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Study: Maybe we can’t find aliens because they’ve all died already
washingtonpost.com ^ | January 22 at 12:27 PM | Rachel Feltman

Posted on 01/22/2016 12:32:08 PM PST by Trumpinator

Study: Maybe we can’t find aliens because they’ve all died already

By Rachel Feltman January 22 at 12:27 PM

he hunt for extraterrestrial life is one of humanity's most exciting endeavors. The pieces are all falling into place: We're finding more and more planets outside of our own solar system, and soon the James Webb Telescope will give us unprecedented looks at these distant worlds. We've populated Mars with robots looking for signs of ancient habitability. Orbiters dive through the icy geysers of ocean-covered moons in hopes of catching some life-giving minerals. Our radio telescopes are tuned in to mysterious stars, listening for the sounds of a hustling and bustling civilization.

In spite all of that, we've yet to find a single measly microbe off-world. So where is everybody?

In a new study published in Astrobiology, researchers from the Australian National University offer up one possible explanation: Maybe all of the other life in our neighborhood has already come and gone.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Philosophy; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: aliens; australia; drakeequation; greenbankformula; space; xplanets
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
1 posted on 01/22/2016 12:32:08 PM PST by Trumpinator
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To: Trumpinator

Never thought of that angle but very interesting


2 posted on 01/22/2016 12:33:46 PM PST by Jarhead9297
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To: Trumpinator

You finally post something not having to do with defending Putin or his expansionist policies and it’s a dopey thing like this. “Maybe all the aliens are dead already”.


3 posted on 01/22/2016 12:35:33 PM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
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To: Trumpinator

Or maybe we are the first.

Like a Garden of Eden of the universe


4 posted on 01/22/2016 12:37:22 PM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: Trumpinator
Rare Earth.

The answer to Fermi's Paradox is that there aren't any other planets like ours in the galaxy.

Flame suit on, but don't fire until you read Ward & Brownlee's book, "Rare Earth."

5 posted on 01/22/2016 12:37:24 PM PST by backwoods-engineer (AMERICA IS DONE! When can we start over?)
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To: Trumpinator

Maybe they were all aborted.


6 posted on 01/22/2016 12:38:08 PM PST by HotKat (Politicians are like diapers; they need to be changed often and for the same reason. Mark Twaing)
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To: Trumpinator

The universe is billions of years old. Some of them died long before us, some will arise and die long after us. It’s all moot because we are separated by incomprehensible spans of space and time.


7 posted on 01/22/2016 12:38:09 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum ("The goal of socialism is communism." -- Vladimir Lenin)
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To: Trumpinator

LOL.. that did make me laugh. Please tell me it wasn’t taxpayer funded.


8 posted on 01/22/2016 12:38:09 PM PST by momincombatboots (Trump... The only Democrat who can win. Democrat plant! Well played democrats)
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To: ETL

Again, you like because I posted a lot of non foreign policy stuff. In your delusion you assume everything is about Russia. You wasted so much time on your spam for no results. So sad.


9 posted on 01/22/2016 12:38:18 PM PST by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said.)
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To: Jarhead9297

>>> Never thought of that angle but very interesting

Yes!... maybe they onto something there...

Maybe they died during Noah’s flood?

Maybe that means that umm... God killed them???


10 posted on 01/22/2016 12:38:19 PM PST by Safrguns
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To: Trumpinator
No, that's crazy. They're here, right now, walking around among us, we just can't see them because they're invisible.

They've got a big base down in Mexico inside a mountain that they fly in and out of.

I thought everybody knew that.

11 posted on 01/22/2016 12:38:32 PM PST by OKSooner (Once you understand that Barack Obama is not on America's side, everything that he does makes sense.)
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To: Trumpinator

I worked on the Greenbank radio telescope the world largest fully steerable one. One day I jokingly said to an astronomer “Well, Is there life in outer space?” His reply was there mathematically had to be. Not only did it have to exist but millions of times over. Then he said the question is, “Are they more advanced than us?” Imagine Earth 10,000 years from now. Now imagine it 1 million years from now. etc.


12 posted on 01/22/2016 12:38:49 PM PST by IC Ken
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To: ETL

Again, you lie because I posted a lot of non foreign policy stuff. In your delusion you assume everything is about Russia. You wasted so much time on your spam for no results. So sad.


13 posted on 01/22/2016 12:39:16 PM PST by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said.)
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To: IC Ken
Then he said the question is, “Are they more advanced than us?” Imagine Earth 10,000 years from now. Now imagine it 1 million years from now. etc.

----------------

We all assume progress is linear. But we on earth have seen progress collapse and dark ages arise. There is no guarantee that an older civilization would have uninterrupted technological progress.

14 posted on 01/22/2016 12:42:14 PM PST by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Some died off a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away. One too many death stars.


15 posted on 01/22/2016 12:42:25 PM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: Trumpinator

“2001 - A Space Odyssey” had a good take on this. Once a race becomes intelligent, there is a very short window from the time they transition from biological beings to cyborgs. After than, an even shorter window when they become G-d like entities. So, a race may only be intelligent for a 10-50 thousand years before they don’t care about making contact anymore with lesser beings.

Another theory mirrors “The Time Machine” (H.G. Wells). That is, intelligence can decay and devolve, like the Eloi and the Morlock. Or, more likely, we all catch the liberal disease and go extinct out of guilt and self doubt.


16 posted on 01/22/2016 12:42:50 PM PST by rbg81 (Truth is stranger than fiction)
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To: Trumpinator

Very interesting observation!...

Might find this interesting:

Chuck Missler talks here about the return of the Nephhilum:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skSTzkmOeQw


17 posted on 01/22/2016 12:43:01 PM PST by Safrguns
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To: Trumpinator
The Krell Syndrome: Technology advances to the point that a single insane individual can wipe out civilization on a whim.
18 posted on 01/22/2016 12:44:14 PM PST by snarkpup ("I want you for Secretary of Inflation." - Zippy the Pinhead)
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To: snarkpup
The Galactus theory (there is a theory like this):


19 posted on 01/22/2016 12:45:31 PM PST by Trumpinator ("Are you Batman?" the boy asked. "I am Batman," Trump said.)
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To: Trumpinator

Imagine I am standing in Yosemite National Park (about 1200 square miles).

Imagine that I am looking for a rare blue spotted spider the size of a pin head.

Imagine that I reach in my pocket, take out my wallet and look into it, and find no blue spotted spider.

THAT is about how much we have investigated the search for aliens with hard evidence. From a human’s standpoint, just our own Milky Way Galaxy is unimaginably large and old. And there are BILLIONS of Galaxies in the Observable Universe.

So, are there rare, blue spotted spiders in Yosemite? Unless I am unbelievably lucky and find one in my wallet, I cannot draw a definitive conclusion.

Are there aliens “out there”? We have not been lucky so far, but our sample size is so vanishingly small compared to the work area, we can draw no definitive conclusion.


20 posted on 01/22/2016 12:45:51 PM PST by Rebel_Ace (HITLER! There, Zero to Godwin in 5.2 seconds.)
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