Aliens?

[Wut]

Swamp gas reflecting off a weather balloon distorting the Northern Lights.

[Zerobeat]

What about the sweet mix-tape we sent? Did it mean nothing?

[Wut]

And really, if you consider everything, probably not a chance an Alien species has been anywhere near this planet in it's entire 2-3 Billion year history. Forget the distances between galaxies. Focus on just the Milky Way Galaxy. 500,000 light years across. Say an advanced species has figured out tech wise where they can go 10X speed of light. No way, no matter how advanced by millions of years can they equip a ship to explore that length of time.

The Drake Equation tells me there won't be intelligent life contacting humanity during the existence of humanity.

[WestTexasCrude]

And really, if you consider everything, probably not a chance an Alien species has been anywhere near this planet in it's entire 2-3 Billion year history. Forget the distances between galaxies. Focus on just the Milky Way Galaxy. 500,000 light years across. Say an advanced species has figured out tech wise where they can go 10X speed of light. No way, no matter how advanced by millions of years can they equip a ship to explore that length of time.

The Drake Equation tells me there won't be intelligent life contacting humanity during the existence of humanity.

The Drake Equation is a brilliant piece of mind evaluation. 500 Billion Stars in the Milky Way. Math- how many have orbiting planets, How many have Stars of the right type to support life in the goldilocks zone. etc. Most pertinent question, how many survive past the knowledge of Nuclear weapons of war. Has to be a key question on survival of the species.

[Wut]

And really, if you consider everything, probably not a chance an Alien species has been anywhere near this planet in it's entire 2-3 Billion year history. Forget the distances between galaxies. Focus on just the Milky Way Galaxy. 500,000 light years across. Say an advanced species has figured out tech wise where they can go 10X speed of light. No way, no matter how advanced by millions of years can they equip a ship to explore that length of time.

The Drake Equation tells me there won't be intelligent life contacting humanity during the existence of humanity.

The Drake Equation is a brilliant piece of mind evaluation. 500 Billion Stars in the Milky Way. Math- how many have orbiting planets, How many have Stars of the right type to support life in the goldilocks zone. etc. Most pertinent question, how many survive past the knowledge of Nuclear weapons of war. Has to be a key question on survival of the species.

Aka The Great Filter; can a species survive developing the ability to destroy itself. Humanity hasn't passed this test yet.

[WestTexasCrude]

And really, if you consider everything, probably not a chance an Alien species has been anywhere near this planet in it's entire 2-3 Billion year history. Forget the distances between galaxies. Focus on just the Milky Way Galaxy. 500,000 light years across. Say an advanced species has figured out tech wise where they can go 10X speed of light. No way, no matter how advanced by millions of years can they equip a ship to explore that length of time.

The Drake Equation tells me there won't be intelligent life contacting humanity during the existence of humanity.

The Drake Equation is a brilliant piece of mind evaluation. 500 Billion Stars in the Milky Way. Math- how many have orbiting planets, How many have Stars of the right type to support life in the goldilocks zone. etc. Most pertinent question, how many survive past the knowledge of Nuclear weapons of war. Has to be a key question on survival of the species.

Aka The Great Filter; can a species survive developing the ability to destroy itself. Humanity hasn't passed this test yet.

Not even fucking close.

[WestTexasCrude]

I like the simplicity of the mathematical formula on figuring how many advanced civilizations maybe out there in our 500 Billion star Galaxy. Maybe 100,000.

[Wut]

I like the simplicity of the mathematical formula on figuring how many advanced civilizations maybe out there in our 500 Billion star Galaxy. Maybe 100,000.

The question isn't only where, but when. A civilization that ended a billion years ago, or develops a billion years from now, isn't part of the equation.

[FSchmertz]

What about the sweet mix-tape we sent? Did it mean nothing?

They've probably been listening in to Miley Cyrus "music" on our radio waves, and have come to the logical conclusion therefore that they want nothing to do with us.

