NationStates Jolt Archive

I've been thinking recently. If life has evolved on other planets, what will it be like. Will the same developments in evolution that have occurred on Earth, occur elsewhere? I don't mean (for instance) that Homo Sapiens will develop on other planets. However, will a similair bio type as Homo Sapiens develop? Will there be the seperate phyla, species genus etc as on Earth? Will there be insects, fish, reptiles, mammals etc?

I know that the genetic information of any possible species on other planets would be different from here on Earth but would they mutate and develop according to the same criteria as has happened here on Earth and therefore be similiar to the species we have here?

What are your thoughts?

My opinion (most likely incorrect):

The universe = infinite

Infinite time+area = infinite chances.

Therefore anything that is possible could be out there. And probably is.

A whole planet of people who look like this ( :) ) could exist...

Smilie planet! Agh!

I don't thin life on other planets would be anything like life is here on earth becouse theres no chance that planets going to be anything like earth and since evolution is the process of organisms adapting and changing to their environments they would be completely different from us

Example: on planet with life might have producers that use chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis
heck they might no even be carbon-based

If one believes in pre-ordination; that there is a creator or grand designer overseeing the universe and guiding the constructs within, then this theory kind of goes out the window, but...

The universe is infinite, and, therefore, there exists within it an infinite number of possibilities. Therefore, especially if you are one who believes that everything happens randomly and by chance, it is very likely that there are other worlds out there very similar to our own, and it is mathematically possible that there are worlds exactly like our own.

I know there's life on other planets! Our satellites have returned pictures of the third planet of a nearby solar system. Apparently, even though it's based on poisonous oxygen and dihydrogen monoxide, it seems to be inhabited by small, puny creatures who are apparently just starting to launch their small crafts—made of unusual metals such as titanium, instead of our much more functional polyex-hydroethyl—into the space beyond their little planet......

Anyway, we have a description of some of these creatures. They're fairly short—less than a quarter of a pitrus high, with many small tentacles growing out of the tops of their heads, and thicker ones from their torsoes, four in all, which end in many smaller waving ones. Their bodies come in different colors, but nonetheless they insist on covering them with protective suits, perhaps to guard against the planet's highly dangerous oxygen-based atmosphere—







—what? *Looks around*





*Runs*

Oh there is definatly other life out there. Just.... Not immediatly. It's be a pretty stupid waste of space if you ask me if there weren't.

As for the type of species? Who knows. Definatly bi-pedal species like us, and carbon based life forms. Perhapse even aliens with acid for blood ( Ridly Scot's, Alien (or James Cameron? I know they both did a alien movie)).

Life forms will differ from planet to planet, though you can bet some will be similar thus to others (as you suggested, other Homosapien look-alikes).

Hopefully, they'll have cool kick-ass technology and will be willing to talk with us.... But.... It could take another hundred years before we know.

There may be life on other planets already, but it may be that our limited definition of life may prevent any meaningful interaction. The limitation of the SETI project may not be the size of the radio telescope array as much as it is that the life that is being sought does not use radio signals to communicate.

I've been thinking recently. If life has evolved on other planets, what will it be like. Will the same developments in evolution that have occurred on Earth, occur elsewhere? I don't mean (for instance) that Homo Sapiens will develop on other planets. However, will a similair bio type as Homo Sapiens develop? Will there be the seperate phyla, species genus etc as on Earth? Will there be insects, fish, reptiles, mammals etc?

I know that the genetic information of any possible species on other planets would be different from here on Earth but would they mutate and develop according to the same criteria as has happened here on Earth and therefore be similiar to the species we have here?

What are your thoughts?Read "Mother of Demons"
very intersting point of view. the majority of the story is from the Alien viewpoint as a Terran Coloney ship crashes on their planet.

by simply looking at the diversity of life on earth, it is fair to assume that other species could look like anything, the possibilities are limitless

If I recall correctly, the Drake equation says "probably not"

But hey, what do I know?

Here's a helpful URL on the Drake equation:
http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html
(I did the thing at the bottom and got: 0.0006)

If I recall correctly, the Drake equation says "probably not"

But hey, what do I know?

Here's a helpful URL on the Drake equation:
http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html
(I did the thing at the bottom and got: 0.0006)

I would have considered it useful, but one line threw it out the window for me:

"ne is the number of planets per star that are capable of sustaining life"

Sustaining life? Just becasue humans can't live on Venus doesn't mean that there aren't lava people who can. Quite arrogant to assume we are the only possible combination of life, IMO.

