This is why we are not alone in this part of the Galaxy

Originally posted by grantbeed
I am 100% for sending messages into deep space. It's the best thing we could do.

I'm not happy with the way things are being run here on our planet. We could do with some outside help and advice.

If they are hostile, then they won't be any different from todays governments anyway.

Grantbeed, you should listen to Mr. Hyde, if you aren't happy with things now, how happy will you be when a species like the one in the "Independence Day" movie shows up? I'll bet you could be a whole lot unhappier especially if they were advanced enough to develop FTL drives and they also had an antivirus so that our defense in the movie wouldn't work and we'd be doomed. They were much worse than any government.

Originally posted by Mr.Hyde
reply to post by gortex

 

Has it been considered that sending messages out into deep space could be a bad idea?
(snip)
If by chance there are some ill mannered or aggressive life-form that does receive our deep-space signals we may have signed our own death certificates or enslavement

Yes it's been considered and many seem to think we should keep quiet for now at least, but some amateurs are sending messages anyway, it could be bad news, or good news, if we get a reply, there's no way to tell.

Originally posted by OrionHunterX
Why are we always constrained to think of the possibility of intelligent life in the universe that must be based on our templates?

Nothing can be farther from the truth. But scientists continue on this wild goose chase trying to find planets having the same or similar conditions as on Earth.

Why?

You make some valid points. But the point you seem to miss is this. Let's say the scientists agree and put you in charge of looking for other forms of life that are not like we know it. What are you going to look for? What kinds of detectors will you build, what signatures will you look for to see if a planet is inhabited?

I was amazed to see photos of the Earth as the Apollo astronauts returned from the moon, how even as they approached reasonably close to the earth it was hard to tell the planet is inhabited, especially during the day. The point is it's not always easy to detect life even when we DO know what to look for, and can be much harder when we don't know what to look for.

So what scientists do is design detectors to look for what they do know, not necessarily because they are closed minded to other possibilities, but because that's what they know how to do. If you don't know what you're looking for in an alternate lifeform (like silicon-based instead of carbon or whatever), how do you look for it? That's a big problem (along with a lack of funding), much more than closed mindedness.

Originally posted by Arbitrageur
You make some valid points. But the point you seem to miss is this. Let's say the scientists agree and put you in charge of looking for other forms of life that are not like we know it. What are you going to look for? What kinds of detectors will you build, what signatures will you look for to see if a planet is inhabited?

I agree, it is too easy to say that scientists are closed minded. I think looking for life on planets similar to ours is the obvious choice.

Life may take many forms (such as Wiki) but there are only a limited range of elements to construct 'biological style' life from.

There are only certain bases such as carbon that can be used that have the required reactivity to enable the entity to perform the functions needed to extract energy from the environment, reproduce and store information.

It is possible that life on earth started in more than one form but carbon based protein processing life out-competed it's inferior rivals. This could mean that our flavour of life is the inevitable outcome for environments similar to ours. Or maybe silicon based life exists on Earth but we just haven't recognised it yet.

I have said this on many occasions but we still don't have a proper definition for what 'life' is. If we can't define something adequately then how can we begin to look for it?


[edit on 12/1/2010 by LightFantastic]

i just happened to have an idea last night lets say that i'm not crazy and have actually seen grey's 3 different times now why are they so small why do they look like little kids with big heads well let me explain the big head is obvious they either have one big brain or the one idea is true and they have 2 brains one ofcourse would be for brain function and bodily functions ofcourse and the other would be for telepathic communication and whatever else they can do not saying they have 2 but if they do thats the cause along with higher intelligence why small bodies and why small stature? well let me explain this theory scientists have found that when astronauts are in orbit and space for a long period of time the muscle starts to dwindle as no gravitational resistance is needed to move around well lets say these things have been traveling space for periods upon periods of time its obvious they do alot of their time in a spaceship over time there bodies would just evolve for space travel less muscle less mass as it would just be a waste of space on a ship being taller wouldnt have an advantage but i think that could be a good reason along with maybe there planet has a different environment that evolved them that way it could be both but i'm pretty sure space travel is the main cause!