[FSchmertz]

And really, if you consider everything, probably not a chance an Alien species has been anywhere near this planet in it's entire 2-3 Billion year history. Forget the distances between galaxies. Focus on just the Milky Way Galaxy. 500,000 light years across. Say an advanced species has figured out tech wise where they can go 10X speed of light. No way, no matter how advanced by millions of years can they equip a ship to explore that length of time.

The Drake Equation tells me there won't be intelligent life contacting humanity during the existence of humanity.

And anything we receive will be from an already extinct civilization?

[FSchmertz]

And really, if you consider everything, probably not a chance an Alien species has been anywhere near this planet in it's entire 2-3 Billion year history. Forget the distances between galaxies. Focus on just the Milky Way Galaxy. 500,000 light years across. Say an advanced species has figured out tech wise where they can go 10X speed of light. No way, no matter how advanced by millions of years can they equip a ship to explore that length of time.

The Drake Equation tells me there won't be intelligent life contacting humanity during the existence of humanity.

The Drake Equation is a brilliant piece of mind evaluation. 500 Billion Stars in the Milky Way. Math- how many have orbiting planets, How many have Stars of the right type to support life in the goldilocks zone. etc. Most pertinent question, how many survive past the knowledge of Nuclear weapons of war. Has to be a key question on survival of the species.

Aka The Great Filter; can a species survive developing the ability to destroy itself. Humanity hasn't passed this test yet.

And it really depends on the species developing the maturity and emotional intelligence necessary to insure they won't kill themselves with their technology.

And I'm sure we've only scratched the surface of all the different potentially horrendous ways we could destroy ourselves. Nukes are just the beginning.

[QillerDaemon]

Any intelligent race within 70 light years of us who has decoded our analog TV signals has already seen I Love Lucy, and decided they want nothing to do with us.

[Wut]

And really, if you consider everything, probably not a chance an Alien species has been anywhere near this planet in it's entire 2-3 Billion year history. Forget the distances between galaxies. Focus on just the Milky Way Galaxy. 500,000 light years across. Say an advanced species has figured out tech wise where they can go 10X speed of light. No way, no matter how advanced by millions of years can they equip a ship to explore that length of time.

The Drake Equation tells me there won't be intelligent life contacting humanity during the existence of humanity.

The Drake Equation is a brilliant piece of mind evaluation. 500 Billion Stars in the Milky Way. Math- how many have orbiting planets, How many have Stars of the right type to support life in the goldilocks zone. etc. Most pertinent question, how many survive past the knowledge of Nuclear weapons of war. Has to be a key question on survival of the species.

Aka The Great Filter; can a species survive developing the ability to destroy itself. Humanity hasn't passed this test yet.

And it really depends on the species developing the maturity and emotional intelligence necessary to insure they won't kill themselves with their technology.

And I'm sure we've only scratched the surface of all the different potentially horrendous ways we could destroy ourselves. Nukes are just the beginning.

Nukes are the most obvious but biological weapons are a good option. I think we'll just die a slow extinction from killing our planet.

[Stapes]

Any intelligent race within 70 light years of us who has decoded our analog TV signals has already seen I Love Lucy, and decided they want nothing to do with us.

That is just it isn't it? We are less than a speck of dust in this Universe. We've being sending detectable analog signals into space for maybe a 100 years and in that short amount of time we are supposed to believe that another alien civilization detected it.....zeroed in on our location......and traversed across space to visit us? I don't think that is possible.

If there are truly ET visiting us then they have been here a long time.

[WestTexasCrude]

I like the simplicity of the mathematical formula on figuring how many advanced civilizations maybe out there in our 500 Billion star Galaxy. Maybe 100,000.

The question isn't only where, but when. A civilization that ended a billion years ago, or develops a billion years from now, isn't part of the equation.

That is a damned good point. Brilliant and important. I guess the whole reason for the equation is get some idea on the number of advanced civilizations out there in the galaxy, not how many at one time in history.

