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Are We Alone in the Universe? 13 Theories
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Lynn Send message Joined: 20 Nov 00 Posts: 14162 Credit: 79,603,650 RAC: 123 |
SETI@home is mentioned in the article :) Some people stick with the traditional, feeling struck by the epic beauty or blown away by the insane scale of the universe. Personally, I go for the old "existential meltdown followed by acting weird for the next half hour." But everyone feels something. The Fermi Paradox http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wait-but-why/the-fermi-paradox_b_5489415.html |
Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34053 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
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anniet Send message Joined: 2 Feb 14 Posts: 7105 Credit: 1,577,368 RAC: 75 |
The Fermi Paradox remains a well discussed topic, thanx for the link Lynn:) + 1 :) |
Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
Isolated, yes. Alone, no. Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34053 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
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yo2013 Send message Joined: 9 Mar 14 Posts: 173 Credit: 50,837 RAC: 0 |
Very nice article. Lately, I'm not so interested in thinking about what is the correct answer to the Fermi paradox, but thinking about how we can answer it: how we can build a starship, how we can do a better SETI, how we can visit Mars and search for fossils, ... |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1385 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
The Huffington Post article does a good job of explaining the Fermi paradox, enlightened by our current understanding of the universe. It also gives a satisfactory summary of the possible solutions to the paradox. None of the 'Group One' solutions, which assume that human life on this planet is extremely unusual, appear terribly convincing. It has long been our tendency to think ourselves special in one way or another, only to find that greater knowledge abolishes such thinking. The Copernican revolution is a good example of this. We were demoted from the center of creation to the status of one planet among many, all circling the Sun. The 'Group Two' possibilities, in which intelligent life is assumed to be common in the galaxy, are more interesting. Many of these are less than convincing, though, because they seem to assume that the galaxy was not fully explored and colonized long, long ago. Fermi realized that, given what was known, the galaxy should be so explored and so colonized, and wondered why this didn't appear to be so. Are we to assume that Earth is only visited rarely, from afar, or that our presence has somehow escaped the notice of a galaxy brimming with intelligent life, or that we could hope to conceal ourselves from such notice? If we do this aren't we are, in effect, simply denying a basic premise of the Fermi paradox, rather than explaining why it isn't so, a or at least appears not to be so? Colonization is widespread in all forms of life. It is a keynote of human evolution, which saw us expand from a small corner of Africa to fill our entire world. It does not seem too much to expect that some members of some extraterrestrial races will fully explore and/or colonize all available space in the galaxy, whatever the distractions at home, which may interest the many. That we must be as ants, and so of only very limited interest. to all other intelligent life in the galaxy is unlikely. It is reasonable that there would be a continuum of development. Some species would presumably be mere centuries, or millennia our senior. We could have a good deal in common with them. The proposition that we know nothing of civilization in our galaxy because our technology is inadequate to detect it has some merit. This may, at least in part, explain why we appear to be alone. It stands to reason, though, that if advanced extraterrestrials wished to contact us in an obvious manner, they could do so. Everything considered, it seems that we could be residing, on this planet, in a reserve of sorts, where we are allowed to develop with the minimum of interference consistent with our eventually becoming citizens of a galaxy-wide civilization. |
wulf 21 Send message Joined: 18 Apr 09 Posts: 93 Credit: 26,337,213 RAC: 43 |
None of the 'Group One' solutions, which assume that human life on this planet is extremely unusual, appear terribly convincing. Well, actually only solution number one implies we are special. Solution 2 means we are perfectly normal but just happen to live in special times (the first time higher intelligence becomes available, so all the others are roughly at the same stage of developement). Solution 3 means that we are a perfectly normal species on its way to perfectly normal doom. But the solution that SETI researchers must hope to be true isn't even mentioned. It is strictly speaking a sub-solution of solution 3, the "Great Filter" being the developement of inerstellar travel. If interstellar travel turns out to be impossible, we could safely exchange our knowledge in an interstellar dialogue without worrying about them ever coming here. There is one thing in the article that is simply wrong: The VLA (very large array) has never been used for SETI except in fiction. |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1385 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