Originally posted by InfaRedMan
reply to post by Bluebelle

 

OMG! Bluebelle!!! What happened to your head?

IRM

The result of spending too much time on ATS, specifically the 2012 forum. Knew I shouldnt have gone in there. At least I still have my beard & eyebrows.

reply to post by Tifozi

Im sure out of the possible reasons for aliens disposing of us, food would be at the bottom of the list. Especially when we have a multitude of other delightful meats to tempt them with!

But on a serious note, there's plenty of reasons why aliens might want to get rid of us or whatever. There was a time when us 'intelligent' humans thought nothing of having a slave & invading other countries with no purpose in mind apart from increasing our catalogue of real estate. Who's to say there arent some badass alien overlords out there wanting to be in control of the whole galaxy.


[edit on 12/1/10 by Bluebelle]

Originally posted by spinalremain
Cool thread. I think it's pretty amazing, when thinking about the vastness of the Universe. I absolutely love to go to the Hayden Planet-arium (sorry, couldn't resist the South Park), just to view the size of our Galaxy in relation to other galaxy clusters onto super clusters. The sheer size of the visible universe is tough enough alone to comprehend, but to imagine the possible infinite vastness is basically mind blowing.

Personally, like many of us here at ATS, I am of the mind that our solar system is only but a common system in an endless sea of similar systems which do in fact support a wide variety of life. I really do not see how any rational thinking person can think otherwise. Psychotic religeous folk may be the only ones left who think otherwise in this day and age I suppose. Oddly enough in this day and age, they are still living with the doctrines set in place hundreds and sometimes thousands of years ago.

I too have seen a few programs concerning the Gliese 581 star and the surrounding planets we have detected. I remember being so excited when I learned of this. It really seems that the more science is learning about the universe, the more science and we are learning exactly how much the rest of the Universe resembles our own immediate surroundings. Most stars are binary and many do not have planetary bodies, but many do. I wonder how many other civilizations there are out there, and how far along their technology is? It's probably a number which is too astronomical itself for me to comprehend. There really must be countless civilizations out there seperated by countless light years. Perhaps the habitable zone for other life is vastly different han ours. There is just no way to know that unless you met an alien I guess. And if that is the case, then the chances and odds of life variety explode 100 fold again. It's just so fascinating to me.

in light of the rational nature of this belief, why does society still consider you crazy if you pick up a ufo magazine?

so its not crazy that there could be a universe teeming with life/aliens.

but it is crazy to think that any of them might know about or visit earth?

or that people could have seen them?

seems like double standards people are having, to me... aliens and ufos should be a pretty blase and accepted topic by now, given what we know about exoplanets already, and given all the millions of sightings now and in th epast.

(Will someone Please repost this as a new thread? I am a new user and can only reply to threads at the moment, lest an admin slides me the 5th golden ticket.

Why Pandorum May Be A Real Planet

Now, let me preface this by saying the following...

I heard somewhere that James Cameron had dreamt of Pandorum for years, but after searching around some (although not extensively) I could not find an internet quote of this, so if any of you can, please let me know at [email protected] as it would greatly fit into my theory. As many of you know, dreams themselves often occur on an astral plane, a place where many advanced spiritual thinkers of our civilization concur that we actually travel to in dream state.

Now, I have been reading Lisette Larkins book "Talking to Extraterrestrials", I know but stick with me. Any open and receptive consciousness that spends even 10 minutes with this book would feel something resonate in their heart and mind akin to truth. These dialogues most certainly seem beyond the scope of the normal human parlance, and she is a VERY respected author in the UFO community. I have also had certain experiences that would verify her accuracy, but this isn’t about me, I'm no one. So, heres the juice. On page 67 in the chapter entitled Count the Stars, Count the Ships the following text occurs.

"As you see signs of prejudice in your children, talk to them. Remind them that there are others who are different on this planet, that it is important to get beyond that type of thinking so that they might get ready to embrace other children who are off your planet and who may be blue with green stripes and who may have a tail, and who may have mastered telekinesis. Help them explode open their imaginations. Do this with your children and you will prepare them to know us. Surely you can imagine how beneficial this would be." pg. 67

Now, admittedly, this is not the most convincing selection of the text I could post to convince of the ET presence behind her channelings, or communications, I don’t think she likes the channel word. These are a certain colonies of Greys she says she is contacting here. This book was published in 2002.