It's random chance really what aliens will look like or even if they exist

but I can see there is life on other planets because of the probes we sent to Mars which are covered in dormant bacteria!

If we encounter other sentient beings, the odds are they will be in a much later stage of development than we are, i.e their biological history would be irrelevent - they'd all be machines.

If we encounter other sentient beings, the odds are they will be in a much later stage of development than we are, i.e their biological history would be irrelevent - they'd all be machines.

What makes you say that?

I think someone's been watching a little too much sci-fi.

Anyway, we have a description of some of these creatures. They're fairly short—less than a quarter of a pitrus high, with many small tentacles growing out of the tops of their heads, and thicker ones from their torsoes, four in all, which end in many smaller waving ones. Their bodies come in different colors, but nonetheless they insist on covering them with protective suits, perhaps to guard against the planet's highly dangerous oxygen-based atmosphere—

A planet of freaks. Great :rolleyes:

What makes you say that?

I think someone's been watching a little too much sci-fi.

lol, scifi is the last thing you'd watch to get any real idea about our future - it's all biological aliens, faster than light travel and communication, late 20th century values and language... All of that is nonsense. I doubt even "humanity" will be comprehensible to us in less than 100 years time, let alone hypothetical aliens our cultural and memetic descendents might encounter thousands of years from now. Biology is for planets. Computers are for the stars ;)

Damn it. I was just thinking of making a thread like this!

Anyway, I think it is impossible to travel between stars (or even planets) effectively because of the sheer distance and the general fragileness of organics. So, even if there is life out there, they are incapable of communicating with us, as we are to them.

lol, scifi is the last thing you'd watch to get any real idea about our future - it's all biological aliens, faster than light travel and communication, late 20th century values and language... All of that is nonsense. I doubt even "humanity" will be comprehensible to us in less than 100 years time, let alone hypothetical aliens our cultural and memetic descendents might encounter thousands of years from now. Biology is for planets. Computers are for the stars ;)
What makes you think that life on other planets will be any more “advanced” than ours?

What makes you think that life on other planets will be any more “advanced” than ours?

Odds. I believe we are in the very few last decades before true post-human "civilization"; before the Technological Singularity that will result in the rapid advancement needed for brain-computer uploads. When this happens, huge advancements in intelligence and culture will be available that will increase exponentially, bringing about a completely new era for "humanity". This post-Technological Singularity era will last millenia upon millenia, far longer than the pre-Singularity era. The post-era will be the final stage of our civilization, but it is also the final stage of any civilization. And because it will be the state a civilization is in for 99% of it's existence, the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of any and all alien cultures we may find also being post-Singularity. Especially considering that such civilizations will be the only ones capable of the scientific and organizational skills required to venture outside their own solar systems.

It is a well known fact that the universe is infinite, and therefore there are infinite planets. However, not all planets are inhabited, so there must be a finite number of inhabited planets. So to find the average number of inhabited planets, we must divide a finite number with an infinite number, and that results in a number as small as zero. Therefore we can draw the conclusion that there are no inhabited planets, and that every person you meet in your life are products of a deranged mind.

"I don't thin life on other planets would be anything like life is here on earth becouse theres no chance that planets going to be anything like earth..."

actually,scientists believe there are many planets that are prolly very similiar to earth as far as gravity and composition goes. still,this does not have to mean that any lifeforms that develope there would have to be exactly like the ones on earth. even the smallest changes in the environment can cause genetic mutations different than our own. for example: if there was a planet that existed in a solar system that was very similiar to ours but had lets say a slightly heavier gravity or a cooler sun,then the lifeforms would prolly develope differently.

as far as religion goes,believing in god does not automatically rule out life on other planets. if he created us here,then why couldnt he create other lifeforms elsewhere? this is why i think some religions(cough....christianity...cough) are very narrow minded and egotistical to think that we are the only life in gods infinite universe. just because god doesnt speak about life on other planets in the bible doesnt mean he didnt try something else in another part of the universe. maybe he didnt get into specifics with man because he knew we were not ready(we are his "children")
and we would discover the truth when the time was right.

"so why is there no evidence or contact then from aliens?"

several possibilities:

1. like us,they have not truly conquered space travel yet(maybe god doesnt
want us to go that far?). deep space has many strange anomalies and
dangerous obstacles. we may be separated by vast distances that would
take several lifetimes to cross,and endless resources...

