Posted on 07/16/2014 4:36:49 AM PDT by John W
It's highly unlikely we're alone in the universe, NASA experts are saying, and we may be close to finding alien life. In fact, it may happen in the next two decades.
NASA held a panel discussion at the agency's Washington headquarters on Monday, where space experts talked about the search for Earth-like planets that host life. Based on recent advancements in space telescope technology, scientists estimated that in the coming decades we'll confirm suspicions that we're not alone.
"I think in the next 20 years we will find out we are not alone in the universe," NASA astronomer Kevin Hand said in footage filmed at the discussion and posted on YouTube.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden echoed Hand's sentiment.
"It's highly improbable in the limitless vastness of the universe that we humans stand alone," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
Maybe they’ll wipe out D.C. like the aliens in “Independence Day” did.
We already know that we’re not alone in the universe; the Bible tells us of God and his Angels.
They had a Mayday in Roswell, Look what happened to them, and they said we are not returning to this Brutal Planet! We’ll just do flybys and try to the scare the crap outta them>
Do you think the unexplained radio bursts detected from deep space might have contributed to this announcement?
Bingo. People assume aliens on other planets will be cute little ETs or something. They might want to exterminate this planet before taking it over, and they think WE’RE the roaches.
I don’t know. I suppose predicting the eventual alien contact every year or so will one day make one sound like a prophet.
The fascinating aspect of this is "How long ago" are we seeing them? The nearest star systems are under 10 years at light speed, so our images are 10 years old. The nearest potentially habitable is some 13 years at light speed so that's 13 years ago. Some of the stars at the edge of the visible universe are at nearly incomprehensible distances. Andromeda is 2.5 million light years away. We are seeing images of ancient history at this point.
Simply amazing when you truly conceptualize the size of God's creation.
That sentiment may be shared by the “other life”
The thing to worry about is that they may be thinking the same thing.
I remember audiences cheering when the White House was blown up.
At the time, I thought that was an interesting bit of data.
"They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"Meat. They're made out of meat."
"Meat?"
"There's no doubt about it. We picked up several from different parts of the planet, took them aboard our recon vessels, and probed them all the way through. They're completely meat."
"That's impossible. What about the radio signals? The messages to the stars?"
"They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don't come from them. The signals come from machines."
"So who made the machines? That's who we want to contact."
"They made the machines. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Meat made the machines."
"That's ridiculous. How can meat make a machine? You're asking me to believe in sentient meat."
"I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. These creatures are the only sentient race in that sector and they're made out of meat."
"Maybe they're like the orfolei. You know, a carbon-based intelligence that goes through a meat stage."
"Nope. They're born meat and they die meat. We studied them for several of their life spans, which didn't take long. Do you have any idea what's the life span of meat?"
"Spare me. Okay, maybe they're only part meat. You know, like the weddilei. A meat head with an electron plasma brain inside."
"Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat heads, like the weddilei. But I told you, we probed them. They're meat all the way through."
"No brain?"
"Oh, there's a brain all right. It's just that the brain is made out of meat! That's what I've been trying to tell you."
"So ... what does the thinking?"
"You're not understanding, are you? You're refusing to deal with what I'm telling you. The brain does the thinking. The meat."
"Thinking meat! You're asking me to believe in thinking meat!"
"Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all over?"
"Omigod. You're serious then. They're made out of meat."
"Thank you. Finally. Yes. They are indeed made out of meat. And they've been trying to get in touch with us for almost a hundred of their years."
"Omigod. So what does this meat have in mind?"
"First it wants to talk to us. Then I imagine it wants to explore the Universe, contact other sentiences, swap ideas and information. The usual."
"We're supposed to talk to meat."
"That's the idea. That's the message they're sending out by radio. 'Hello. Anyone out there. Anybody home.' That sort of thing."
"They actually do talk, then. They use words, ideas, concepts?"
"Oh, yes. Except they do it with meat."
"I thought you just told me they used radio."
"They do, but what do you think is on the radio? Meat sounds. You know how when you slap or flap meat, it makes a noise? They talk by flapping their meat at each other. They can even sing by squirting air through their meat."
"Omigod. Singing meat. This is altogether too much. So what do you advise?"
"Officially or unofficially?"
"Both."
"Officially, we are required to contact, welcome and log in any and all sentient races or multibeings in this quadrant of the Universe, without prejudice, fear or favor. Unofficially, I advise that we erase the records and forget the whole thing."
"I was hoping you would say that."
"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"
"I agree one hundred percent. What's there to say? 'Hello, meat. How's it going?' But will this work? How many planets are we dealing with here?"
"Just one. They can travel to other planets in special meat containers, but they can't live on them. And being meat, they can only travel through C space. Which limits them to the speed of light and makes the possibility of their ever making contact pretty slim. Infinitesimal, in fact."
"So we just pretend there's no one home in the Universe."
"That's it."
"Cruel. But you said it yourself, who wants to meet meat? And the ones who have been aboard our vessels, the ones you probed? You're sure they won't remember?"
"They'll be considered crackpots if they do. We went into their heads and smoothed out their meat so that we're just a dream to them."
"A dream to meat! How strangely appropriate, that we should be meat's dream."
"And we marked the entire sector unoccupied."
"Good. Agreed, officially and unofficially. Case closed. Any others? Anyone interesting on that side of the galaxy?"
"Yes, a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone. Was in contact two galactic rotations ago, wants to be friendly again."
"They always come around."
"And why not? Imagine how unbearably, how unutterably cold the Universe would be if one were all alone ..."
It’s not the technology or propulsion systems, it is the absolute limit of the speed of light. There is no getting around it.
The closer you accelerate towards light speed, the more energy it takes to accelerate. It would take infinite energy to actually reach the speed of light, making it impossible to ever reach or exceed that speed.
Then there is the issue with time. Let’s say we managed to achieve 50% of light speed. Then it would take 8 years to reach the nearest star, and another 8 to return. The traveler would not experience 16 years in the spaceship, the time would be less (by how much, I don’t know, since I don’t know that calculation off the top of my head). However much the passage of time would be affected by traveling at half light speed, it would probably still be enough time cooped up in a tiny space to drive one mad. Plus, by the time the round trip is complete, 16 years would have passed on earth. That is just the closest star... other stars are much further away. Who would want to go exploring and come back to find 20, 50, 1000 years have passed?
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