Would finding life on another planet change life on earth?

[Yossarian]

I don't think that a god forgetting to mention the ETIs would necessarily be an oversight. The god may think it better for humanity if they do not know.

The god in the Bible also neglected to tell his followers about the existence of the Americas - a justifiable move, considering what they did when they got there

 

[PTK]

Was an interstellar bypass involved?

No. No god would ever wish to build a bypass of any sort. Not even a hyperspace one.

 

[newme]

No. No god would ever wish to build a bypass of any sort. Not even a hyperspace one.

Explain the A27 then

 

[PTK]

The god in the Bible also neglected to tell his followers about the existence of the Americas - a justifiable move, considering what they did when they got there

The god in the Bible made no mention of Great Britain, Margate, or Brighton.

 

[shifting gears]

Galactic Popemobile.

An interesting band who probably never got the recognition they deserved - their debut LP, while hit and miss, did give us the minor hits Cardinals of the Galaxy and Nonce Upon a Time in a Galaxy Far Away

 

[newme]

The god in the Bible made no mention of Great Britain, Margate, or Brighton.

So much for all knowing

 

[danny la rouge]

The god in the Bible made no mention of Great Britain, Margate, or Brighton.

But the Bible does mention Queen of the South. No other football teams are mentioned.

 

[PTK]

So much for all knowing

But an even bigger oversight was the Andromeda galaxy, which is massive.

 

[PTK]

But the Bible does mention Queen of the South. No other football teams are mentioned.

There is a version of the Bible called the Arsenal Bible, so Wikipedia tells me.

 

[frogwoman]

I think I am getting that French sensation in relation to the topic of this thread. I am sure I participated in a debate like this in the past. I may even have started it. I am not sure that detecting intelligent signals would make much difference in the end.
I read a science fiction story long ago, the title of which escapes me, in which a god appears and gives a message to all humans, and then people fall into factions, arguing about the correct interpretation of the message.

Why do we think they would want to talk to us though?

 

[PTK]

Why do we think they would want to talk to us though?

The ETIs may not want to talk to us. We may simply pick up stray signals.

 

[newme]

The ETIs may not want to talk to us. We may simply pick up stray signals.

That's making a large assumption.

 

[frogwoman]

The ETIs may not want to talk to us. We may simply pick up stray signals.

I think they might though. The issue is because space is so huge it's very difficult to communicate. A lot of planets being found have light coming from them that basically originated at the time of the dinosaurs.

 

[PTK]

That's making a large assumption.

I am not assuming anything.

 

[newme]

I am not assuming anything.

OK, who are these ETIs? You assume there are some capable of communicating anything to anyone at least.

 

[PTK]

OK, who are these ETIs? You assume there are some capable of communicating anything to anyone at least.

I see what you mean. If there were ETIs, we may pick up their stray signals, even if they did not want to communicate with us.

Howver, I am not assuming that there are intelligent beings elsewhere in the cosmos. I am not assuming that ETIs would even communicate using radio.

 

[frogwoman]

I see what you mean. If there were ETIs, we may pick up their stray signals, even if they did not want to communicate with us.

Howver, I am not assuming that there are intelligent beings elsewhere in the cosmos. I am not assuming that ETIs would even communicate using radio.

The radio signals thing always seemed a bit far fetched.

 

[Humberto]

There's always the timeframe factor across the billions of years of the universe's existence.

 

[weltweit]

Good thread frogwoman I think it would all depend on how developed life was. If we find some amoeba like beings in a lake on a moon somewhere it would be exciting but not life changing for earthlings.

However if we got a sign of a developed intelligence somewhere out there perhaps more developed and more intelligent than us, we could feel threatened, how would we judge their intentions?

How likely is it that life developed / evolved on planet earth and nowhere else?

Are there no other planets circling suns in the goldilocks zones where the environment could be conducive to life? It seems likely that there are many many millions or billions of suitable planets out there.

 

[PTK]

Try Trench-coat Museum.