[WestTexasCrude]

And really, if you consider everything, probably not a chance an Alien species has been anywhere near this planet in it's entire 2-3 Billion year history. Forget the distances between galaxies. Focus on just the Milky Way Galaxy. 500,000 light years across. Say an advanced species has figured out tech wise where they can go 10X speed of light. No way, no matter how advanced by millions of years can they equip a ship to explore that length of time.

The Drake Equation tells me there won't be intelligent life contacting humanity during the existence of humanity.

The Drake Equation is a brilliant piece of mind evaluation. 500 Billion Stars in the Milky Way. Math- how many have orbiting planets, How many have Stars of the right type to support life in the goldilocks zone. etc. Most pertinent question, how many survive past the knowledge of Nuclear weapons of war. Has to be a key question on survival of the species.

Aka The Great Filter; can a species survive developing the ability to destroy itself. Humanity hasn't passed this test yet.

And it really depends on the species developing the maturity and emotional intelligence necessary to insure they won't kill themselves with their technology.

And I'm sure we've only scratched the surface of all the different potentially horrendous ways we could destroy ourselves. Nukes are just the beginning.

Very good point. If we thought nuclear weapons were bad, just consider what we come up with in say the next 3 centuries.

[WestTexasCrude]

Any intelligent race within 70 light years of us who has decoded our analog TV signals has already seen I Love Lucy, and decided they want nothing to do with us.

That is just it isn't it? We are less than a speck of dust in this Universe. We've being sending detectable analog signals into space for maybe a 100 years and in that short amount of time we are supposed to believe that another alien civilization detected it.....zeroed in on our location......and traversed across space to visit us? I don't think that is possible.

If there are truly ET visiting us then they have been here a long time.

Is it really weird that every time I read your comments on any thread, In my head it's in John Goodman's voice.

[FSchmertz]

Any intelligent race within 70 light years of us who has decoded our analog TV signals has already seen I Love Lucy, and decided they want nothing to do with us.

That is just it isn't it? We are less than a speck of dust in this Universe. We've being sending detectable analog signals into space for maybe a 100 years and in that short amount of time we are supposed to believe that another alien civilization detected it.....zeroed in on our location......and traversed across space to visit us? I don't think that is possible.

If there are truly ET visiting us then they have been here a long time.

Is it really weird that every time I read your comments on any thread, In my head it's in John Goodman's voice.

Who says he isn't?

[WestTexasCrude]

Any intelligent race within 70 light years of us who has decoded our analog TV signals has already seen I Love Lucy, and decided they want nothing to do with us.

That is just it isn't it? We are less than a speck of dust in this Universe. We've being sending detectable analog signals into space for maybe a 100 years and in that short amount of time we are supposed to believe that another alien civilization detected it.....zeroed in on our location......and traversed across space to visit us? I don't think that is possible.

If there are truly ET visiting us then they have been here a long time.

Is it really weird that every time I read your comments on any thread, In my head it's in John Goodman's voice.

Who says he isn't?

Let me guess, Stapes hates nihilists.

[Degas]

I like the simplicity of the mathematical formula on figuring how many advanced civilizations maybe out there in our 500 Billion star Galaxy. Maybe 100,000.

The question isn't only where, but when. A civilization that ended a billion years ago, or develops a billion years from now, isn't part of the equation.

That is a damned good point. Brilliant and important. I guess the whole reason for the equation is get some idea on the number of advanced civilizations out there in the galaxy, not how many at one time in history.

It's called the Fermi Paradox, look it up.

[Degas]

Possible reasons we haven't made contact with aliens.

1. There aren't any aliens to find. As unlikely as it seems in a galaxy with hundreds of billions of stars and as many as 40 billion Earth-size planets in habitable zones, we could be alone.

2. There is no intelligent life besides us. (This assumes, of course, that humans count as intelligent.) Life may exist, but it could simply take the form of miniscule microbes or other cosmically "quiet" animals.

