275 replies to this topic

[Jake]

The poll is private, so your sanity won't be questioned unless you wish to speak up

[Catostylus]

No. Einstein rulez.

[Kevin]

Yes - they are already here.

They are your children.


Aliens from other worlds - ha - no doubt the trained physicist can enlighten the ordinary people who think Einstein might be right i.e. an information horizon with a speed limit of 299,792,458 m/s.

Kevin

[holdencaulfield2007]

There is no way of ruling out the possibility so "perhaps" is my answer. There are billions of planets which are all possible bearers of intelligent life forms. On the other hand none of them may have any, who knows?

[Batty]

No idea.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

There is no way of ruling out the possibility so "perhaps" is my answer. There are billions of planets which are all possible bearers of intelligent life forms. On the other hand none of them may have any, who knows?

I agree. However, if humans went to another planet, consider the crap we'd leave behind. Evidence of our having visited would be pretty damned obvious. If aliens visited our planet, then they would leave just as much evidence behind. No evidence of alien arrivals has ever been found. Not one molecule.

OTOH and, possibly more importantly, any race that has mastered interstellar travel (which pretty much means FTL (Faster Than Light) speeds would have zero interest in any "ape descended lifeform that still thinks a digital watch is a neat idea" (apologies to Douglas Adams). Homo sapiens has nothing to offer aliens. With the possible exception of the works of Mozart.

[holdencaulfield2007]

I agree. However, if humans went to another planet, consider the crap we'd leave behind. Evidence of our having visited would be pretty damned obvious. If aliens visited our planet, then they would leave just as much evidence behind. No evidence of alien arrivals has ever been found. Not one molecule.

OTOH and, possibly more importantly, any race that has mastered interstellar travel (which pretty much means FTL (Faster Than Light) speeds would have zero interest in any "ape descended lifeform that still thinks a digital watch is a neat idea" (apologies to Douglas Adams). Homo sapiens has nothing to offer aliens. With the possible exception of the works of Mozart.

I am outraged, what's wrong with digital watches

[Catostylus]

With the possible exception of the works of Mozart.

And Bach.

[Jake]

Really, not one molecule? How about the pyramids, a sign-post that we still cannot reproduce today. How about the sudden quantum leaps in knowledge that occur every few decades. I would like to continue but will instead suggest this.

Go outside, away from cities ambient light, and look up for an hour every night for six weeks. Learn the speed and orbit signatures of the regular satellites and domestic aircraft.
If you do not see at least one thing that makes you go, mmmmmmm WTF was that, I would be surprised.

I have suggested this simple awareness exercise to several friends and relatives. All have got back to me with a positive and convincing sighting.

you have nothing to lose by trying.

I spent almost 30 years as a seafarer, believe me when I say I have looked at the night sky. A lot.

I have yet to see anything out of the ordinary.

[Catostylus]

So anything we can't explain must be aliens?

I thought that was religion's job.

[Mick35]

If they are using GPS (Galaxy Positioning System) I doubt they will ever find us.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Really, not one molecule? How about the pyramids, a sign-post that we still cannot reproduce today.

The pyramids were constructed entirely from Earthly materials. Although the knowledge that went into their consruction was extraordinary for the time, it could easily be duplicated today. Don't forget several important things:

* The ancient Egyptians constructed several pyramids prior to the 'Great Pyramids'. These pyramids were no where near as sophisticated and rapidly fell apart.
* The ancient Egyptians managed to construct the pyramids without using wheels.

How about the sudden quantum leaps in knowledge that occur every few decades.

How about that indeed? Human knowledge is built on that which came before. In some cases, like making concrete, knowledge was lost for many hundreds of years. Had humans kept such knowledge, our civilisation would have been dramatically altered. Had the library of Alexandria not been destroyed, then humans may have reached the Moon 1,500 years ago. There is no "quantum leaps of knowledge that occur every few decades". We are expanding our knowledge continuously.

I would like to continue but will instead suggest this.

Go outside, away from cities ambient light, and look up for an hour every night for six weeks. Learn the speed and orbit signatures of the regular satellites and domestic aircraft.
If you do not see at least one thing that makes you go, mmmmmmm WTF was that, I would be surprised.

I have suggested this simple awareness exercise to several friends and relatives. All have got back to me with a positive and convincing sighting.

you have nothing to lose by trying.

And there is nothing that cannot be explained. I've witnessed comets, meteorites and other events. No mystery.

[MC240]

If aliens have visited and set up house here, they are very shy and they are also pretty bloody sneaky, after watching SBS for over 20 years I can understand why.

