Mathematical Reasoning Why Aliens Will Probably Never Visit

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

"It is my contention that space travel may be difficult, even if there are some ways to bend the "rules" regarding FTL travel."

Suppose if it were that easy to accomplish then every half intelligent sentient species in the universe would be doing so.

Somehow i imagine through, we are as of yet not exactly in possession of all the facts pertaining to the reasons for lack of contact.

Keeping in mind the universe is a big place, we might just not be that special to warrant interest.

Or there may just be far more interesting areas of study to address before other races, from other places, get around to interacting with us Earthlings.

Maybe its just considered poor form or bad manners to approach another race before they introduce themselves to the universe by some means we have yet to accomplish?

originally posted by: TinfoilTP
There are no signals, we are alone.

A valid point.

If were are average and there has been life in the universe for a very long time then there should be a lot of signals all over the universe.

But

- what if we are above average
- what if we are below or don't know how to gather the signals
- there is some unknown barrier to reception near Earth we don't understand
- etc

We may well be limited by our thought process and knowledge. I suspect real answer are a long way off unless some life form arrives here and tells everyone.

a reply to: babybunnies

Oh wow. I will have to read everything you put out on ats now.

a reply to: AMPTAH

Evidence?

a reply to: JayJay77

To my knowledge the only physical evidence we have is circumstantial (imprints in soil, radioactivity, markings-scars on individuals, radar hits, highly questionable photography, etc).

Considering the territory of the topic, one can always say "the best evidence was covered up and put in a military hanger somewhere", which is fair enough I suppose. Who knows right?

If you add in all the legends and lore, all the witness reports, it eventually becomes a very feasible possibility.

The vast size of the Universe doesn't automatically indicate interstellar travel is unlikely.

And neither our human technological level nor our modern concept of physics preclude a super-advanced race from visiting.

Yes it's true we cannot visit them and we can't even figure out how to visit them anytime soon. But we don't even know who "they" the aliens are or how advanced their tech is.

Imagine our current Earth technological revolution in the last 150 to 200 years, especially since WW2. We are advancing so fast!

Now imagine how far we'd get if we survived safely and continued this development for a million years! Imagine 100 million or a billion years.

We cannot even fathom the possibilities much less comprehend the reality.

a reply to: babybunnies

Distance equals speed x time is mathematically reason enough.

originally posted by: muzzleflash
a reply to: JayJay77
.

The vast size of the Universe doesn't automatically indicate interstellar travel is unlikely.

Right. But also given the vast size of the universe, the closest civilization to us that may have the capability to travel through space relatively easily may be so far away that they have not had the occasion to visit this incredibly miniscule part of the universe in which Earth resides.

Imagine our current Earth technological revolution in the last 150 to 200 years, especially since WW2. We are advancing so fast!

Now imagine how far we'd get if we survived safely and continued this development for a million years! Imagine 100 million or a billion years.

I'm of the opinion that all civilizations have a life span and eventually die out for various reasons. So I have serious doubts that our civilization will be around in 1 million years (let alone a billion).

We might make it to become a space-faring civilization, even having humans (and whatever species descends from humans during the next million years) living off-world, but even after that there are things that could cause our civilization to totally collapse -- and I think that total collapse of our mutual civilization is more likely as time goes on, especially when we start talking about a million+ years from now.

And the same would be true for ET civilizations. Millions-of-years-old civilizations existing right now may be extremely rare in the universe. The nearest one might be a few galaxies away. There may have been a few in our own galaxy at one time that existed for 100 million years, but they could have also died out many 100s of millions of years ago -- before the dinosaurs or even before complex (non-single-celled) life on Earth existed.

a reply to: babybunnies

It's probably happening daily. You haven't live long enough, or been outside looking up at the right moment. I saw two somethings ten years ago. A day doesn't go by that I don't wonder "What was that?" Ten years of reading on the internet and I no longer feel insane for being afraid of the dark now. I have never seen you, I could say you do not exist. I have never seen a live whale in the ocean. I could say they do not exist. However, That is just not enough of a reason to decide something is real or not. Mathmaticaly, we are all supposed to be replicated all over the universe at every stage of your life from birth to death, over and over. So the Universe is enormous, and nature repeats its self. I am sure that every thing you can dream up is probably out there in the Universe. A diamond planet is supposed to be real.... Those aliens probably put us here, monitor us, take samples, live in the oceans, the back side of the moon, la grange points, and other places in our solar system. I dont think humans are all up for the real reality. Take a good look at the news, the society around you, what is really going on... People just aren't coping with each other or their own lives very well. The elderly and children for example can't deal with the idea of more stress. Certain people on ATS are so rude to other people, just because their lives or opinions on subjects are very different. Please keep your imagination open to the possibilities in life...