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Aliens Are Almost Definitely Out There, SETI Astronomers Tell Congress
huffingtonpost.com ^ | 22 May 2014 | Dominique Mosbergen

Posted on 05/22/2014 11:55:42 AM PDT by Las Vegas Dave

Aliens almost definitely exist.

At least, that's what two astronomers told Congress this week, as they appealed for continued funding to research life beyond Earth.

According to ABC News, Dan Werthimer, director of the SETI [search for extraterrestrial intelligence] Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, told the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Wednesday that the possibility of extraterrestrial microbial life is "close to 100 percent."

"In the last 50 years, evidence has steadily mounted that the components and conditions we believe necessary for life are common and perhaps ubiquitous in our galaxy," said Werthimer in his written testimony, adding: "The possibility that life has arisen elsewhere, and perhaps evolved intelligence, is plausible and warrants scientific inquiry."

Werthimer's colleague Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, also told Congress that he believes our chances of finding extraterrestrial life are high.

“The chances of finding it I think are good and if that happens it will happen in the next 20 years depending on the financing,” Shostak told the committee.

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


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: gibusmoremoney; lobbying4aliens; obamafone4scientists; ufo
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To: Gen.Blather
I have zero doubt there are other intelligences out there. ...Oh, and why would they come here?

First off, since God created the universe and us in his image, any other life HE may have created wouldn't be any more advanced than us...........

Even if our radio signals can be understood at the colossal distances we’re talking about, they haven’t yet gotten to a suitable candidate star.

And neither has the similar radio signals created by a race no more advanced than ours been received........

101 posted on 05/22/2014 1:18:03 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Under Reagan spring always arrived on time.....)
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To: MUDDOG

That makes sense. I really wasn’t sure what they did with SETI. Thanks.


102 posted on 05/22/2014 1:18:40 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: All

First of all, is this guy saying they can find extraterrestrial microbial life in 20 years if they have enough money?

The best way to describe obama and moochelle. We’ve got illegal aien microbes living in the white house.


103 posted on 05/22/2014 1:21:28 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican
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To: Kozak
So God created a universe with billions of galaxies and trillions of stars, and then only created....us.

Pretty arrogant and ignorant of us to think so ... wouldn't you say ? Kinda like believing that the universe revolved around us ... in retrospect how did that work out?

104 posted on 05/22/2014 1:22:28 PM PDT by clamper1797 (Evil WILL flourish when good men WILL not act)
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To: dfwgator

I don’t think the Bible really talks about it one way or another.


105 posted on 05/22/2014 1:22:50 PM PDT by Future Snake Eater (CrossFit.com)
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To: oh8eleven

You asked: “Why haven’t any of them visited here or at least had the courtesy to send an email?”

Because they’re not wasting money trying to pick up one of our radio stations.


106 posted on 05/22/2014 1:23:30 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican
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To: dfwgator
But think about how everything in the galaxy has to be positioned just perfectly (Distance of the sun and moon from the Earth), in order to support life on the planet.

Maybe life like ours ... our form of life may not be the only game in town ... so those who populate "heaven or hell" are they alive?

107 posted on 05/22/2014 1:25:22 PM PDT by clamper1797 (Evil WILL flourish when good men WILL not act)
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To: Hot Tabasco

We have no real view of God’s plans, only what he chose to say to us. I don’t imagine he’d have considered any other experiments our business.

The universe is variously described as between 12-18 billion years. Our planet is considered to be about 5 billion. Now, for much of that time the heavier elements, which came from supernova explosions way after the Big Bang, were not available so, let’s say for 8 billion or so years there was no life. So, other planets could be between 4-8 billion years old. Western civilization, the one that reveres God, is only 2,000 years old. Two thousand years is an amazingly short time.

If God was diddling with other experiments and they worked a little better or faster then they could be hundreds of thousands of years old. (Remember, species on Earth only average 10,000,000 before they die.)

Potentially, there are some very old civilizations out there. But they are still subject to the same physics that make it improbable for us to ever meet.


108 posted on 05/22/2014 1:26:00 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: clamper1797

Yeah I find it pretty unlikely we are are alone whether you believe in Evolution or Creation. The universe is just so stunningly big....


109 posted on 05/22/2014 1:27:57 PM PDT by Kozak ("It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal" Henry Kissinger)
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To: Oberon
The answer entirely depends on whether or not God decided to put life on other planets, and as far as I can tell He is under no obligation to inform us on that point.

Precisely!

110 posted on 05/22/2014 1:29:30 PM PDT by Finny (Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -- Psalm 119:105)
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To: dfwgator; All

As far as ‘what the Bible says’, I would pose a few questions:

Did this other intelligent race fall?

If so, did Christ become one of their race and die for their sins?

If not, is there a part of this universe which is not fallen?


111 posted on 05/22/2014 1:35:11 PM PDT by LucianOfSamasota (Tanstaafl - its not just for breakfast anymore...)
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To: oh8eleven

I can not believe it took to post # 78 for the picture of this crazy dude on this thread. I absolutely figured he would be in the first 20 posts.


112 posted on 05/22/2014 1:39:54 PM PDT by woodbutcher1963
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To: Las Vegas Dave

There is a double problem, not only of distance, but of time.

The distances are ridiculously large, and even if someone is trying to communicate by any normal means, their communication obeys the inverse square law, which basically means that even if it is incredibly powerful at its point of origin, it will dissipate before it reaches us.

Likewise, the universe is about 15 billion years old. If some civilization had a normal evolution and achieved intelligence and eventually died out a billion years ago, we would have missed it entirely. And who knows how many civilizations could have risen and fallen in that time? The Earth is only about 4 billion years old, so might not have even existed back then.

And remember that Earth’s evolutionary clock was reset several times because of disasters.

It’s not just us, either. Every now and then there are events in the galaxy that sterilize entire sectors of space, so even if there were many advanced civilizations there, they would all be extinct. Nothing but artifacts, if that.


113 posted on 05/22/2014 2:01:02 PM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: Las Vegas Dave

According to ABC News, Dan Werthimer, director of the SETI [search for extraterrestrial intelligence] Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, told the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology Wednesday that the possibility of extraterrestrial microbial life is “close to 100 percent.”


So the guy with the INTELLIGENCE group says that there are probably MICROBES out there.

Anyone see a little deception in this story?


114 posted on 05/22/2014 2:06:10 PM PDT by Freeping Since 2001 (Since 2001. Seriously.)
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To: camle

If we ever do make contact, and they work cheaper than the Chinese or Bangladeshis, look for push for GAFTA (Galactic America Free Trade Agreement).


115 posted on 05/22/2014 2:22:02 PM PDT by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: shibumi
 photo METH_zps352d119a.jpg
116 posted on 05/22/2014 2:29:55 PM PDT by baddog 219
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To: Freeping Since 2001; Salamander

They’re small, but very, very clever.


117 posted on 05/22/2014 2:32:35 PM PDT by shibumi (Cover it with gas and set it on fire.)
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To: shibumi

LOL!


118 posted on 05/22/2014 2:33:34 PM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: All
"Aliens Are Almost Definitely Out There,
SETI Astronomers Tell Congress"




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119 posted on 05/22/2014 2:33:39 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: trisham

“Almost definitely” sounds like a consensus to me, let us redesign our whole society around that! or not.


120 posted on 05/22/2014 2:35:46 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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