Edited by MC240, 25 April 2012 - 02:00 PM.

[proftournesol]

15 posts about aliens and not a single comment about anal probing:)

Those aliens have some strange habits.

[Grumpy]

Not sure about aliens being here, but I have seen a unexplained flying object - true! scared the begeezus out of us.
I use to think my kids were aliens, but it turns out they were just going through their teens.
HOODIES are for aliens, seeing a few Hoodie wearing things coming out of the Fog gives me the frights. Surely they are Aliens

[MC240]

15 posts about aliens and not a single comment about anal probing:)

Those aliens have some strange habits.

Not to worry Dismord will be along soon I'm sure .

[Grumpy]

I have spoken to professional fisherman who fish off the southern coast and into Bass Strait. They have many accounts dating back decades of sightings in the sky, and of unexplained lights deep in the Straits. They generally keep it to themselves unless they believe they will not be ridiculed.

Had a mate in the Navy many years a go and he tells the story of his ship being followed by strange low flying lights . They were visible on the radar as well and pictures were taken . They were politely ordered to keep it to themselves. they were on the way to NZ back in the 70's

[Jake]

Had a mate in the Navy many years a go and he tells the story of his ship being followed by strange low flying lights . They were visible on the radar as well and pictures were taken . They were politely ordered to keep it to themselves. they were on the way to NZ back in the 70's

Well, I guess they weren't Kiwis, going in that direction

[Telecine]

15 posts about aliens and not a single comment about anal probing:)

Those aliens have some strange habits.

I don't think that it is aliens to blame. I heard that it was part of the DBT regime for comparing DACs though. ; )

[MC240]

I don't think that it is aliens to blame. I heard that it was part of the DBT regime for comparing DACs though. ; )

Nah the probe is reserved for those that don't believe in DBT

[bronal]

Yes - most of them seem be members of SNA!

[rantan]

Yes - most of them seem be members of SNA!

...........and long may they prosper and enjoy the music

Edit:
In relation to aliens. Why would they travel for several thousand light years to get here and then stay 5 minutes or run off when a farmer-with-a-rake chases them?

Edited by rantan, 25 April 2012 - 11:51 AM.

[stefan534]

I always defer these questions to the scientologists!

[Dismord]

15 posts about aliens and not a single comment about anal probing:)

Those aliens have some strange habits.

Not just the aliens darling!

[Dismord]

My suspicion is that if any intelligent race advanced enough to travel the distance stumbled across our species they'd have taken a good look at our history, decided we shouldn't be allowed to move out into the universe, and exterminated us.

[houdinifangs]

Other life 'out there' - Yes
Aliens visiting earth - hard to imagine a culture altruistic enough to just look and not colonise the joint, exploit natural resources and perhaps reallocate excess population. Besides given what it would take to get here from anywhere would be a long, demanding trip and possibly only one way. I'm assuming the laws of physics are consistent throughout the universe and traveling through
worm holes is a total crock. At some point the Earth will cease to exist and our distant generations will need to move. If there is life like ours the same thing will be occurring on their planet. The most likely scenario is when either race crosses paths in a land grab for a safer planet. So if they come here, we go there or we somehow end up at the same point in space not 'owned' it will be a place of conflict. That is unless two planets that are habitable fir complex life to casually travel between exists - but thus seems pretty unlikely.

[Batty]

DBT = Deep Butt Testing

[datafone]

Edit:Seriously, who knows...

Very little evidence if intelligent life here, let alone out there.

Edited by datafone, 25 April 2012 - 12:35 PM.

[proftournesol]

DBT = Deep Butt Testing

post of the month.... along with the following one:)

[Whatmore]

My suspicion is that if any intelligent race advanced enough to travel the distance stumbled across our species they'd have taken a good look at our history, decided we shouldn't be allowed to move out into the universe, and exterminated us.

They have exterminated us already but because they have mastered faster-than-light travel we haven't found out about it yet

[Art Vandelay]

Really, not one molecule? How about the pyramids, a sign-post that we still cannot reproduce today. How about the sudden quantum leaps in knowledge that occur every few decades. I would like to continue but will instead suggest this.

Go outside, away from cities ambient light, and look up for an hour every night for six weeks. Learn the speed and orbit signatures of the regular satellites and domestic aircraft.
If you do not see at least one thing that makes you go, mmmmmmm WTF was that, I would be surprised.

I have suggested this simple awareness exercise to several friends and relatives. All have got back to me with a positive and convincing sighting.

you have nothing to lose by trying.

