Aliens Always Portrayed as Ancient Civilizations...Why?

Many know that I don't post as a regular in this forum and in fact have only posted one thread previous to this.

I'll get right to the point rather than draw it out.

The human species on Earth seems to have advanced technologically at warp speed in the past 100 years and perhaps it is due to contact with another race from another planet as many seem to believe. Myself included by the way. And in looking at this advancement in such a short period of time in comparison with our time in existence, it's not so far fetched to believe that in another 100 years we will have developed the technology to travel at light speed, bounce around our galaxy and beyond.

So my question is this. Is it not entirely possible that another planet much like ours with a species very similar or even exact to have the same time line in existence and development as ours but a mere 100 years or so ahead? And by this I mean perhaps we are being visited by a civilization that is in fact not so ancient or so much more advanced than us...but rather just a little step ahead and they have actually just discovered life outside of their own. And that's us.

In another 100 years it could be us doing the same to another planet...right?

Anyways...just thought of this and decided to ask others for their thoughts before Family Guy comes on.

Peace

reply to post by jude11


I suppose it may be to do with the size of their brains, If they have more brain power than us by evolving differently they may have become space fairing ET's quicker than us or maybe they are less warlike and socially more intelligent and can work together easy so their tech advances come even quicker than ours.
Heck I dunno I guess we may find out one day.
I can't wait to have a nice cup of tea with one (If they are going to say Hi).

I think that's a perfectly valid possibility.
Another interesting thought I've had is that when we think of extraterrestrials, we always assume they're far more advanced than us... But what if they're not? What if we're more technologically advanced overall? Maybe they just happened to develop an entirely different propulsion system for their aircraft, and are thus seen as being superior to us.

There is evidence from many,many,many ancient civilization that advanced technology existed, including space travel.

Science took a GIANT leap forward toward the end of WW11, so might some ancient discoveries have been made at that time?

Since that was before the 'full disclosure' laws, ( ) maybe it has been kept top secret?

trollz
I think that's a perfectly valid possibility.
Another interesting thought I've had is that when we think of extraterrestrials, we always assume they're far more advanced than us... But what if they're not? What if we're more technologically advanced overall? Maybe they just happened to develop an entirely different propulsion system for their aircraft, and are thus seen as being superior to us.

Absolutely a possibility.

Who knows what materials they might have at their disposal that we have never heard or dreamed of but are just the norm for them?

Peace

Great thread Jude you sure have gotten my mind ticking.
What If they have a hive mentality and because they use all their brain power together as one big super brain they have only needed a very short time to solve problems.
Eeeee I love talking about ET

nugget1
There is evidence from many,many,many ancient civilization that advanced technology existed, including space travel.

Science took a GIANT leap forward toward the end of WW11, so might some ancient discoveries have been made at that time?

Since that was before the 'full disclosure' laws, (

) maybe it has been kept top secret?

edit on 7u77America/Chicago311 by nugget1 because: (no reason given)

Ok, I can give you that because I was waiting for it.

I do believe in ancient technology and far superior civilizations but perhaps not all of our "visitors" fall into that mold?

If there are older civilizations then there must surely be younger ones such as ours as well. Maybe even just a few years, decades, centuries older.

Peace

boymonkey74
reply to post by jude11

 

I suppose it may be to do with the size of their brains, If they have more brain power than us by evolving differently they may have become space fairing ET's quicker than us or maybe they are less warlike and socially more intelligent and can work together easy so their tech advances come even quicker than ours.
Heck I dunno I guess we may find out one day.
I can't wait to have a nice cup of tea with one (If they are going to say Hi).

The intelligence development may very well be a contributing factor.

Or maybe they were lucky enough to have contact with an advanced civilization closer to home and learned how to avoid self destruction before us and turned towards the stars a little sooner?

Peace

jude11
Many know that I don't post as a regular in this forum and in fact have only posted one thread previous to this.

I'll get right to the point rather than draw it out.

The human species on Earth seems to have advanced technologically at warp speed in the past 100 years and perhaps it is due to contact with another race from another planet as many seem to believe. Myself included by the way. And in looking at this advancement in such a short period of time in comparison with our time in existence, it's not so far fetched to believe that in another 100 years we will have developed the technology to travel at light speed, bounce around our galaxy and beyond.

So my question is this. Is it not entirely possible that another planet much like ours with a species very similar or even exact to have the same time line in existence and development as ours but a mere 100 years or so ahead?

First of all, GREAT QUESTION! I'm not a professional astrobiologist but I am studying to be one so perhaps I can answer this. Feel free to ask any followup questions you might have.

The answer is....

It's possible but VERY, very unlikely.

Here's why.

The chances any two civilizations would be at anywhere close to the same age are small. It all comes down to the age of the galaxy and the evolution of stars and planets.

The Sun and Earth are around 4.6 billion years old. The Milky Way Galaxy in which our solar system formed and exists is around 11 billion years old.