2. unlike us,they might not care about whats out there. they might be very
content where they are and see no reason to explore.

3. they have visited us and for their own reasons prefer to remain unseen at
this time. (not so hard to believe when you consider how,selfish,violent,
and destructive humans are)

4. their exploratory presence has been covered up by our world governments.


i find it hard to believe that we are the only life in the universe when you consider how many billions of stars and planets are out there. i think alot of people dont want to believe in life on other planets because they fear running into something sinister like the aliens from the movie "ALIENS" which is a possibility. an evil race from space who is more developed than us is very scary but still a possibility. im sure we will eventually encounter such a race if we survive long enough to travel out of our own solar system. just remember that we might find new allies as well if we grow out of our emotional infancy as a race....

("i know you think im crazy,but im just ahead of my time")

For those who referenced the Drake equation - it's only for one galaxy as I recall. If you want to calculate the probability of life anywhere in the universe you have to multiply by the number of galaxies in the universe.

However, I don't think the universe is infinite as some have suggested. Just really big. With a lot of galaxies...

About the technology of aliens: It seems very likely that any aliens we encounter would be more advanced than our own. After all, we've only been emitting radio waves for a bit over 100 years. This is probably how an alien civilization would detect us and how we would detect them. We've just entered this phase, and any other civilization we detect in this manner is very likely to be "ahead" of us.

lol, scifi is the last thing you'd watch to get any real idea about our future - it's all biological aliens, faster than light travel and communication, late 20th century values and language... All of that is nonsense. I doubt even "humanity" will be comprehensible to us in less than 100 years time, let alone hypothetical aliens our cultural and memetic descendents might encounter thousands of years from now. Biology is for planets. Computers are for the stars ;)Words to Stuck Here...
(Stuck Here on a Starship for a Hundred Years Without No Body Blues)
Lyrics © 1984 Stephen Savitzky.

When you build a ship to sail deep space
You can't have a crew of mortal race
'Cause a hundred years from star to star
With a human crew is just too far.

(Spoken =*)
*Think of all the beer you'd have to carry.
Not to mention food.
And, uh, other necessities.

So you fill your ship with a robot crew
And you build a computer captain, too.
You get some experience for free
From some old spacer's personality.

*Maybe an old shuttle pilot
Who's just learned from his last mistake.
That's where I come in.

So you take some bloke who's halfway dead
And you haul him home and you scan his head
And a hundred years of flying high
Is a damned good deal when you're about to die.

*'Til you've had a decade or two to think it over.
Gets lonely out here.
A thousand frozen colonists don't count.

So there behind my solar sail
Are five hundred hunks of frozen tail
But if I thawed one and you know I could
It wouldn't do me a bit of good.

*What would I use?
I've got no damned body, just a starship.
Couldn't even... well, anyway.

Now a couple of billion miles astern
It's another lonesome sucker's turn.
So I'll radio back and say ``Hey you---
Oh, I didn't know they took women, too!''

*"Lovely night tonight, isn't it?
Look at all them pretty stars.
Yeah, me too."

So we'll talk, and murmer "I love you"
Like other star-crossed lovers do
And in eighty years we've made a date---
Did you ever see two starships mate?

*We've got our robot crews,
And we figure they can put together...
none of your damned business!

Here's a thought most people never have. What if we are the most advanced civilization in our galaxy? It's a pretty arrogant way of thinking but we shouldn't elimnate it completely. I'm willing to bet we're the most advanced in at least our quadrant.

Here's a thought most people never have. What if we are the most advanced civilization in our galaxy? It's a pretty arrogant way of thinking but we shouldn't elimnate it completely. I'm willing to bet we're the most advanced in at least our quadrant.

lol, and what exactly is "quadrant" supposed to mean? :rolleyes:

Words to Stuck Here... (et cetera)

Who sung that?

lol, and what exactly is "quadrant" supposed to mean? :rolleyes:
Quarter of the galaxy.

Who sung that?the version I heard was by a filksinger by the name of Frank Hays.

lol, and what exactly does "quadrant" mean? :rolleyes:

Well if you think about the galaxy in terms that the glorious show Star Trek has presented, the galaxy is split into four "quadrants". Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma quadrant. Of course our quadrant is in the Alpha and has to at least be 100,000 lightyears accross.