Thanks. I have just watched it, and enjoyed it. I did once own a trench coat, and I am now thinking that I should acquire another one. I don’t know if it ever occurred to me to ponder the origin of the name “trench coat”.

The song mentions now long such coats are in connection with getting into cars, which makes me remember that there was once a thing, when I was a lad, called a car coat, which ought to have been named after a place in Scotland. Whatever happened to the car coat?

 

[Serge Forward]

But an even bigger oversight was the Andromeda galaxy, which is massive.

And is on it's way to colliding with us

In about 4 and a half billion years. So time for another trip to the pub.

 

[newme]

Good thread frogwoman I think it would all depend on how developed life was. If we find some amoeba like beings in a lake on a moon somewhere it would be exciting but not life changing for earthlings.

However if we got a sign of a developed intelligence somewhere out there perhaps more developed and more intelligent than us, we could feel threatened, how would we judge their intentions?

How likely is it that life developed / evolved on planet earth and nowhere else?

Are there no other planets circling suns in the goldilocks zones where the environment could be conducive to life? It seems likely that there are many many millions or billions of suitable planets out there.

Maybe it did develop and all died off a billion years ago? Or won't for another fee billion? Suitable planet for what? Carbon based is limiting somewhat to begin with. Then assuming they broke the atmosphere. Were in a technological and chronological time frame we could pick up stuff signalled and weren't just crabs (it's always crabs). Intelligent possibly, capable of light speed travel in the small window we could detect it? Vanishingly small.

Plus they always land in out of focus areas.

 

[frogwoman]

And is on it's way to colliding with us

In about 4 and a half billion years. So time for another trip to the pub.

Dr Becky who does a lot of really informative science videos on YouTube and has done some groundbreaking research on black holes (I read a book by her once) said that there was evidence that right wing media when they mentioned the Andromeda collision, used very alarmist language to do so such as saying it was 'catastrophic' etc whereas leftist/centrist outlets emphasised the fact it was going to happen in 4 billion years.

 

[Orang Utan]

I would be disappointed if our first encounter with extraterrestrial life is with an amorphous blob that teaches us nothing. I’m holding out for a proper alien like in Star Wars that can speak English and play 3D chess n that. A nice one though, not a nasty one.

 

[weltweit]

Maybe it did develop and all died off a billion years ago? Or won't for another fee billion?

Indeed, it is possible ..

Suitable planet for what? Carbon based is limiting somewhat to begin with.

Got to start with what we know no?

Then assuming they broke the atmosphere. Were in a technological and chronological time frame we could pick up stuff signalled and weren't just crabs (it's always crabs). Intelligent possibly, capable of light speed travel in the small window we could detect it? Vanishingly small.

The distances are an issue certainly. They might be the determinant issue for finding life out there - or even it finding us if it is intelligent ..

Plus they always land in out of focus areas.

Eh?

 

[The39thStep]

If the USSR had taken the advice of Juan Posadas in the 1962 Missile Crisis, we may not be here to discover ETIs.

Or on the other hand ETI's might be more likely to come to an advanced communist planet

 

[Saul Goodman]

I would be disappointed if our first encounter with extraterrestrial life is with an amorphous blob that teaches us nothing.

That's what it'd be like if aliens arrived and their first encounter was Donald Trump.

 

[Orang Utan]

That's what it'd be like if aliens arrived and their first encounter was Donald Trump.

if Trump, then this instead:

 

[PTK]

70, 000 years ago, a star came within one light year of the Sun.​

A passing star: our Sun’s near miss​

A passing star: our Sun's near miss - NASA Science

Stars jostling around the galaxy aren’t quite like a cosmic game of pool. But they do have occasional near misses as they speed past each other. Back when spears and stone points were the height of human technology, astronomers say, our solar system had a close encounter of the interstellar...

science.nasa.gov

 

[Santino]

Fuck me, you're right down the God Squad rabbit hole. For a God to forget to mention the existence of other races on other planets would be a colossal, unforgivable, non-sensical oversight.

Only if you think God wrote the Bible, and that it contains all important truths, which is a very modern belief.