions for more sophisticated chemical processes necessary for forming the kind of complex molecules that would be the basis of higher developed life.



No. That idea makes zero sense to me. Why would an alien race visit earth in secret all the time, what's the purpose. And even if, why would they never get caught.
Also, if there's intelligent life out there it still would probably not be able to avoid the Einstein barrier, eg. it could not travel faster than light and hence would need a truly astronomical number of years to even get here from their home planet.
And if a species could live that long, it couldn't develop as highly (for generations and generations are necessary for life to evolve). Sure they could travel for generation after generation after generation on some spaceship, but that raises questions a) about energy and supplies (there's no reststops in space) and b) why would they do that.

Yes the only way someone has visited us is some sort of travel we can't really comprehend.  Maybe haven't even imagined.  

[hollodero]

(07-16-2019, 08:31 AM)michaelsean Wrote: Yes the only way someone has visited us is some sort of travel we can't really comprehend.  Maybe haven't even imagined.  

Well, though I do believe the laws of physics do apply and can't be switched off by higher technology, it is not unimaginable still there's indeed some kind of warpdrive-like device.
But that they would leave no trace somewhere around the planet that at least would deeply baffle us, that gets harder to imagine. The deeply scientific show called star trek taught me that even the klingon's cloaking device leaves back traces.

[GMDino]

(07-16-2019, 08:43 AM)hollodero Wrote: Well, though I do believe the laws of physics do apply and can't be switched off by higher technology, it is not unimaginable still there's indeed some kind of warpdrive-like device.
But that they would leave no trace somewhere around the planet that at least would deeply baffle us, that gets harder to imagine. The deeply scientific show called star trek taught me that even the klingon's cloaking device leaves back traces.

I think it IS unimaginable which s why we haven't got there yet. Humans have been around for a virtual blink of an eye compared to the scale of time in the Universe.  Other evolved lifeforms could have come AND gone before we developed.

But I agree with others that hope there is some group smarter and more evolved than us because we are nothing but apes with egos that get bruised easily.  

If smarter lifeforms show up half of us will want to shoot them out of the sky before we ever know what they want.  Maybe we'd be afraid they'd treat us like we treated "lesser" people when we found them?

[*michaelsean*]

(07-16-2019, 09:00 AM)GMDino Wrote: I think it IS unimaginable which s why we haven't got there yet. Humans have been around for a virtual blink of an eye compared to the scale of time in the Universe.  Other evolved lifeforms could have come AND gone before we developed.

But I agree with others that hope there is some group smarter and more evolved than us because we are nothing but apes with egos that get bruised easily.  

If smarter lifeforms show up half of us will want to shoot them out of the sky before we ever know what they want.  Maybe we'd be afraid they'd treat us like we treated "lesser" people when we found them?

Anyone remember Independence Day where none of our weapons worked on the aliens, but Will smith knocked one out with one punch?  

[GMDino]

(07-16-2019, 09:21 AM)michaelsean Wrote: Anyone remember Independence Day where none of our weapons worked on the aliens, but Will smith knocked one out with one punch?  

Or "When Mars Attacks" and it was Slim Whitman's high notes!  LOL!

Or "Signs" where it was water!

We have a VERY high opinion of ourselves and how we would deal with our alien overlords!

[Aquapod770]

"Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." - Arthur Clarke

It's almost scientifically impossible for their not to be some form of life out there in the universe. Now intelligent life? That's a tough one.

[BmorePat87]

I got this almost 3 years ago. Relevant to the thread.

[Dill]

(07-16-2019, 07:13 AM)hollodero Wrote: No. That idea makes zero sense to me. Why would an alien race visit earth in secret all the time, what's the purpose. And even if, why would they never get caught.

 The answer is just too obvious for those lacking blatant terrestrial bias.

There could be a planet somewhere like named "Cybertron" inhabited by a metal life form that does not need all your fancy chemical processes because of a stone thingy called the "allspark" that creates planetary life.  And they could get in a factional war and fight over the allspark and one of the losing team could drop it off on earth to hide it.  Then they would have to come here to get it if they wanted it back.  And they wouldn't get caught if they didn't want to because it was dropped in the Arctic Circle. But some of them could make friends with just a few humans (most likely North Americans because they only speak English), and the government wouldn't let us know about the rest. Plus they could look like cars if they wanted too. So you could be parked next to one and never know.

Also, people disappear every day. There could be a planet of highly evolved predators in invisible suits with of all kinds of weapon gadgetry who travel the galaxy looking for planets with highly evolved species to hunt for sport. They could be taking humans for trophies and we'd never know because of their stealth technology. One of them could land in a jungle and chase down even a US SEAL team on a secret mission, killing them one by one, and even the government would never know what hit them.

Could also be aliens that live on a dying planet and look almost like us. And some of them come to earth to get help. Give them hair and fix their eyes, and they could be "passing" amongst us right now.



Well I could go on, but I've made my point. Of course there could be many different kinds of alien life forms out there, and they could come to earth for many different purposes. There could even be a government agency which offers legal residency and secretly monitors them while they are here and uses things called "neuralizers" to erase our memories if we see something we are not supposed to. So I proved why they don't get caught and maybe solved some missing person cases.

[Dill]

(07-16-2019, 09:54 AM)Aquapod770 Wrote: "Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." - Arthur Clarke

It's almost scientifically impossible for their not to be some form of life out there in the universe. Now intelligent life? That's a tough one.

Equally?

[*Nately120*]

Thus thread makes me want to play ET for the Atari.

[Mike M (the other one)]

Absolutely life exists outside of our little world, not sure about with in our own Solar System, but I wouldn't be surprised. Now they might not be Humanoid like us, but there will definitely be some advanced species out there. The universe is just too big for it not to be.

I'm fairly certain we have been visited before, and probably still being visited.

Nostrodamas predicts we will make contact with Aliens on Trump's watch, which is crazy to begin with. He even predicted how the "Queen's Letters" would be stolen from her "Treasure Chest" and be the cause of her failure to win. Translated to current times, that's Emails from her Server.

But don't get sidetracked. It's all crazy stuff. I just like reading about crazy stuff like that.
WWIII could also be starting soon, Never know exactly when is the problem with his predictions.

[*Nately120*]

Side note, how grand is this thing? Also, comments are disable on this video which I assume is because the section turned into a fracas over blackface.