Posted on 04/10/2015 11:52:04 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The argument claiming that extraterrestrials don’t exist was actually proposed by the astronomer Michael Hart, in a paper he published in 1975. Hart supposed that if an extraterrestrial civilization arose in the galaxy it would develop interstellar travel and launch colonizing expeditions to nearby stars. These colonies would, in turn, launch their own starships spreading a wave of colonization across the galaxy.
How long would the wave take to cross the galaxy? Assuming that the starships traveled at one tenth the speed of light and that no time was lost in building new ships upon arriving at the destination, the wave, Hart surmised, could cross the galaxy in 650,000 years.
Even allowing for a modicum of time for each colony to establish itself before building more ships, the galaxy could be crossed in two million years, a miniscule interval on a cosmic or evolutionary timescale. Hart asserted that because extraterrestrials aren’t already here on Earth, none exist in our galaxy.
Hart’s argument was extended by cosmologist Frank Tipler in 1980. Tipler supposed that alien colonists would be assisted by self-reproducing robots. His conclusion was announced in the title of his paper ‘Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist’.
Why is it important that Hart’s argument wasn’t really also formulated by the eminent Enrico Fermi? Because Fermi’s name lends a credibility to the argument that it might not deserve. Supporters of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) want to search for evidence that alien civilizations exist by using radio telescopes to listen for radio messages that extraterrestrials may have transmitted into space. Interstellar signaling is vastly cheaper than a starship, and is feasible with technology we have today.
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
In other words, because extraterrestrials don’t conform to his equation, they don’t exist. Scientific arrogance.
It is not possible to do faster than light speed, no matter what the equations say. Equations that don’t describe reality are wrong. Reality is not obligated to follow the equations.
Actually there is. When we mature enough - presuming we will - to understand the genius of our founders and the foolish tyranny of the left we will finally be rid of the elitists who are convinced they can control everyone else. This will lead, inexorably, to and end of warfare and an age of strong independence for the world’s citizens. Once we have thrown off tyranny as a legitimate style of governing we will be able to survive for the long haul.
Maybe we live in a bad neighborhood. I moved to a crappy part of town when I was 25. I couldn’t get ANYONE to visit.
You start by going downhill, with two guys pushing. Then you pop the clutch. Light speed is just over the next hill.
How did that Duell myth get such legs?
We dont know the answers because we can’t imagine the questions
It’s been noted that animals that evolve fastest are the most parasitized and isolated from each other. However, horseshoe crabs do have at least some parasites.
Jellyfish, another ancient organism, may have a trick up its sleeve, for at least one jellyfish, called the “immortal jellyfish”, after reproduction reverts to its juvenile form, so does not die of old age.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turritopsis_dohrnii
These people are infuriating and have been saying “no” since the beginning of humankind.
Reminds me of the source of the name of that beautiful valley, Yosemite.
It comes from a phonetic repetition of the phrase the natives outside of the valley used about the natives inside the valley: "they are killers."
Hooah!
LOL, barbarian!
What evidence? I’d really like to know.
Probably because it seems like a just comeuppance for some know-it-all; the irony of it, and all that.
Why not?
Superluminal travel IS impossible, thats why you have to distort space/time to make the distance shorter.
The sun has proven this is possible by bending light showing starts that are BEHIND it, during an eclipse
You must not have been much of a physicist with such a closed mind
I am so closed minded I believe that the Earth is round, and people who claim it's flat are wrong.
No [employed] physicist spends his time entertaining ideas that have been demonstrated in literally thousands of experiments to be impossible.
Wormholes are pure speculation. If they exist, you've got no chance of using them for transportation anywhere, because a) it's unlikely you could survive the trip and even if you could b) they only come out between fixed locations in spacetime.
The density of the star population produces so much radiation that the trip would be fatal.
Ain’t going to happen. The natural state of things is tyranny, not freedom.
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