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“Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

skyatnightmagazine.com

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Re: “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

#201

Post by soneca »

ta8645 wrote: post #18
seanhunter wrote: post #6

Firstly that is completely badass science. The idea that you can use observations to detect the chemical composition of an exoplanet millions of kilometres away is an absolute triumph of the work of thousands of people over hundreds of years. Really amazing and deeply humbling to me. Secondly, my prior was always that life existed outside of earth. It just seems so unlikely that we are somehow that special. If life d…

If life is very common in the universe, then that is probably bad news for us. It means that civilizations should exist that are millions of years more technologically advanced than us; and should be leaving telltale signatures across the sky that we'd likely have detected by now. And the absence of those signs would be relatively strong evidence that life, while common, isn't long-lived. Suggesting that our demise t…

I always thought that how far things are in the universe and the impossibility of faster than light travel were enough to explain why life might be abundant in the universe yet we never observed it.

Re: “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

#203

Post by autonomousErwin »

cedilla wrote: post #141
autonomousErwin wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that the point of the dark forest theory? It's not the fact that there is a dangerous tribe behind a bush it's more that you don't know if they're dangerous or not so you have to err on the side of caution - because you don't know if they're doing the same. It's the whole chain of suspicion theory that it's safer to shoot first and then ask questions later because the speed you can communicate is the same speed…

Yes, but the next bush is dozens of light years away. The analogy breaks down because the distances are different in quality. The only reason why this becomes such a problem in the Three-Body-Problem is the existence of magic in that universe. Thinking protons, instant communication, folded dimensions, easy interstellar travel, it's all interesting speculation inspired by physics, but incompatible with our actual uni…

How do you know it's incompatible with the actual universe instead of our current understanding of the universe?

Take us for example, we're communicating instantly (for practical purposes) using thinking machines - how would that not seem like magic to someone thousands of years ago?

My point is, we don't know what the tribe have behind the bush. It's the equivalent of the Mayans wondering what's over that hill and then finding the Spanish with gunpowder, horses, and steel armour.

Re: “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

#204

Post by globular-toast »

vivzkestrel wrote: post #183
ta8645 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If life is very common in the universe, then that is probably bad news for us. It means that civilizations should exist that are millions of years more technologically advanced than us; and should be leaving telltale signatures across the sky that we'd likely have detected by now. And the absence of those signs would be relatively strong evidence that life, while common, isn't long-lived. Suggesting that our demise t…

no matter how advanced the civilization is, proxima centauri will always be 42 trillion kms away. Our civilization in current stage is not even close to 0.1% the speed of light but lets say your advanced civilization goes at 99% the speed of light, still doesnt change the fact they need 4.25 years approx to reach earth. Still doesnt change the fact that unless they have a 1 billion km wide telscope, they cannot relia…

If they came here and back at .99c it would be ~70 years "time debt"[0] for them (meaning 70 years would have passed for their relatives back home).

[0] Terminology from Dan Simmons's Hyperion. Would also recommend Joe Haldeman's The Forever War for more time dilation themes.

Re: “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

#205

Post by sixQuarks »

ta8645 wrote: post #18
seanhunter wrote: post #6

Firstly that is completely badass science. The idea that you can use observations to detect the chemical composition of an exoplanet millions of kilometres away is an absolute triumph of the work of thousands of people over hundreds of years. Really amazing and deeply humbling to me. Secondly, my prior was always that life existed outside of earth. It just seems so unlikely that we are somehow that special. If life d…

If life is very common in the universe, then that is probably bad news for us. It means that civilizations should exist that are millions of years more technologically advanced than us; and should be leaving telltale signatures across the sky that we'd likely have detected by now. And the absence of those signs would be relatively strong evidence that life, while common, isn't long-lived. Suggesting that our demise t…

There is no way civilizations make it past a certain point. It’s so completely obvious, just look at our world. In 2025 we are enabling a genocide while the masses don’t seem to care or even know about it.

You think the people that are having these types of atrocities committed against them would think twice about ending civilization as revenge if given the power? What do you think is going to happen with AI?

If we can’t stop a genocide, why would you think we can stop civilization ending?

Re: “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

#206

Post by ta1243 »

farmdve wrote: post #150
meindnoch wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We'll put a giant sunshade in the Earth-Sun L1 Lagrange point.

Sadly it is still only a stop-gap measure. The sun is for all intents and purposes, dying a slow death.

Sure, and entropy will end us all one way or another

Re: “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

#207

Post by belter »

weberer wrote: post #5

Here's the primary source https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/adc1c8 They possibly detected dimethyl sulfide, which is only known to be produced by living organisms.

> which is only known to be produced by living organisms.

Comets with DMS: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.08724

And the interstellar medium.

"On the abiotic origin of dimethyl sulfide: discovery of DMS in the Interstellar Medium" - https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.08892

"...Although the chemistry of DMS beyond Earth is yet to be fully disclosed, this discovery provides conclusive observational evidence on its efficient abiotic production in the interstellar medium, casting doubts about using DMS as a reliable biomarker in exoplanet science..."

Re: “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

#208

Post by aurareturn »

xrisk wrote: post #76
poulpy123 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

actually a living organism is needed to produce it this way

Wikipedia says "In industry dimethyl sulfide is produced by treating hydrogen sulfide with excess methanol over an aluminium oxide catalyst”. Which part requires a living organism?

  Which part requires a living organism?
haha. Do you really need a hint?

Re: “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

#209

Post by jimbokun »

nbadg wrote: post #148
ta8645 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If life is very common in the universe, then that is probably bad news for us. It means that civilizations should exist that are millions of years more technologically advanced than us; and should be leaving telltale signatures across the sky that we'd likely have detected by now. And the absence of those signs would be relatively strong evidence that life, while common, isn't long-lived. Suggesting that our demise t…

I often wonder if the answer to the Fermi paradox isn't just as extremely banal as "turns out that interstellar exploration just isn't economically viable". I think it's entirely plausible that advanced economies are circular, and that within a circular economy, it's just extremely difficult to justify the massive expenditure of resources that it would take to become interstellar. I mean, think about how many stars h…

53 years is instantaneous on cosmological time scales.

Re: “Most promising signs yet” of alien life on a planet beyond our Solar System

#210

Post by foxglacier »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #151
ivan_gammel wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Earth may become uninhabitable in 1By due to increasing brightness of the sun. In 3-4B years it will be too hot for liquid water on the surface.

Earth is on course to become uninhabitable for human civilisation its current form within a century, with an associated mass extinction. Even if all industrial activity stopped tomorrow there's now enough CO2 in the system to guarantee a succession of uncomfortable and expensive droughts, floods, storms, and wildfires for thousands of years. If it doesn't they will become more and more extreme very quickly. If ocean…

Did you notice that you aren't wrong because you're not really saying anything at all? "in its current form" - so maybe with slightly different distribution of land use but basically fine and not necessarily as different as today is from 50 years ago? "mass extinction" already been happening for ages for many species. "uncomfortable floods/etc?" Already been happening for all of history. "very quickly" is how quicky? "more extreme" is how much more extreme?
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