I agree that the pyramids are remarkable but why (on earth?) would visiting aliens assist us to build them?

Also, it remains a fact that the SETI project has not found one shred of evidence of intelligent alien life. In fact the lack of any evidence is in itself the real mystery.

[Catostylus]

Also, it remains a fact that the SETI project has not found one shred of evidence of intelligent alien life. In fact the lack of any evidence is in itself the real mystery.

QFT.

[datafone]

Well, if there is intelligent life out there, they are smart enough to ignore us lot.

[Art Vandelay]

The Fermi paradox can be stated more completely as follows:
The size and age of the universe incline us to believe that many technologically advanced civilizations must exist. However, this belief seems logically inconsistent with our lack of observational evidence to support it. Either (1) the initial assumption is incorrect and technologically advanced intelligent life is much rarer than we believe, or (2) our current observations are incomplete and we simply have not detected them yet, or (3) our search methodologies are flawed and we are not searching for the correct indicators.

Possible explanations for the paradox suggest, for example, that while simple life may well be abundant in the universe, intelligent life may be exceedingly rare. In 2000, Peter Ward, professor of Biology and of Earth and Space Sciences at theUniversity of Washington authored a book claiming the Rare Earth hypothesis. In short, the theory claims that the emergence of complex multicellular life (metazoa) on Earth required an extremely unlikely combination of astrophysical andgeological events and circumstances. This hypothesis contradicts the principle of mediocrity, which SETI takes as an assumption.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

O.K. I knew I would take a beating if I stuck my hand up. I now concede that there is no intelligent life in the universe,

That is not what was claimed. The claim that aliens have visited Earth is the claim. There is no evidence of such visits. That intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe, is, IMO, quite likely. Trouble is: The universe is big. REALLY big. The chances of life (let alone intelligent life) existing on another planet is estimated to be somewhere around 1 : 10,000. That still means there could be many millions of planets in our own galaxy that can support life. Sounds good, except for a couple of sticking points:

* The distance. The Milky Way galaxy is really big. Around 100,000 light years in diameter.
* The nearest star is 4.5 light years away. Even if an alien race could travel at the speed of light, that makes it a 9 year round trip to our little backwater.
* Given the number of stars and the distances invloved and the likelihood of life on planets orbiting those stars, it would be reasonable to assume that the distance to the closest inhabited planet could be in the range of 150 - 200 light years. That's pretty far. Around 2,000 trillion km, in fact.
* Let's say the aliens have detected our radio signals (around 100 years ago). That means, it will be another 100 years, before they receive the signals. Another 200 years to get here. You get the idea. Why would they bother?

no possibility of travel that does not involve an airbus

No. There are lots of alternatives. An ion drive system can accelerate a spaceship to a significant fraction of c. Trouble is, it takes quite awhile to accelerate and then decelerate. Figure on that trip to Alpha Centauri and back taking around several generations of humans. And that is assuming an ion drive can do the job.

The problems associated with space travel are not trivial. Using the most efficient energy conversion system known (matter - anti-matter anihilation), it would take the entire mass of the Solar system to get a modestly sized space craft to travel to Alpha Centauri. Using fusion power, it would take around 50 Solar masses. Fission power would require around 500 Solar masses. Chemical power (which is what we used to send humans to the Moon) would require more mass than is contained within the known universe.

, no chance that earth would be of interest to anyone but us, and never trust your own eyes.
That's it from me on this topic.
learning to shut the .....up, Dingo.

I'm still waiting for the physics.

[pchan]

Aliens are here, I have experienced it before and now, they take the form of employers and demand absolute compliance and respect by giving you unacheivable targets! I mean what human employer would do that????

how do ya think the pyramid was built?

Edited by pchan, 25 April 2012 - 01:08 PM.

[surfpurple]

O.K. I knew I would take a beating if I stuck my hand up. I now concede that there is no intelligent life in the universe, no possibility of travel that does not involve an airbus, no chance that earth would be of interest to anyone but us, and never trust your own eyes.
That's it from me on this topic.
learning to shut the .....up, Dingo.

Smart move........took me a while to learn that! (unless of course you get dragged back in)!!

[proftournesol]

Let's hear about our galaxy from the source:)

[Art Vandelay]

you mean let's hear?

[proftournesol]

And now for a real life documentary on a real life alien anal probe

[proftournesol]

you mean let's hear?

damn that autocorrect! Yes, I meant 'hear'.

[Art Vandelay]

Trouble is: The universe is big. REALLY big.

On that note, I'm heading off to the Restaurant.....