Medium of Death wrote:
That's just in our galaxy too. Think of all the other Galaxies out in the universe.

I'm hoping that within my lifetime we get some kind of extra terrestrial contact. There has to be a more scientifically/technologically advanced race out there somewhere.

 Medium of Death wrote:
Well if their technology is so far above our own I'd imagine any conflict would be over fairly quickly.

Also if it's a War of the Worlds scenario, there are 17 Billion Earth like planets it would probably be easier for a Space Fairing race to go to an empty one. Rather than one that's over crowded, polluted and filled with pesky HU-MONS.

I for one welcome our new Galactic Overlords.

 Medium of Death wrote:
Ah, reading "sized" as "like" leads to me being a sad panda. Still, if even a small percent of these worlds sustain life then there are still pretty good odds for intelligent life in this Galaxy.

 Frazzled wrote:

What if they are so different they don't even realize we are here? What if they are functionally immortal, having no concept of death, and slaughter billions without realizing what death even is?

Historically aboriginal cultures coming up against modern societies have had their cultures obliterated, and thats with a few hundred (or even one hundred) years effective difference. Do you really want that?

Mr. Hawking agrees with you there. I think putting Earth examples onto potential Alien societies maybe sounds like a good idea but is also kind of misleading. Our Society in general has gotten much more accepting over the last few hundred years, but still has a long way to go. What's to say that a culture hundreds of thousands of years our elders may not have reached a Utopian state?

Even if they weren't peaceful i'd rather know that they were out there, than never know at all.

 Captain Roderick wrote:
I think the problem with us being visited or invaded by aliens boils down to energy levels. The sheer amount of energy required to get a ship to another inhabited star system prohibits there being a need to go there... If an alien has the technological capacity to go faster than light, what possible need have they to come to earth?

 Hordini wrote:

 Captain Roderick wrote:
I think the problem with us being visited or invaded by aliens boils down to energy levels. The sheer amount of energy required to get a ship to another inhabited star system prohibits there being a need to go there... If an alien has the technological capacity to go faster than light, what possible need have they to come to earth?

Well if you put it that way, what possible need would they have to go anywhere else either? There are probably alien civilizations that would be just as interested in contacting intelligent life as we would be.

 DutchKillsRambo wrote:
Does anyone else think that proof of life on another planet, and I don't mean saucermen, would pretty much kill most established religions on Earth?

Not even necessarily intelligent life, just say a plant-like organism discovered somewhere far away. Could any of the major religions really stand up to something that shocking of a revelation?

 Grey Templar wrote:
Please explain. How would a war confined to Earth itself lead to the development of any sort of FTL drive? Other than some bizarre convoluted discovery involving a new type of bomb.

 Captain Roderick wrote:
I think the problem with us being visited or invaded by aliens boils down to energy levels. The sheer amount of energy required to get a ship to another inhabited star system prohibits there being a need to go there... If an alien has the technological capacity to go faster than light, what possible need have they to come to earth?

There's a great series of books by Stephen Baxter about the Fermi Paradox, well worth a read.

And Medium, for a society to develop interstellar travel implies a certain level of aggressiveness... If human's weren't fast breeding, competitive, large-brained omnivores, I doubt we'd have ever developed language, never mind quantum mechanics :-) From 1935 to 1945 we went from fabric-covered biplanes to ICBM's, jets and man-made objects in space. Competition is everything, and I think it'll be a long time before we have an adequate scientific theory as to how technological species develop that isn't shaped by our own hopes and biases, but competition seems to be key. Which is such a shame, NASA needs way more money, but it's sidelined since the cold war's over.

 Frazzled wrote:
What if they are so different they don't even realize we are here? What if they are functionally immortal, having no concept of death, and slaughter billions without realizing what death even is?

 Frazzled wrote:
What if they are so different they don't even realize we are here? What if they are functionally immortal, having no concept of death

 sebster wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
What if they are so different they don't even realize we are here? What if they are functionally immortal, having no concept of death, and slaughter billions without realizing what death even is?