Now, should we accept the veracity of her alleged sources, then we must also accept that it is most likely that these beings would choose an example of other life forms such as the above description from the infinite realities existing and manifest throughout this dynamic and ever-evolving universe, a cosmos of hyper-diversity, coral reefs of constellations. Shouldn’t we? What need would they have for hyperbole or conjecture when there are probably thousands of real examples to choose from? And if you know anything about the Greys, you would know that this is the exact tongue in cheek behavior they demonstrate, all in good humor, most of the time . So there's my schpeel.

I assure you that (and many Barnes and Noble and Borders carry her books) if you spend just 10 minutes with this book, those of you familiar with the litany of obvious UFO evidence out there will become convinced that there is a serious likelihood of this being truly of ET source. Amazon.com Larkins and see the reviews, she is respected. For those of you uninitiated unto the obviousness of the Grey’s presence. Please take a moment and watch this video.
www.youtube.com... UFO Lands on Playground: 62 Witnesses, All Children
my name is Austin Proffitt, I’m 23, my e-mail is [email protected] If you go through the avenues of information I have presented here on your own, and find what I am saying to be immanently plausible, then let us spread this post far and wide. Although, it may be best to keep it from those who CNN reported were experiencing depression and suicidal thoughts at not being able to be Pandorian. Or maybe this is the cure? www.cnn.com...

I like astronomy. I watched the video all the way through and was wanting more. The search for Earth like planets has got to be one of the best jobs right now in science. We really do need to understand our own planet in order to better understand potentially other Earth like planets out there. Earth is a diamond in the rough but I'm willing to bet there is another diamond out there in our own back yard.

Scientists limit the scope of their search because we know for a fact our conditions are adequate for life. Yes Theoretically life can exist on other worlds with different conditions than ours, I am a staunch supporter of this idea. But lets be reasonable, they have a limited window of opportunity to find life bearing worlds with this project, of course they are going to narrow the search to earth like planets. Although its much more likely in my opinion to stumble across life much different than ours before we find another earth.

I recently read a Scientific American article on the multi-verse, in which the authors used data to show a universe that could support life with only 3 of the 4 (known) fundamental laws. The other laws compensated for the lack of that law. If that's the case than we most definitely are not alone in this particular universe, where at LEAST the fundamental laws exist to moderately stabilize things.

Anyway just food for thought, but remember, as a species every time we have made up our minds about something, we have been shown to be incorrect. Due to lack of data, lack of vision, or both.


[edit on 21-1-2010 by JunoJive]

reply to post by Arbitrageur


You ask in your post, what alternative methods for searching for life, would we use. I believe that the best way to look for other life, is to examine each and every planet that we can observe, in the very highest clarity available, launch an orbiting probe with the ability to map each globe in our own solar system, and other systems in exactly the same detail as we can veiw our earth.
But truely even this would give us little to go on. The real answer is that we need to move people from this world, to others, first in our system , and then on toward other stars.We need to put a person on every solid surface between here and the edge of the galaxy BEFORE proclaiming what does and does not constitute life, and before we start to believe we have ANY idea how to even look for it .
You see, our limitations as a species include a certain predeliction for assumption. We once assumed the earth was flat, that the sun flew round the earth, and various other insanities, which only advanced observation was able to disprove.

Originally posted by metalholic
reply to post by JunoJive

 

i dont think there human or futuristic humans i think there tools for either another advanced species or an intergalactic society here to over see our progress through evolution or just to study us!

Your probably right, I believe that as well. Just covering all the bases. Also I would like to add that I've been reading a lot from people thinking that ET should come down and save us, protect us, and bring us enlightenment. To those people I say, this is our test, don't expect much help. I mean, how inclined are most people to work at a soup kitchen or aide their fellow man/women? Don't you realize that in all probability religion exists because of them. That's their contribution. You want to know where human nature is at right now? Look around. Look at all the religions of the world that started with good intentions but human nature contorted to something awful.