Most of the stars in our local neighborhood and in most of the galaxy for that matter are older than us by a billion years or more.

The most common type of star in the Galaxy are not G-class ones like our Sun (which only make up around 3.5% of the stars in the Milky Way).

They are K and M-stars which are smaller, cooler and redder than the Sun and make up over 80% of the stars in our galaxy.



These stars will have lifetimes longer than our Sun, most are already older because the bigger and brighter the star, the shorter the lifespan as shown here:




So they outlasted their more massive counterparts born around the same time.

These cooler stars also have the most chance of having a planet in their habitable zone. The place where liquid water can exist on the surface of a planet.

48% of them have a habitable zone planet as opposed to G-stars like our sun which only have a 22% chance of a habitable planet like the Earth.



In fact we know of several of these stars with MORE THAN ONE potentially habitable planet. Here's an example of one of them, Gliese 667






Since these stars are older and last longer life around them will have had much longer to evolve.

So advanced space faring aliens are unlikely to come from stars around the age of the Sun because these smaller stars are both older AND more numerous. Which means our chances of running into a far older civilization are much greater than one right around our age.

It's a numbers game.

Also....

The estimated average distance between habitable M-star planets is also relatively short in cosmic terms: 6.4 light years and the chances that there is one of these planets within 10 light years of the Earth is estimated at being around 94%.

Almost good enough to bank on.

So if we run into aliens, chances are they're going to not be just 100 or even 1000 years ahead of us, but rather several million if not a billion years more advanced than us.

We're the kids of the galaxy. Or more like a baby in a crib in a nursery in a house full of adults in a neighborhood and city.



This is why many of the ideas of sci-fi alien invasions etc are fanciful and sometimes silly.

As Michio Kaku says, a battle between Earth and an advanced alien species would not be David vs Goliath. It would be Bambi vs Godzilla.



Or to put it another way....



That said, if you can travel several light years to the Earth chances are you have no need to destroy our world. Anything you might want on it is plentiful out in space and the one thing we have going for us, our cultural uniqueness might be worth observing and preserving if for no other reason than to add to an older civilization's galactic anthropology databank and save them from their boredom.

JadeStar

jude11
Many know that I don't post as a regular in this forum and in fact have only posted one thread previous to this.

I'll get right to the point rather than draw it out.

The human species on Earth seems to have advanced technologically at warp speed in the past 100 years and perhaps it is due to contact with another race from another planet as many seem to believe. Myself included by the way. And in looking at this advancement in such a short period of time in comparison with our time in existence, it's not so far fetched to believe that in another 100 years we will have developed the technology to travel at light speed, bounce around our galaxy and beyond.

So my question is this. Is it not entirely possible that another planet much like ours with a species very similar or even exact to have the same time line in existence and development as ours but a mere 100 years or so ahead?

It's possible but VERY, very unlikely.

Here's why.

The Sun and Earth are around 4.6 billion years old. The Milky Way Galaxy in which our solar system formed and exists is around 11 billion years old.

Most of the stars in our local neighborhood and in most of the galaxy for that matter are older than us by a billion years or more.

The most common type of star in the Galaxy are not G-class ones like our Sun. They are K and M-stars which are smaller, cooler and redder than the Sun and make up over 80% of the stars in our galaxy.

These stars will have lifetimes older than our Sun, most already do because the bigger and brighter the star, the shorter the lifespan as shown here:

These cooler stars also have the most chance of having a planet in their habitable. 48% of them have a habitable zone planet as opposed to G-stars like our sun which only have a 22% chance of a habitable planet like the Earth.

Since these stars are older and last longer life around them will have had much longer to evolve.


The estimated average distance between habitable M-star planets is also relatively short in cosmic terms: 6.4 light years and the chances that there is one of these planets within 10 light years of the Earth is estimated at being around 94%.

Almost good enough to bank on.

So if we run into aliens, chances are they're going to not be just 100 or even 1000 years ahead of us, but rather several million if not a billion years more advanced than us.

We're the kids of the galaxy. Or more like a baby in a crib in a nursery in a house full of adults in a neighborhood and city.

This is why many of the ideas of sci-fi alien invasions etc are fanciful and sometimes silly.

As Michio Kaku says, a battle between Earth and an advanced alien species would not be David vs Goliath. It would be Bambi vs Godzilla.

Ok, nice reply. Thanx for that but...Damn! Why spoil the fun with facts?

Kidding of course. What about another Galaxy outside of our own? A billion galaxies out there and many are believed to have mirrored our beginnings and development right? So why not from a different Galaxy much like our own with a civilization that has advanced just a little further than us?

Thanx for the info BTW.

Peace

reply to post by jude11


Jude buddy...


So my question is this. Is it not entirely possible that another planet much like ours with a species very similar or even exact to have the same time line in existence and development as ours but a mere 100 years or so ahead?


It would be 'luck of the draw'...do they value power over the people as we do..? If so, I'm sure they are experiencing the same pain-points as we are.