You're right. There's lots of what-ifs. Best just to live in fear and hope nothing ever changes ever again.

 Frazzled wrote:

 sebster wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
What if they are so different they don't even realize we are here? What if they are functionally immortal, having no concept of death, and slaughter billions without realizing what death even is?

You're right. There's lots of what-ifs. Best just to live in fear and hope nothing ever changes ever again.

Thats sweet but is as stupid as it is irrelevant. No one is living in fear of aliens (except some military planners I am sure).

Having said that, we are the most predatory species outside of viruses in geologic history. Its the aliens who should be afraid of us.

 Grey Templar wrote:


I would however stress that we aren't the most Warlike. Ants get that title.

 Frazzled wrote:
Thats sweet but is as stupid as it is irrelevant. No one is living in fear of aliens (except some military planners I am sure).

 Grey Templar wrote:
Hey, you ever seen ants fight over a piece of wood? Not pretty.

 Grey Templar wrote:
Not really, all the worker and soldier ants are female. The males hatch, find a young queen, get lucky, and die.

 KalashnikovMarine wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:
Not really, all the worker and soldier ants are female. The males hatch, find a young queen, get lucky, and die.

Sounds like marriage to me am I right fellas?

 Captain Roderick wrote:
I think the problem with us being visited or invaded by aliens boils down to energy levels. The sheer amount of energy required to get a ship to another inhabited star system prohibits there being a need to go there... If an alien has the technological capacity to go faster than light, what possible need have they to come to earth?

There's a great series of books by Stephen Baxter about the Fermi Paradox, well worth a read.

And Medium, for a society to develop interstellar travel implies a certain level of aggressiveness... If human's weren't fast breeding, competitive, large-brained omnivores, I doubt we'd have ever developed language, never mind quantum mechanics :-) From 1935 to 1945 we went from fabric-covered biplanes to ICBM's, jets and man-made objects in space. Competition is everything, and I think it'll be a long time before we have an adequate scientific theory as to how technological species develop that isn't shaped by our own hopes and biases, but competition seems to be key. Which is such a shame, NASA needs way more money, but it's sidelined since the cold war's over.

 flamingkillamajig wrote:

Eliminate competition? An already live-able environment?

I mean Earth might not be live-able for said alien species like it is for life developed on it. I think that's another problem is we don't know the extent to what life can or can not form in (like how oxygen is actually poisonous to some life on earth). For all we know life exists near black holes or inside of them. I'd doubt it but hey a gigantic black hole is at the center of each galaxy. There's a lot of weird things to be discovered. Life is another one of these weird things. I mean if i recall correctly there are some species of plant that are exactly the same DNA type or can all be traced to one singular plant (as in they all compose of one single tree and are just sub-parts of that tree). I actually think this is also the case with coral reefs. I could be very much wrong but life can be really weird. I mean nature is weird. All of you are weird!

 Captain Roderick wrote:

 flamingkillamajig wrote:

Eliminate competition? An already live-able environment?

I mean Earth might not be live-able for said alien species like it is for life developed on it. I think that's another problem is we don't know the extent to what life can or can not form in (like how oxygen is actually poisonous to some life on earth). For all we know life exists near black holes or inside of them. I'd doubt it but hey a gigantic black hole is at the center of each galaxy. There's a lot of weird things to be discovered. Life is another one of these weird things. I mean if i recall correctly there are some species of plant that are exactly the same DNA type or can all be traced to one singular plant (as in they all compose of one single tree and are just sub-parts of that tree). I actually think this is also the case with coral reefs. I could be very much wrong but life can be really weird. I mean nature is weird. All of you are weird!

There's another interesting article I read recently, some Astronomers are analyzing gas clouds to see if they contain amino acids, or the building blocks of life. So far they've found alcohol and an important ingredient in the taste of raspberries,

 Hlaine Larkin mk2 wrote:
I though it was rum not vodka