Well if you think about the galaxy in terms that the glorious show Star Trek has presented, the galaxy is split into four "quadrants". Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma quadrant. Of course our quadrant is in the Alpha and has to at least be 100,000 lightyears accross.

ooh, i was afraid of it being some star trek reference... :rolleyes: Why such an artificial distinction; dividing the galaxy up like a pie? why not go by which spiral arm of the galaxy we're located in? (Orion's Arm, btw).

It seems entirely probable that SOMEWHERE in the Universe there's other forms of life. Life probably isn't something nearly as unlikely of occuring as some people think. If it happened in one place, it's bound to have happened somewhere in the vast expanses of the Universe that had similar conditions. It may be something that we never find, but hey, you never know.

Though on what organisms on other planets may be like...

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/extraterrestrial/

:D Man, that was an interesting set of shows.

ooh, i was afraid of it being some star trek reference... :rolleyes: Why such an artificial distinction; dividing the galaxy up like a pie? why not go by which spiral arm of the galaxy we're located in? (Orion's Arm, btw).

Hey there's nothing wrong with Star Trek, people need to get that through their thick skulls. If it wasn't for Star Trek we wouldn't have things like floppy discs, PDA'S, or Mae Jameson! Besides, Star Trek IS based on actual science, just dramatized, and slicing it up like a pie makes sense when you take into account not just our own location but the stuff that's in our local area.

It is a well known fact that the universe is infinite, and therefore there are infinite planets. However, not all planets are inhabited, so there must be a finite number of inhabited planets. So to find the average number of inhabited planets, we must divide a finite number with an infinite number, and that results in a number as small as zero. Therefore we can draw the conclusion that there are no inhabited planets, and that every person you meet in your life are products of a deranged mind.

Hehe. I was about to take serious issue to this until I realized where it was from...

It is a well known fact that the universe is infinite, and therefore there are infinite planets. However, not all planets are inhabited, so there must be a finite number of inhabited planets. So to find the average number of inhabited planets, we must divide a finite number with an infinite number, and that results in a number as small as zero. Therefore we can draw the conclusion that there are no inhabited planets, and that every person you meet in your life are products of a deranged mind.

Actually, if there's an infinite number of planets in an infinite universe, even if only a .0000000000000000000000001% of those planets are inhabited, that's still an infinite number of planets that are inhabited. It's just a smaller infinite amount than the infinite amount of uninhabited planets. :D

Actually, if there's an infinite number of planets in an infinite universe, even if only a .0000000000000000000000001% of those planets are inhabited, that's still an infinite number of planets that are inhabited. It's just a smaller infinite amount than the infinite amount of uninhabited planets. :D

No, the infinities are the same. But if you took the number of possible combinations of planets, that would be a bigger infinity.

No, the infinities are the same. But if you took the number of possible combinations of planets, that would be a bigger infinity.

I'll take your word for it, since infinities break my brain and I'm only in pre-cal.

Actually, if there's an infinite number of planets in an infinite universe, even if only a .0000000000000000000000001% of those planets are inhabited, that's still an infinite number of planets that are inhabited. It's just a smaller infinite amount than the infinite amount of uninhabited planets. :D

But how can it be even 0000000000000000000000001% habited planets when you divde a number by infinity?

But how can it be even 0000000000000000000000001% habited planets when you divde a number by infinity?

Because you're dividing an infinitely large number by an infinitely large number... which leaves you with a number that, though smaller than the total number of planets, is still infinitely large.

EDIT: However, none of this really has any point as there isn't an infinite number of planets or stars. There's an incomprehensibly large amount of them, but not an infinite amount.

Read "Mother of Demons"
very intersting point of view. the majority of the story is from the Alien viewpoint as a Terran Coloney ship crashes on their planet.
Is the author Eric Flint? If so, I have managed to find the entire book as an online download. Thanks

:fluffle:

It doesn't make any difference whether there's life out there or not. Travel between planets isn't going to be feasible: the distances are far too big to be crossed in anybody or anything's lifetime.

It doesn't make any difference whether there's life out there or not. Travel between planets isn't going to be feasible: the distances are far too big to be crossed in anybody or anything's lifetime.

Three words: Selfsustaining Colony Ships. Basically, large cities in space that can host multiple generations.

Is this possible? I don't know! Would it be practical? I don't know! Not to mention that without some sort of extremely rapid form of communication that we don't have today, you'd never be able to have proper communication between planets... but hey! Whatever.

Maybe,

Maybe not,

Perhaps, we'll never know,

Perhaps, someday we will,

Only time can tell.