3. Intelligent species lack advanced technology. Currently, astronomers utilize radio telescopes to listen intently to the night sky. So if alien species aren't broadcasting any signals, we'd never know they existed.

4. Intelligent life self-destructs. Whether via weapons of mass destruction, planetary pollution, or manufactured virulent disease, it may be the nature of intelligent species to commit suicide, existing for only a short time before winking out of existence.

5. The universe is a deadly place. On cosmic timescales – think billions of years – life may be fleeting. All it takes is a single asteroid, supernova, gamma ray burst, or solar flare to render a life-harboring planet lifeless.

6. Space is big. The Milky Way alone is 100,000 light years across, so it's conceivable that the focused signals of intelligent aliens, which are limited to the speed of light, simply haven't reached us yet.

7. We haven't been looking long enough. Eighty years. That's the amount of time that radio telescopes, which allow us to detect alien signals, have been around. And we've been actively searching for aliens for maybe sixty years. That's not very long at all.

8. We're not looking in the correct place. As previously mentioned, space is big, so there are tons of regions to listen for alien signals. If we're not listening precisely in the direction from which a signal is originating, we'd never hear it. As Andrew Fain explained at Universe Today, it's like trying to speak with your friend on a 250,000,000,000-channel CB radio, without any knowledge of the frequency on which they are transmitting. You'll probably be channel flipping for a long time.

9. Alien technology may be too advanced. Radio technology may be commonplace here on Earth, but on far-flung worlds, alien societies may have graduated to more advanced communication technologies, like neutrino signals. We can't decipher those just yet.

10. Nobody is transmitting. Instead, everybody may be listening. That's basically how it is here on Earth. Apart from a few paltry efforts to broadcast strong signals over a narrow frequency band towards the stars above, we've barely made our presence known in the universe. In fact, if aliens have radio telescopes similar to what we have on Earth, our television and radio broadcasts would only be detectable up to 0.3 light-years away. That distance doesn't even transcend the farthest reaches of our solar system.

11. Earth is deliberately not being contacted. On Earth, we have policies about contacting indigenous peoples; it's possible that the same thing could be happening with us. Just like in Star Trek, advanced alien societies may enforce rules that limit contact only to species that attain a lofty degree of technological or cultural evolution.

12. Aliens are already here and we just don't realize it. Conspiracy theorists love this unlikely explanation. While the chances are remote, it's not impossible that government agencies are concealing the presence of aliens. Although it's more likely that aliens are already amongst us, observing humanity in the clever and ironic guise of lab mice.

[Animal]

that's retarded. aliens have obviously already been here. they helped the inca people draw huge pictures.

[WestTexasCrude]

I like the simplicity of the mathematical formula on figuring how many advanced civilizations maybe out there in our 500 Billion star Galaxy. Maybe 100,000.

The question isn't only where, but when. A civilization that ended a billion years ago, or develops a billion years from now, isn't part of the equation.

That is a damned good point. Brilliant and important. I guess the whole reason for the equation is get some idea on the number of advanced civilizations out there in the galaxy, not how many at one time in history.

It's called the Fermi Paradox, look it up.

Just did on Wiki. Excellent, thanks. 2 points. The whole drake equation from what the 1960-70's was just a mathematical exercise to try to get a feel on how many advanced civilizations could be out there. Didn't address the age of the galaxy and the different gaps. 2nd- Enrico Fermi's name should be up there in science history with the likes of Einstein and Newton. Totally brilliant light. Just came along with the nuclear age and all the controversy involved.

[Degas]

that's retarded. aliens have obviously already been here. they helped the inca people draw huge pictures.

I can’t argue with that, you have me convinced.

[WestTexasCrude]

that's retarded. aliens have obviously already been here. they helped the inca people draw huge pictures.

It does make you wonder how they created those mile long images of birds, plants, images obviously meant to be seen from above. Maybe they beat the French to the invention of the balloon by 1,000 years. Think about it. Animal skins stretched tight heated over a fire with a gondola underneath. Humans have always invented.