Are we Alone?

I believe there is intelligent life out there, but like us we're all along as the distance between us is too great to ever be overcome.

Even if we could somehow defy the laws of physics and travel to to far reaches of the universe (which might be infinite) - the chances of us finding that civilization would be a daunting task like finding a particular drop of water in an ocean

 

So: you'll never know the answer to either question

The real question is:

How do make sense of your existence?

(do whatever you do that give you the most peace of mind)

 

or one grain of sand in all of the beaches. One thing is for certain we as human beings on this planet won the lottery of life.

 

I power washed the deck this morning. The whole time I was wondering if I was destroying entire civilizations of slime mold.

 

We don't know that yet. For all we know, there is life in almost all solar systems

 

Ok, going through the article now.

Here is one of the first problems in doing such analysis:
“Thanks to NASA's Kepler satellite and other searches, we now know that roughly one-fifth of stars have planets in “habitable zones,” where temperatures could support life as we know it. So one of the three big uncertainties has now been constrained.”

Life as it exists elsewhere, and life as we know it, could be markedly different. Even here on earth, we keep finding life in places we thought would be lifeless: The deep ocean, embedded in ice, inside volcanoes. Just from our limited experience here on this one planet, life seems to exist just about anywhere. And, that is still just life as we know it. Life elsewhere may have evolved around completely different parameters. Is water really necessary, for example...or just necessary for life we see here, where water exists? Same for oxygen, etc.

“Rather than asking how many civilizations may exist now, we ask ‘Are we the only technological species that has ever arisen?" said Sullivan. “This shifted focus eliminates the uncertainty of the civilization lifetime question and allows us to address what we call the ‘cosmic archaeological question’—how often in the history of the universe has life evolved to an advanced state?”

I like this. First, it does indeed lower the range of what we are talking about considerably. Second, isn't life in an advanced state what we are really looking for? Finding bacteria on some other planet would be noteworthy, but not even on the same scale as finding another species we could communicate with, learn from, etc.

It is worth noting that here on earth, life evolving along a technologically advanced state is not even universal among humans. There are, and have been, various subcultures within us who didn't really crave or seek technological advancement. It is therefore quite possible that life elsewhere could be quite intelligent, but simply never seek the means to leave the planet, developed advanced communication systems, etc.

This, as the article says, is INCREDIBLY small. Is it reasonable to think that the chance of life is that small? I don't think so, nor do I think any analysis would lead to such a small number.

I like the concept here, but think they are missing the boat in its execution. I don't think it matters how long any one civilization has been around on a planet. It only matters if ANY advanced civilization is around. Yes, civilizations wax and wane, but they are, in our experience, replaced by some other civilization. So, the odds and longevity of any individual civilization isn't that important. It is only the odds of any advanced civilization existing on a planet. They would only disappear if something happened that wiped all civilizations out. Disease, natural disaster, etc. on a catastrophic scale. So, the modifiers they are using are too big, as they apply only to an individual civilization.

Yes, that is indeed the question.

 

Al Worden Apollo Astronaut just said this in his AMA:
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Aliens, where are the aliens?

Your guess is as good as mine. I have never seen a UFO, I have never met an alien, but I do absolutely believe that there is intelligent life out in the Universe. Probably 1000s of years advanced on our own civilization, but they have probably solved the problem of propulsion, and could be coming here to visit.

 

It's very likely that life on other planets is also based on nucleic acids. The fact is the 5 most common elements by far in the universe are carbon, hydrogen, helium, oxygen, nitrogen, followed by sulfur and phosphorus. Of those helium is inert. The rest are the most common elements of all life on earth. We are made of what is available.

Of those only one can bond with itself and still form stable structures - Carbon. Nitrogen to nitrogen bonds are too explosive and aren't found in living creatures. Everything we are made up of - sugars, carbs, proteins, nucleic acids, lipids - ALL are based on Carbon. All life is based on DNA/RNA, proteins, sugars, and lipids. These are also the ingredients we find on comets. Also consider that there is no lifeform on earth that is not based on DNA. All life is one molecule replicating itself.

There might be other molecules to carry genetic code, but it's sure to be based on the same building blocks.

 

Remember when Hubble Deep Field found thousands of galaxies in an area where nothing had been seen before?

Well it was recently done again in a test run using limited power at the MeerKAT radio telescope.
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A brand new telescope just discovered 1,300 galaxies in one go

Astronomers working with South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope just discovered 1,300 galaxies in a patch of sky that researchers previously thought only contained about 70.

While this massive discovery is enough to get astronomers excited across the globe, the really impressive part is that MeerKAT isn’t even operating at full power yet because the telescope isn’t all the way built.

"So, right now, with only 16 of the eventual 64 dishes in place, MeerKAT is already better than anything equivalent in the Southern Hemisphere," South Africa’s science and technology minister Naledi Pandor told local media.

"This is astounding because we were supposed to reach that goal only with 32 dishes. We can now expect that when the full 64 dishes are in place at the end of next year, it will be the best telescope of its kind in the world."

link

 

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Because we are incredibly stupid.