12-21-2017, 04:15 PM
My theory on "proof" we've been visited has always been - "wait, they can travel way fast than the speed of light, but can't or don't bother to cloak themselves....and occasionally CRASH?!?!"
While life almost certainly exists elsewhere in the universe, very advanced life capable of traveling easy throughout the universe might be a leap of faith. Humans may not exist, or have thrived, if an asteroid hadn't wiped out the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs, by the way, were here a lot longer than us and never became highly intelligent. We evolved from our primate cousins, but they have not really advanced....Humans evolved and advanced quite quickly - why are we the only species on Earth, and in 4B years, for that to be true of?
And there are 4-5 other extinction events that we've been fortunate to escape and may not yet be capable of avoiding.
Sure, the numbers/odds are astronomical. But what if we assume only 1 in 1B stars has a planet that can support life? And then only 1 in 1B of those actually has life at some point? Now what are the odds that life wasn't prematurely snuffed out in an extinction event? Finally what are the odds intelligent life is able to thrive and advance on that planet? And amidst of a host of other factors, that this intelligent life is capable enough and survives long enough to leave it's solar system? Suddenly the numbers/odds are infinitesimally smaller.
Let's consider this, also. The Earth is @ 4.5B years old. The universe is 13.5B years old, so we aren't a terribly young planet. Life has existed on Earth for maybe 2.5B years....humans only for a teeny tiny fraction of that. So while a civilization just 1000 years older than us would be hugely more advanced, you have a ton of variables with huge variance (none of which particularly favors thriving and advancing). While we are likely not alone, that's quite possibly still a very small, exclusive club.
While life almost certainly exists elsewhere in the universe, very advanced life capable of traveling easy throughout the universe might be a leap of faith. Humans may not exist, or have thrived, if an asteroid hadn't wiped out the dinosaurs. Dinosaurs, by the way, were here a lot longer than us and never became highly intelligent. We evolved from our primate cousins, but they have not really advanced....Humans evolved and advanced quite quickly - why are we the only species on Earth, and in 4B years, for that to be true of?
And there are 4-5 other extinction events that we've been fortunate to escape and may not yet be capable of avoiding.
Sure, the numbers/odds are astronomical. But what if we assume only 1 in 1B stars has a planet that can support life? And then only 1 in 1B of those actually has life at some point? Now what are the odds that life wasn't prematurely snuffed out in an extinction event? Finally what are the odds intelligent life is able to thrive and advance on that planet? And amidst of a host of other factors, that this intelligent life is capable enough and survives long enough to leave it's solar system? Suddenly the numbers/odds are infinitesimally smaller.
Let's consider this, also. The Earth is @ 4.5B years old. The universe is 13.5B years old, so we aren't a terribly young planet. Life has existed on Earth for maybe 2.5B years....humans only for a teeny tiny fraction of that. So while a civilization just 1000 years older than us would be hugely more advanced, you have a ton of variables with huge variance (none of which particularly favors thriving and advancing). While we are likely not alone, that's quite possibly still a very small, exclusive club.
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