Solution 2 in group one supposes that we are the first civilization in all the galaxy to reach a technological threshold. Even allowing for some hypothetical factor or factors that precluded the existence of previous civilizations, this still seems to place us in a very special position. Such thinking, in a variety of forms, has long proved attractive, but has always turned out to be wrong. Solution 3 places us very near an approaching 'great filter' of some sort. It seems to imply that other civilizations in the galaxy are destroyed by such a filter before their presence can become apparent to us. This places us in a very brief window in time, compared to the age of our planet. On the face of it, it seems very improbable that we would happen to find ourselves such a position in time. One could argue that some destructive consequence of our technological development is the 'great filter'. This may certainly be the case for some civilizations, but it seems improbable that it should apply to all. The odds our our surviving the cold war was once thought to be rather poor. We now seem to have successfully negotiated that challenge. By the way, the Very Large Array has been used to look for a potential SETI signal, in at least one instance. The sky position and radio frequency of the Ohio State University 'wow signal' were surveyed. See the link, below, for a scientific paper on this project: http://www.bigear.org/Gray-Marvel.pdf |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1385 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
Science concedes the likelihood of billions of habitable planets in our galaxy alone. Suppose only one other of these managed to play host to a civilization; one that saw fit to spread out into the galaxy at a very modest pace. Traveling at sub-light speeds, they could have filled the galaxy in a few million years. Given what we know of stellar evolution, the average habitable planet in our galaxy is likely a couple of billion years older than Earth. It appears that there has been far more than enough time for our galaxy to have been fully inhabited and, very likely, a great many opportunities for a colonizing civilization to have already arisen, long, long ago. |
Nick Send message Joined: 11 Oct 11 Posts: 4344 Credit: 3,313,107 RAC: 0 |
Once we are able to find a living planet then we will be able to speculate more accurately the potential for intelligent life beyond Earth. The Kite Fliers -------------------- Kite fliers: An imaginary club of solo members, those who don't yet belong to a formal team so "fly their own kites" - as the saying goes. |
anniet Send message Joined: 2 Feb 14 Posts: 7105 Credit: 1,577,368 RAC: 75 |
Hello :) don't mind me... just pondering whilst wandering... :) (disclaimer - practical application of scientific likelihood has been disengaged for duration of final clause and sentence :)) Well... we're not alone on our planet... so I very much doubt we'd be alone in the universe, given its scale. Leaving out the misfortune of having your planet in the wrong place at the wrong time of course... maybe the problem with "intelligent" life is that it's not always brilliant at recognising it's mistakes early enough to avoid obliterating itself. I'd be content with just knowing there was something furry or scaley or pimply or crawly (or whatever else it could be) somewhere out there... but you'd have to worry for it if we ever found it... Were we being observed from afar by any life with half a brain - wide berth and soundproofing is what they'd opt for I reckon :) |
Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1385 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
Yes, but I wonder what beings with twice our brains would want to do about us... |
anniet Send message Joined: 2 Feb 14 Posts: 7105 Credit: 1,577,368 RAC: 75 |
Yes, but I wonder what beings with twice our brains would want to do about us... Watch from afar... very very afar? :) |
Bob DeWoody Send message Joined: 9 May 10 Posts: 3387 Credit: 4,182,900 RAC: 10 |
Sub-title "The 14th Theory" This has been my contention for quite a while. Earth is a penal colony where bad humans were dumped a few hundred thousand years ago after being ruled too destructive. Bob DeWoody My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events. |
Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34053 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
Sub-title "The 14th Theory" Could very well be Bob but then the question will raise, Who dumped them? rOZZ Music Pictures |
anniet Send message Joined: 2 Feb 14 Posts: 7105 Credit: 1,577,368 RAC: 75 |
Sub-title "The 14th Theory" Intergalactic starfleet prison ship... bit like Group 4 Security :) Seems terribly unfair to the rest of life on Earth really... sacrificed to save the universe... |
Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34053 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
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Julie Send message Joined: 28 Oct 09 Posts: 34053 Credit: 18,883,157 RAC: 18 |
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Michael Watson Send message Joined: 7 Feb 08 Posts: 1385 Credit: 2,098,506 RAC: 5 |
If it appears likely (to an advanced extraterrestrial species) that we may devise a practical means of interstellar space travel before we learn to live in peace, they might want to intervene and teach us some galactic manners in the mean time. Can't have untutored barbarians dropping in and disturbing the peace. I'm not sure that our developing star travel is really so far off, either. Dr. Harold White at NASA is already running experiments, trying the create a space warp of a sort that could be the basis of a practical interstellar spacecraft. |
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