It would be nice if there was a universal law that prevented group think.

reply to post by JadeStar

Good post. Star for you. BUT. The possibility is still there. We know some things about our galaxy, but we don't know it all. As you said, we're children in comparison to some that could be out there. Our science is based on what we know. Not what we don't know. There are all kinds of possibilities we haven't even begun to ponder yet.

jude11


Ok, nice reply. Thanx for that but...Damn! Why spoil the fun with facts?

Kidding of course. What about another Galaxy outside of our own?

Most have the same distribution of star ages. Plus our nearest neighbor galaxy (the Andromeda Galaxy) is 2 million light years away. When we view it we're looking at it as it existed 2 million years ago as well.

A lightyear is a crazy distance. While interstellar travel is quite possible (we have a probe which just left the solar system afterall), intergalactic travel is likely impossible even if you could somehow warp space according to Alcubierre warp drive theory, the energy requirements are likely to increase with distance of the warp.

A billion galaxies out there and many are believed to have mirrored our beginnings and development right?

More or less yes.

So why not from a different Galaxy much like our own with a civilization that has advanced just a little further than us?

Because the same rules would pretty much apply even if they could get here.

Nature likes to make small things. The smaller the thing, the more of them there are.

There are more grains of sand in the universe than planets the size of the Earth.

There are more planets the size of the Earth than planets the size of Jupiter.

There are more small, old M-stars than larger younger G-stars like our sun.

So no matter which galaxy, the old will outnumber the young kids like us. It's just down to nature liking to make small things which last longer than big things.

The meek may not inherit the Earth but they will inherit the Universe

Thanx for the info BTW.

Peace

You're welcome. That's why I'm here.

Klassified
reply to post by JadeStar

 

Good post. Star for you. BUT. The possibility is still there.

I never said it was impossible. Just improbable. Very improbable. Less than the chance you would hit the lottery *times* 1 million.

We know some things about our galaxy, but we don't know it all.

Of course. But what we DO know is well established enough through over a century of observational data that their question could be addressed with solid math behind it.

I look at it this way, 2000+ years ago, clues to ancient structures such as the great pyramid could have been built with anti gravity and advanced technology we cannot match in 2014...since this era this species had to advance forward to some degree and with their technology at that time is eons ahead of ours now, they must have gained some added knowledge. If we went that far in 100 years imagine how far they have advanced in a few millenium as we are spoiled self centered children in their eyes...

reply to post by jude11

The human species on Earth seems to have advanced technologically at warp speed in the past 100 years and perhaps it is due to contact with another race from another planet as many seem to believe. Myself included by the way

I'm a believer in an alien presence but it irks me when people downplay our own capabilities and fail to comprehend both biological and scientific progression. Technology grows exponentially and is intrinsically connected to energy use, think about those two points, exponential growth dependent on energy resources...

It is entirely possible.

Looking at potentials withing the parameters of current theorised science is like wearing a blindfold and pretending to know everything around you.

Something like 300 years ago, the then scientists held the opinion that flight is only possible for birds and feathered creatures, or like 30 years ago if the suggestion that the Universe is increasingly EXPANDING was proposed to a physicist they would have balked at the idea, same for at the suggestion of dark matter.

Only recently have a few Earth like planets been found, there are likely many more and probably a lot nearer, and that is just Earth like planets.

There are infinite possibilities of infinite worlds with infinite possibilities within those worlds, the same for dimensions.

Presuming extra terrestrial beings as human like is a very limited view point, as is assuming ETI as necessarily originating in / on an Earth like environment.

Earth is but a speck in a speck in a speck in the scale of the Universe.

The probability of all Intelligent life form in the Universe being exactly uniform is infinitesimally small, same for the probability of humanity being the most advanced. Chances are there are much more advanced ETI and just like the ants on the forest floor, humanity might not be capable of comprehending the totality of the reality and the truth.

boymonkey74
reply to post by jude11

 

I suppose it may be to do with the size of their brains, If they have more brain power than us by evolving differently they may have become space fairing ET's quicker than us or maybe they are less warlike and socially more intelligent ...

5000 years ago, our brains were virtually exactly the same as they are now, and human nature was pretty much the same. 5000 years from now, we may be a space faring civilization, but our brains will probably not evolve in any noticeable way in only 5000 years.

Soylent Green Is People

boymonkey74
reply to post by jude11

 

I suppose it may be to do with the size of their brains, If they have more brain power than us by evolving differently they may have become space fairing ET's quicker than us or maybe they are less warlike and socially more intelligent ...

5000 years ago, our brains were virtually exactly the same as they are now, and human nature was pretty much the same. 5000 years from now, we may be a space faring civilization, but our brains will probably not evolve in any noticeable way in only 5000 years.

...at least not biologically

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Unless we use technology to advance our brains...evolution is too slow so lets get some cyberware in our heads and become the beings we imagine we can be.