Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens • Hacker News Board

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#41

Post by firefoxman1 » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:04 AM UTC

frankil wrote: post #32

firefoxman1 wrote: post #20

Has anyone thought about this...astronauts release their waste into space. There's bacteria that gets frozen almost as soon as it leaves the ship/space station right? Couldn't it stay preserved until it lands on a distant planet that hasn't formed an atmosphere and be the seeds for life on infant planets? I'm no physicist (or scientist, period), but it's just a question that's been bugging me for a while.

Sort of like panspermia? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panspermia

Woah thats really similar. That's the problem with the internet: it makes you feel like nothing you think of is original. Thanks for the link btw.

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#42

Post by firefoxman1 » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:06 AM UTC

narrator wrote: post #37

My theory is that we haven't met aliens yet because the aliens have been to earth sereptitiously, have taken some DNA samples, and have decided there's nothing to be gained from making contact with us. They've told everyone else in the universe that the planet is hostile and not particularly technologically developed. They have also noted that it is not a threat just as long as they don't get advanced space travel te…

That's true. I mean, what if our 5 senses just can't pick up on other, radically different types of life. And whatever life forms may have visited us may not have the senses to pick up that we're here.

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#43

Post by ballstothewalls » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:08 AM UTC

bluekeybox wrote: post #14

The most useful hypothesis: we are the first, and the galaxy is ours for taking. Now let's get back to work.

This is completely legitimate, right? There must be a most advanced civilization. Why can't we be it?

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#44

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:10 AM UTC

ccc3 wrote: post #38

At some point in the article he states: Evolution simply could never have anticipated... Evolution, by definition, doesn't anticipate anything. It's disappointing to see a university professor writing on evolution who seemingly doesn't even understand the evolutionary process.

[deleted]

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#45

Post by bfrs » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:12 AM UTC

firefoxman1 wrote: post #20

Has anyone thought about this...astronauts release their waste into space. There's bacteria that gets frozen almost as soon as it leaves the ship/space station right? Couldn't it stay preserved until it lands on a distant planet that hasn't formed an atmosphere and be the seeds for life on infant planets? I'm no physicist (or scientist, period), but it's just a question that's been bugging me for a while.

Interesting thought!

Something along similar lines:

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/257096/crap-is-everyth...

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#46

Post by aamar » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:16 AM UTC

brandall10 wrote: post #24

Let's imagine there are billions of planets out there (a true Sagan-esque billions) which have spawned intelligences that have achieved interstellar travel - ie. they have the ability to actively seek out and communicate with others of similar ability. Perhaps like the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek, except many, many of these, separated from others by various degrees of intelligence or ability. Let's imag…

True, but if these super-advanced aliens are populating many planets, then we'd presumably be able to detect them somehow, irrespective of whether they care about us.

It may be electromagnetic leakage or Dyson spheres or any of a number of other signs of artifice.

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#47

Post by HilbertSpace » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:18 AM UTC

exratione wrote: post #19

A terrible article. So let's say something more interesting. There are several important ideas intertwined together around the Fermi Paradox: 1) Fermi Paradox Why haven't we seen any evidence in the observable universe of megascale activities and exponential growth comparable to those that we know that our descendants will be capable of, and fairly soon? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox 2) The Outer Bounds…

Possible answer: First nearly every civilization that mastered, say, radio, did it millions of years ago. Second, nearly every such civilization long ago found much better means of communications than we know about. Third, they realize that trying to communicate via radio is silly and use much better means we don't know about. Net, they are out there and communicating, but we don't hear them and they don't hear us or bother with us. To hear us, they would have to be within 100 light years, and that's not far enough to cover many candidate planets.

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#48

Post by Roboprog » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:19 AM UTC

brandall10 wrote: post #24

Let's imagine there are billions of planets out there (a true Sagan-esque billions) which have spawned intelligences that have achieved interstellar travel - ie. they have the ability to actively seek out and communicate with others of similar ability. Perhaps like the United Federation of Planets in Star Trek, except many, many of these, separated from others by various degrees of intelligence or ability. Let's imag…

Perhaps life is common (happened about a billion years ago here), but intelligent life is not (about 100,000 years ago, give or take).

Perhaps without FTL drive, it takes what explorers there might be a long time between (expensive!) visits, so sightings are rare. Without FTL, and without some kind of cold-sleep, a journey to the nearest stars pretty much takes a lifetime. A few would go, but not many.

It's too late (bedtime) for me to slap "Drake's equation" type numbers on this, but hopefully you get the idea. Maybe we've not seen anybody because they only visit any given planet every million years or so, and "they" equals 2 or 3 species local enough to even bother with that paltry schedule.

I'm not saying there is anybody out there, just that lacking pure freaking magic technology, it's a hell of a trip to make if they were. OTOH, if there is an outpost 100 light-years away, expect a visit in another 100 to 1000 years???

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#49

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:22 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Why We Haven’t Met Any Aliens

#50

Post by Roboprog » Thu, Dec 22, 2011, 6:24 AM UTC

narrator wrote: post #37

My theory is that we haven't met aliens yet because the aliens have been to earth sereptitiously, have taken some DNA samples, and have decided there's nothing to be gained from making contact with us. They've told everyone else in the universe that the planet is hostile and not particularly technologically developed. They have also noted that it is not a threat just as long as they don't get advanced space travel te…

Ha ha only serious? "Mostly harmless" as it says in the guide...