Even then,

Maybe, it will,

Maybe it won't.

lol, and what exactly is "quadrant" supposed to mean? :rolleyes:
Definitely not. Your "quadrant" extends through the Yetangros and Psithian Galaxies, as well as part of the Perutian and Cynomial. They're also known as CF-429, CF-431, CF-91, and CF-187. And it's the smallest one in Universe 6086, too.

I'll put it this way; if it exists here on Earth, chances are it exists some place else, too. Or something similar enough to be recognizable as such. While it might be low on Earth's totem pole, it may or may not occupy the same rung on the ladder somewhere else, or it may rise or fall to adjacent rungs.

Planet of the Marsupials!

Crabworld Prime!

Arachnaphrax!

uhh...

Algaeria! Lichenstein! Fungustopia... not to mention the Moons of Krill.

Maybe there's stuff out there that's really completely way out and nothing like what passes for life on earth. Or maybe we'll find that on most Earth-like planets, some type of simian form eventually comes to the fore. I guess we won't know 'til we go, unless we're happened upon by informative, genial space monkeys who take a bit of a shine to us.

Three words: Selfsustaining Colony Ships. Basically, large cities in space that can host multiple generations.

Is this possible? I don't know! Would it be practical? I don't know! Not to mention that without some sort of extremely rapid form of communication that we don't have today, you'd never be able to have proper communication between planets... but hey! Whatever.
It's vaguely possible (or at least nobody has demonstrated that it isn't possible yet), it probably wouldn't be practical due to expense (and the sheer bulk of the colony ship: a century or two's food for hundreds of people, and as you say, without any communications, it might seem a bit pointless.
It's probably a lot more feasible than cryogenics, which is the other daft plot device SF writers resort to if they aren't allowed to break the laws of physics, though.

It's vaguely possible (or at least nobody has demonstrated that it isn't possible yet), it probably wouldn't be practical due to expense (and the sheer bulk of the colony ship: a century or two's food for hundreds of people, and as you say, without any communications, it might seem a bit pointless.
It's probably a lot more feasible than cryogenics, which is the other daft plot device SF writers resort to if they aren't allowed to break the laws of physics, though.

It might be practical if the Earth is about to die and we haven't managed to terraform any of our surrounding planets, or whatever... It would be a big gamble though... Pick out the most likely planets/solar systems that would support life and send a ship off in that direction. A million and one things might go wrong, but I suppose when you're given extinction vs. remote possibility of living on, you take what you can get. :D

It is a well known fact that the universe is infinite, and therefore there are infinite planets. However, not all planets are inhabited, so there must be a finite number of inhabited planets. So to find the average number of inhabited planets, we must divide a finite number with an infinite number, and that results in a number as small as zero. Therefore we can draw the conclusion that there are no inhabited planets, and that every person you meet in your life are products of a deranged mind.

Hey...isn't this a quote from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams?

As for the type of species? Who knows. Definatly bi-pedal species like us, and carbon based life forms. Perhapse even aliens with acid for blood ( Ridly Scot's, Alien (or James Cameron? I know they both did a alien movie)).

That's actually quite unlikely. If one feels Earth an acceptable example, one should keep in mind that exceptionally few organisms in all of its history have been obligate bipeds.

Life forms will differ from planet to planet, though you can bet some will be similar thus to others (as you suggested, other Homosapien look-alikes).

Hopefully, they'll have cool kick-ass technology and will be willing to talk with us.... But.... It could take another hundred years before we know.

Again, the odds of H. sapiens-analogues' existence are ineffably slim. Communication, if, indeed, the extraterrestrials in question are recognized as intelligent, will likely be impossible.

The whole, given infinate time and space all things will happen doesn't fly. Imagine a plane on a 3D graph that extends infinatly. It has infinate points in it whoever there are infinatly more points that aren't in it. Same thing the universe, infinatly many things happen, but much more isn't happening.

Life probably exists somewhere. However, I bet only one or two other planets have anything as smart as us, and even if they do, they may still be stuck in some paleolithic era. Otherwise, it is just vegetation and maybe a few animals.

Again, the odds of H. sapiens-analogues' existence are ineffably slim. Communication, if, indeed, the extraterrestrials in question are recognized as intelligent, will likely be impossible.

I'd say that with any intelligent species with a similar background to humans, a social pack/family type creature that's an omnivore or even predator, there would be a possibility of some form of communication. It would be a very difficult process, undoubtedly, but as long as there's some common ground there should be a possibility.

