No encounters: most ambitious alien search to date draws a blank

It's always the same problem.

Increases the chance of detecting aliens (even bacteria):
Abundant life in the universe.

Decreases the chance of detecting aliens:
Few or no aliens out there
Size and hostility of the universe
Not knowing how life even happened on Earth
Not looking in the right places/frequencies
Not being intelligent enough or perceptive enough to comprehend them

And again, can something exist even if we cannot detect it or anything suggestive of it, and we cannot comprehend it? I have a box of indeterminate size. It may or may not have something in it. Does the thing that might be inside exist until we know something about it?

So even if there are "aliens" out there billions of light years away that we will never, ever know anything about, do they really exist, or are they just hypothetical?

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: namelesss

There is a theory that all we do when we 'open our eyes' is to peer into the mirror.

It's a possibility I have a lot of time for. There's seems to be a reflective aspect in most of the reported experiences of unusual phenomena. I also suspect there's a reflective element in play when we try to discuss third party accounts.

When one takes into account that all that can ever be perceived, from any and every Perspective, is 'Self!', and that every unique moment of Universal Existence is a unique moment of 'Self!' Knowledge.
The metaphor of the mirror helps us get our mind around the appearance of 'looking out', from 'in here', and truly seeing Our Self! 'out there'.
Our logical dials would implode.
And the 'Self!' is always larger then we can possibly imagine!
Thus the 'WOW!!! moments of our Self! discovery.

A problem with this perspective is it renders all our interpretations to subjectivity. A rock can be a rock and perhaps we can't see intelligent life elsewhere because it isn't there.

No problem, all 'interpretations' are subjective, all Perspectives are unique.
All that exists is perceived.
Everything is perceived.
Everything exists.

Is the Universe OurSelf! not 'intelligent' by any definition?
In which case, would it not be a heuristic to tentatively already assume 'intelligence' 'out there' somewhere?
I think getting a handle on 'life' and 'death'; need something be 'alive' for it to be intelligent?
What are the boundaries between 'life' and 'death'?
As one who spends timeless moments balanced exactly between 'life' and 'death', I can tell you that there is no clear boundary because they are not two different things.
Like subjective and objective... there is no 'border', what there are is two opposite Perspectives of the same One Reality!
Consciousness needs no bio-structure, no silicon structure, no brains no eyes... all thi exists withing the One Universal Consciousness.

So, if we continue to peer into the 'mirror', we are bound to find God! *__-

a reply to: namelesss

I appreciate where you're coming from and agree on some levels with the arguments that Self is all.

I can't go as far down that road as you have. When my perception is snuffed out, the Moon will still be orbiting this planet and waves will still beat on the shorelines. I think the births:deaths ratio is currently about 2.3:1 so when my perceptions cease another two will spark up and start experiencing. If there are lives in other galaxies, they won't know or care should our precious little world fall dead one day. Truly awesome.

I've experienced the 'oneness and eternity' perspective so it's personally within reason to entertain the possibility. Nevertheless, I try to stay grounded with the material world. You have your way, I have mine and I respect your path

originally posted by: moebius

originally posted by: namelesss

originally posted by: moebius

originally posted by: dfnj2015
a reply to: cuckooold

Two words: sub-space communication

Or is that three words?

...

Define sub-space communication.

Ooh, ooh, I'd like to give it a whack! *__-
No Star Trek dictionaries, just what is on the crawl rolling past my awareness;
'Sub-space communication is that 'communication' between entangled particles (quantum physics) whereby one particle at one end of the Universe both in space and 'time' is instantly affected by what becomes of another particle at the other 'end' (of course there is no 'end' of the Universe).
The communication is instantaneous, despite the 'distances' of both 'space' and 'time' involved.

Rather like the instantaneous right 'answer' that intuition brings, rather than the rattling, lengthy problematic route of the 'train of thought' (time/space route... 'rocket ship') method.
Whaddaya think? *__-

That is a popular misunderstanding of quantum physics. Entangled particles can not be used for instantaneous communication.

No, I do not suffer from any misunderstanding.
I did not say that the particles are "used to communicate", but that there is some apparent INHERENT commun(ion)(ication) between them that is instantaneous, transcending time and space.
Capisce'? *__-

originally posted by: Kandinsky
a reply to: namelesss

I appreciate where you're coming from and agree on some levels with the arguments that Self is all.

I can't go as far down that road as you have. When my perception is snuffed out, the Moon will still be orbiting this planet and waves will still beat on the shorelines.

You are having difficulty understanding that the same Consciousness peeks from behind all eyes.
That means that if you aren't seeing the sun, it is still being perceived by the same One Universal Consciousness.

I've experienced the 'oneness and eternity' perspective so it's personally within reason to entertain the possibility. Nevertheless, I try to stay grounded with the material world. You have your way, I have mine and I respect your path

Thank you for the discussion.
Namaste'! *__-

a reply to: cuckooold

This isn't news!!

Here's an article on Space.com that shows why this isn't newsworthy at all.

Observations of nearly 700 stars by the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia revealed no compelling signs of alien civilizations, representatives of the Breakthrough Listen project, which led the observations for the E.T. search, announced Thursday (April 20).

www.space.com...

700 stars!!!

The Sun belongs to a galaxy called the Milky Way. Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone. Outside that, there are millions upon millions of other galaxies also!

www.space.com...

This project plans to look at 1 miilion stars over a decade. So this project will not give us any real useful data in this area until it's 6 or 7 years old.

The news about FRB's and Enceladus is much more important than the scanning of just 700 stars when we have 100 thousand million stars in are galaxy alone when there's an estimated 100-300 billion galaxies in the universe.