Would finding life on another planet change life on earth?

[weltweit]

I expect they would land in the former USSR that being the largest lump of land on the planet.

 

[Serge Forward]

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.

Also, there's no guarantee that the collision would be catastrophic, given the distances between the stars, let alone between planets. What is a far more likely catatrophe is the ruling class completely wrecking the planet with their wars and environmental destruction. In other words, destroying life on Earth long before Andromeda spins into us.

 

[weltweit]

However they would probably ignore humans and just present their credentials to the dominant species on the planet, insects!

 

[PTK]

I expect they would land in the former USSR that being the largest lump of land on the planet.

How would they know that the former USSR was the largest state on the planet? The borders - or ex-borders - are not visible from above.

 

[frogwoman]

Also, there's no guarantee that the collision would be catastrophic, given the distances between the stars, let alone between planets. What is a far more likely catatrophe is the ruling class completely wrecking the planet with their wars and environmental destruction. In other words, destroying life on Earth long before Andromeda spins into us.

Exactly, they say one consequence could be that the sun gets ejected from the galaxy but it's unclear what impact if any that would have on any of the planets. Apparently collisions between individual stars are unlikely.

 

[frogwoman]

I expect they would land in the former USSR that being the largest lump of land on the planet.

Surely anywhere in Europe/Asia is on the largest lump of land on the planet? They might not even be land dwelling tbh.

 

[weltweit]

stHow would they know that the former USSR was the largest state on the planet? The borders - or ex-borders - are not visible from above.

Just the largest lump of land ..

 

[PTK]

Exactly, they say one consequence could be that the sun gets ejected from the galaxy but it's unclear what impact if any that would have on any of the planets. Apparently collisions between individual stars are unlikely.

It is now thought that close encounters between stars in our galaxy lead to planetary bodies leaving or joining star systems.

 

[Serge Forward]

Surely anywhere in Europe/Asia is on the largest lump of land on the planet? They might not even be land dwelling tbh.

Europe/Asia/Africa even, seeing as the land masses are connected.

 

[PTK]

Just the largest lump of land ..

It's not, though. It is not a distinct "lump of land".

 

[frogwoman]

Europe/Asia/Africa even, seeing as the land masses are connected.

What makes people think they aren't aquatic/some sort of liquid dwelling though? If so, that could explain why they haven't contacted us. An intelligent fish for instance would probably have had little need of land/air based tech until very late on in its history and it would add an extra complication to the creation of a spacecraft.

 

[Humberto]

Maybe they would be capable of choosing where to land rather than randomly.

 

[Saul Goodman]

Europe/Asia/Africa even, seeing as the land masses are connected.

They will all be connected once the aliens have drained the oceans and fucked off back home.

 

[weltweit]

The thread says

"finding life on another planet"​

at the moment and in the near distant future we don't really have the capabilities to find life on another planet, being as we travel so slowly it takes us many years to go anywhere, and then many years to get back to tell earth what we did or didn't find.

 

[WouldBe]

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.

Unless you got infected by it.

 

[frogwoman]

The thread says

"finding life on another planet"​

at the moment and in the near distant future we don't really have the capabilities to find life on another planet, being as we travel so slowly it takes us many years to go anywhere, and then many years to get back to tell earth what we did or didn't find.

Finding as in finding it through a telescope etc as well.

 

[Yossarian]

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.

There's also trillions of rogue planets in our galaxy not bound to any sun - through mechanisms like tidal heating, some of them could be warm enough to support life

 

[newme]

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

Hang on people don't think it was a bunch of people with ulterior motives and a very interesting approach to then restranslating it multiple times to suit the current needs of those funding it? Written hundreds of years after the alleged events then filtered through multiple cultural lenses? Amazing how it seemed to focus on issues facing property owners at the time. In many forms.

There's also trillions of rogue planets in our galaxy not bound to any sun - through mechanisms like tidal heating, some of them could be warm enough to support life

Extremophiles seem the most likely possibility. Or a disregarded egg and cress sandwich.

 

[weltweit]

I refer to this video to remind me what is larger a galaxy, milky way or a universe etc

 

[weltweit]

Finding as in finding it through a telescope etc as well.

I am not sure we will ever trust our remote sensing methods enough, I think for something as important as life out there we would want a human to verify, or at least a machine to retrieve samples and return them to earth.

 

[_Russ_]

The thread says

"finding life on another planet"​

at the moment and in the near distant future we don't really have the capabilities to find life on another planet, being as we travel so slowly it takes us many years to go anywhere, and then many years to get back to tell earth what we did or didn't find.

Yea but we would die in that time and the stories told by our offspring that were born on the trip wouldnt resemble the truth of what was discovered by their ancestors..... and they would have burnt all the digitaly recorded evidence because the space fairies that appeared floating around the cabin about 2 weeks after the space drugs had run out told them that we were all descended from the Trump and the aliens were all father rapers only interested in eating the pets and taking all the jobs at Mc'donuts...or something

 

[Saul Goodman]

I am not sure we will ever trust our remote sensing methods enough, I think for something as important as life out there we would want a human to verify, or at least a machine to retrieve samples and return them to earth.

I'd settle for a little green fella waving at a camera.

 

[weltweit]

I'd settle for a little green fella waving at a camera.

In this age of AI images I think it would have to be a film camera!!

 

[editor]

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

All religions are man made nonsense.

 

[editor]

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.

Yeah, right. LOL.

 

[editor]

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

He might have been referring to the pub in Tulse Hill.

 

[newme]

However they would probably ignore humans and just present their credentials to the dominant species on the planet, insects!

Beetles!

 

[danny la rouge]

Beetles!

Get back!

 

[frogwoman]

The premise of a sci fi epic I'm slowly working on is that a planet is discovered with intelligent frogs. One of the things they do is try to teach frogs and frog-like species across the galaxy how to read and write - with erm mixed results.

 

[newme]

I like beetles. Plus the wheeled tortoise is such a hassle. The land to air ballistic shark had been a total failure.