However, if alien intelligence evolved in a manner altogether different that humans, say a creature with a hive or swarm mindset, communication would probably be nigh on impossible, as there would absolutely no common ground involved.

...I have no idea if anything I just said makes sense.

Example: on planet with life might have producers that use chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis
heck they might no even be carbon-based

Some plants use chemosynthesis on earth. They live deep within the ocean.

Um, well if the mutations are similar, then maybe, but if they have poisinous cows that eat humans, than maybe.

I don't believe in an infinite universe, so it is possible that there is no other life on any planet. Of course I also find it humorous that many atimes atheists believe in aliens, while some religious don't.

Life probably exists somewhere. However, I bet only one or two other planets have anything as smart as us, and even if they do, they may still be stuck in some paleolithic era. Otherwise, it is just vegetation and maybe a few animals.
I think there could be animal forms in some pretty odd places - but we'd probably be talking about slimes or ambulatory moulds or something in most cases. Not to blow our own trumpets, but intelligence like we possess might be the biggest blip of all where our species is concerned. I think intelligence is still a risky venture from an evolutionary standpoint. I mean, it's carried us pretty far and done so in a pretty fast way - but I wonder if we can really ride an exponential curve without fucking up.

Maybe intelligence'll kill us all in the end. Like smoking. But it's impossible to give it up. Thinking is addictive.

I'd say that with any intelligent species with a similar background to humans, a social pack/family type creature that's an omnivore or even predator, there would be a possibility of some form of communication. It would be a very difficult process, undoubtedly, but as long as there's some common ground there should be a possibility.

However, if alien intelligence evolved in a manner altogether different that humans, say a creature with a hive or swarm mindset, communication would probably be nigh on impossible, as there would absolutely no common ground involved.

...I have no idea if anything I just said makes sense.
I gotcha. Thing is, if there's no common ground, what do you have? Are they just animals then? Do we even bother trying to establish any kind of rapport?

I gotcha. Thing is, if there's no common ground, what do you have? Are they just animals then? Do we even bother trying to establish any kind of rapport?

Everything that falls into the animal category is just an animal. But I would say it's probably pretty useless to try and establish a link with something with a hive mind, even though such a creature (as a collective) could easily be more intelligent than a human. But I mean... it would be impossible for a human to understand the mindset of a being with a hive mind, and impossible for a being in a hive mind to understand humans and their individuality.

I would assume anyway.

I think there is other life in the universe except we're the most advanced.

Here's a thought most people never have. What if we are the most advanced civilization in our galaxy? It's a pretty arrogant way of thinking but we shouldn't elimnate it completely. I'm willing to bet we're the most advanced in at least our quadrant.
And thusly I present:

The Fermi Paradox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

And thusly I present:

The Fermi Paradox.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox
I checked that website and guess what, there are many possible explanations why we (do not appear) to have been contacted.


5.1 They exist, but cannot technically reach us
5.2 They exist and have arrived—but most people have yet to see them
5.3 They exist—but we have missed them
5.4 They exist—but do not communicate with us
5.5 They exist and communicate—but we are not listening or dismiss the evidence
5.6 They no longer exist—or we do not exist for long enough
5.7 They do not exist – yet
5.8 They never existed

I checked that website and guess what, there are many possible explanations why we (do not appear) to have been contacted.
{snip}
Yeah. My present favorite theory is that they are busy building Dyson spheres &, if communicating with each other, it would be with tightly beamed lasers, etc.

SETI via omnidirectional radiowaves? We should be looking for groups of fading stars.

Which would be "5.3" as above.

It is a well known fact that the universe is infinite, and therefore there are infinite planets. However, not all planets are inhabited, so there must be a finite number of inhabited planets. So to find the average number of inhabited planets, we must divide a finite number with an infinite number, and that results in a number as small as zero. Therefore we can draw the conclusion that there are no inhabited planets, and that every person you meet in your life are products of a deranged mind.

Douglas Adams wrote fiction. It's not a well known fact that the universe is infinite, it's a well known fallacy.

If it were infinite and not all planets were inhabited that does not lead to a finite number of inhabited planets. A proportion of infinity is still infinite. If only 1 in 1 billion planets were inhabited in an infinite universe there would be an infinite number of inhabited planets.

A simpler example is prime numbers. There are an infinite number of numbers and only a proportion of those are prime, but there are an infinite number of primes.

