Posted on 11/20/2013 9:33:30 AM PST by Dysart
Oh and social sites like facebook so we can spy on ourselves for them.
They will fatten us up with food stamps.
I’m Venus bound...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7_YNTQmtGg
I think there is probably life around. It may even be intelligent like a salmader, or even a dog. But technology seems really hard, even on earth. And it seems life is really hard even on relatively friendly mars.
So I say 40 billion to one is not good enough odds for me.
Listen up people!
We have been placed on the Intergalactic Federation’s DO NOT CALL List.
We’ve been quarantined
They’re all tired of receiving unsolicited transmissions of Miley Cyrus twerking, Madonna and her snow cone bras, the Khardashians, Lady Gaga. They especially despise Rap.
Unless we stop it, they will send armies of Moose-shell biosynths to punish us. That would be the multi-segmented thorax decapod version with a more horrible voice than the original.
So cut it out. Save our chilrun.
If you are trying to Warp space time, then a spheroid may be easier than a box.
We could communicate with distant civilizations via radio. Low data rates and long message delay times, no doubt. The Milky Way, our “hood” is 100,000 light years across. If we try to communicate with a relatively nearby civilization, say 1000 light years distant, we could send a message today and would not expect a reply until 4013, or about the time between the present and the birth of Christ.
Of course, if you could travel near the speed of light, you could travel to this distant civilization in what for you would seem like a relatively (no pun intended) short time, but by the time you get back, the earth will be 2000 years older, and your mission will be the stuff of ancient legend, no one expecting to ever see you again.
Our crust is thin and the core is still active so we get outgassing and we get plate techtonics and carbon recycling.
We also get a nice magnetic field that conserves our atmosphere and protects us from harmful radiation.
There’s a big sign just beyond Pluto that says “Warning, this solar system inhabited by liberals, stay away!”
I personally don’t care for our definition of habitable.
I think of Mars as habitable in the sense that we’re technologically advanced enough to survive and even thrive there if only in domed habitats. In a few hundred years we may be technologically advanced enough to restart the nuclear furnace at the core of Mars and start rebuilding an atmosphere.
Humans are the most adaptable species ever to exist on the face of the planet. We can adapt to things slightly outside our required parameters. The technology of today and the future can greatly expand those parameters.
Great discussion!
I don’t want to get bogged down on the “100 years” example that I gave. The universe is estimated to be 10 billion years old, so there should be a likelihood that there would be civilizations that are much older than ours. My point is that, ironically, the more potentially habitable planets that they find, the lesser the chance that they are actually inhabited because of the normalized distribution which would but us at the center of the technological advancement scale. As for those who mentioned that there may be a higher power that may not want to communicate with us except maybe selectively, I welcome you to the Christian faith!
Odd.
I know.
"Send More Chuck Berry."
And we've got Beer.
Perhaps, the "letter is in the mail" and just hasn't reached us yet. We've been sending such "letters", at least since the invention of radio.
“Perhaps, the “letter is in the mail” and just hasn’t reached us yet. We’ve been sending such “letters”, at least since the invention of radio.”
“Since the invention of radio” is a mere tick of a second, on the grandfather clock of time.
I’m sure there are space aliens out there but what the hell good are they? They aren’t cleaning up Fukushima or lowering the cost of gas or beaming the Democrats and GOPe into a black hole so they can go jump into a lake.
I disagree. Paul Davies is a very accomplished science writer (and physicist as PCW Davies). He points out that increasingly sophisticated telescoping power may soon let us look for tell-tale signs of even primitive biology in different atmospheres, within tens or hundreds of light years. Such discovery would be the clincher, at least enabling us in the certainty that we are not alone in God's universe.
Nor did I intend to convey other wise, just that the letter has been sent. Other possible worlds may have sent their letters much sooner than we did and we may receive it any day now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.