They have this thing on National Gerographic on how life may look on other planets. They give these planets certain climatic features, and how life would look. It's supposed to take place in the future when NASA invents this new telescope...

They have this thing on National Gerographic on how life may look on other planets. They give these planets certain climatic features, and how life would look. It's supposed to take place in the future when NASA invents this new telescope...

I know, I posted a link to that site for that. Don't know if anyone bothered going to it... they should though, because it's really interesting. :D

if you would throw a dice 100 times it does not automaticly mean that a certain number must come up, according to statistics. a certain number would not have to come up even if you would throw the dice 1000 0000 times. Nor would it have to happen if you would throw the dice an unlimited amount of times.
Thus unlimited time + space does not mean that everything must happen.

Everything that falls into the animal category is just an animal. But I would say it's probably pretty useless to try and establish a link with something with a hive mind, even though such a creature (as a collective) could easily be more intelligent than a human. But I mean... it would be impossible for a human to understand the mindset of a being with a hive mind, and impossible for a being in a hive mind to understand humans and their individuality.

I would assume anyway.
It might have more processing power, but it's more of question of quality of thought than of quantity. I think it more likely that a hive-mind would spend most of its' time wholly concerned with matters pertaining directly to the hive - if it could perceive us at all, it'd probably perceive us in the context of previously-existing areas of thought... would our presence be construed as interfering with some aspect of the hive culture, like food production, reproduction, defence - as far as being more intelligent, I think that's a bit of a trap - being "differently" intelligent is more likely. Still, I've got to wonder if there'd be any room for meaningful exchange - a (Terrestrial) hive is pretty self-contained, they don't really get anywhere by entertaining relationships with non-members of the hive, unless they're some species that is easily exploitable (aphids in the case of ants, for example).

So unless they twig to being able to exploit us for technologies, I don't think an alien hive-mind would be too interested in H. Sapiens Sapiens. And I gravely doubt whether their "different" intelligence could surmount our own, though it might approximate it in some ways.

It might have more processing power, but it's more of question of quality of thought than of quantity. I think it more likely that a hive-mind would spend most of its' time wholly concerned with matters pertaining directly to the hive - if it could perceive us at all, it'd probably perceive us in the context of previously-existing areas of thought... would our presence be construed as interfering with some aspect of the hive culture, like food production, reproduction, defence - as far as being more intelligent, I think that's a bit of a trap - being "differently" intelligent is more likely. Still, I've got to wonder if there'd be any room for meaningful exchange - a (Terrestrial) hive is pretty self-contained, they don't really get anywhere by entertaining relationships with non-members of the hive, unless they're some species that is easily exploitable (aphids in the case of ants, for example).

So unless they twig to being able to exploit us for technologies, I don't think an alien hive-mind would be too interested in H. Sapiens Sapiens. And I gravely doubt whether their "different" intelligence could surmount our own, though it might approximate it in some ways.

I definitely agree with the 'different' intelligence thing.

And... otherwise you pretty much what I think, or things similar to what I think.

The universe is not infinite.

It is, however, big enough for me to believe in alien life. I neither know nor care what it would be like, seeing as there's no way for us to reach them with our currect technology. I recall reading that life can be either carbon or silicon based, so perhaps little rock creatures could be feasible. :D

I imagine alien life that develops under Earthlike conditions will be quite similar to Earth life, as the conditions on Earth tend to favour our type of biology. There aren't an arbitrary number of ways of building molecules that work for life, after all.

Under different conditions, who knows what you might see. The variety is, of course, going to be limited by the conditions that they develop in, but you can still build strange theories, like the proposed acetyline-based ecology on Saturn's moon Titan.

I tend to disagree with the idea of an intelligent alien species being incomprehensible or impossible to communicate with; after all, we all share a certain common ground, called the Universe. We're all bound by the same physics, the same chemistry, the same rules. The only exception to this that I can think of are synthetic intelligences living inside of synthetic computational environments, which could have little or no relationship with the outside universe's physical rules.

As for finding alien intelligent life, it'll be difficult. Not only are we separated by vast distances, but also by huge gulfs of time. The Universe is at least 12 billion years old, and we've only been in a position to even look for alien life for maybe 100 years, or 0.0000008% of the lifetime of the Universe. Who knows how many civilizations have already been born, grown up, and then either died out, lost interest in communicating, or moved on to elsewhere, before we even had a spark of intelligence?