Aliens

[Typhoid]

Why the fuck not. We've got a religion thread.

What's your view of aliens? Do you think they are real, as in - do you think contact has already been made, opposed to 'is life out there'?

Do you think we'll ever find intelligent life? Life in general? Where/When?
What do you hope for/believe on the topic.

[Teuthida]

I highly doubt contact has already been made. With as advanced as we currently are, we wouldn't have a chance against an alien species that has the technology to reach our planet. So I hope we make contact when the playing field is more even and our species grows up and matures some. Perhaps there's a StarWars-esque council of planets out there already. We have no place there right now.

[KillerGremlin]

Do they exist? Probably. The thing is, if the universe is 13 billion years old, and huuuuuuuuuugeeeeeeeee, life has probably existed at some point in time other than our own.

Was that life sentient? That's a whole other question.

Will we ever find it? Fuck no. We won't even get out of our galaxy. Obama cut the NASA program, people seem more interested in blowing each other up and arguing over the economy than actually advancing as a species. I wager that mass extinction or war kills us before we advance enough to leave this galaxy, let alone explore the universe to find life.

[Teuthida]

Oh yeah speaking about age. If SETI actually ever manages to find radio signals (assuming aliens are even using those) it's highly likely that the species already died out given how far the signals had to travel. Perhaps the only creatures traveling through space are the robotic descendants of the organic species.

The NASA thing bums me out to no end. We need to get folks to Mars already. The private sector won't ever make those kinds of advances. Hopefully Russia or China will do it. As KG said, we're probably gonna kill each other off before humans are living off world.

[Typhoid]

I was watching a show with Steven Hawking where he raised the best point about why we'll never really leave our galaxy.

He said that since it would take so long it would have no actual payoff for the generation who begins it.

That is a hard thing to commit to for a government. How can you tell your people "We're going to spend billions of dollars, and send hundreds of people deep into space where we will never ever ever know what happens to them - because we will all be long dead before they get to where they're going."





Edit: I also don't believe we're going to destroy ourselves. Humans have a great desire to live. nearly each and every one of us wants to live. I don't think the world will ever be destroyed by humans. I just think humans like to try and control other humans by threatening total destruction and the like.

[Teuthida]

But Mars. Only takes a couple months. Baby steps before we're exploring the rest of the our solar system, and then the galaxy.

Humans to Mars and robots to Europa. That's all I ask.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_%28moon%29#Spacecraft_proposals_and_cancellations

[Typhoid]

But Mars. Only takes a couple months. Baby steps before we're exploring the rest of the our solar system, and then the galaxy.

Humans to Mars and robots to Europa. That's all I ask.]



Ever since I was little the one thing I've wanted to see was a human standing on Mars. If I see that in my lifetime, I can die seconds after completely content.


I think that is one of the biggest steps any intelligent lifeform can accomplish. It's one thing to exist on your native planet, but to go to another planet and exist there? That is - in every sense of the word unnatural. The moon was an alright thing for us to step on. But that's like swimming in the shallow end of the pool, and boasting about that until you're 50. You've got to swim to the deep end, baby.

Right now, we're just animals. We fuck like monkeys, we talk to dogs, and we make bonds with dolphins and whales. Animals. But if we stand on a planet we were never meant to occupy? That is a sign of intelligence.

"The Earth is the cradle of the mind. But one cannot live in a cradle forever."

[Combine 017]

Perhaps there's a StarWars-esque council of planets out there already. We have no place there right now.

Replace Star Wars with Mass Effect and thats my view on that.

I was watching a show with Steven Hawking where he raised the best point about why we'll never really leave our galaxy.

He said that since it would take so long it would have no actual payoff for the generation who begins it.

That is a hard thing to commit to for a government. How can you tell your people "We're going to spend billions of dollars, and send hundreds of people deep into space where we will never ever ever know what happens to them - because we will all be long dead before they get to where they're going."

I dont think Stephen Hawking ever mused the idea of a slip space drive or warp drive. It would still take a long time to reach another solar system, but it would be much faster than just flying there. And whos to say structures like Stargates(not portals, more along the lines of Mass Relays) cant be constructed. Or maybe we can harness dark energy and that will do something cool? But I dont think humans will ever make it that far, we're to damn busy blowing ourselves up. So the next best bet to get into space would be aliens providing advanced technology, but that is also highly unlikely. A man can dream though, a man can dream. :(

[Ginkasa]

I read an article that said as soon as telescope become advanced enough SETI will stop searching for radio waves (their thought: our radio signals are fading as technology advances, so they figure any other advanced civilization will be the same and nearly impossible to find via radio waves) and will instead look for signs of artificial light on other planets.

I thought it was cool.

[KillerGremlin]

Right now, we're just animals. We fuck like monkeys, we talk to dogs, and we make bonds with dolphins and whales. Animals. But if we stand on a planet we were never meant to occupy? That is a sign of intelligence.

I'd rather fuck like a monkey than stand on Mars.

I call those priorities. :D

[Typhoid]

I'd rather fuck like a monkey than stand on Mars.

I call those priorities. :D



I too, agree I'd rather fuck than stand on Mars. Although I suppose that depends who's up, and when I'd be on Mars.

My point was more; right now, we're not so much better than animals. Sure, we've got ipods and diaphragms - but we're just chillin' on Earth in our own safe, breathable atmosphere.

When we test the measure of imaginary aliens, what is it that makes them advanced, and intelligent? Their technology, sure - But it's the fact that that fake alien is able to go to and land on another planet [via technology] - something we have not done yet.


I just personally feel that once a human lands on another planet - the most unnatural thing the Universe can host (A life form escaping it's own planet under it's own technological power to land on another planet where that form of life was never meant to exist) will finally put us in a separate category than animals.

For fucks'sake, even monkeys, dogs and cats have been to space. But nothing (From Earth) has walked on another planet yet.


Edit: Obviously I'm slightly joking. I don't think we're 100% comparable to all other animals. I just think it would lift the human race above and beyond anything this planet has seen before, to put a human foot on another planet. A planet that maybe had it's own indigenous life millions/billions of years ago. We could be those aliens. Not animals. Extra-Terrestrial.

[Ginkasa]

We have gone to the moon. I know its not exactly another planet, and the 40 years that separate that event and the present kind of dull the achievement, but its still along the lines of your point, I think.

[Teuthida]

I'd rather fuck like a monkey than stand on Mars.


That's exactly why we need to go to Mars and start thinking about living on another planet.

I find this quite frightening.
http://ecology110rona2011sp.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/population_growth.jpg

Either expand to other planets or get a good plague going.

[Combine 017]

I'd rather fuck like a monkey than stand on Mars.

Id rather fuck like a monkey on Mars.

Its along the same lines as aliens, but I wonder what the deal is on other dimensions. Like how do you get to them, or if some dimensional aliens has already found a way to get to ours. I guess a wormhole could work but based on Stephen Hawking's theories, wormholes are very unstable things.

[Angrist]

And if anyone of us can know, it's Superman.

[Jason1]

I see both sides of the Mars issue. On one hand it would be amazing to see a man on Mars, a generation defining moment, one of mankind's greatest achievements, ect.....

On the other hand how many rovers have we sent there so far, that can pretty much do everything a human could do. We know there is nothing there, no real reason to actually send a man other than "it would be cool." Not to mention the billions (hundreds of billions?) of dollars it would cost to actually pull it off. Dollars the US obviously cant afford.

I have no doubt NASA could pull it off easily if they got the go ahead. Only problem I dont see any real good reason to spend the money.

[Ginkasa]

Its not about getting to Mars, specifically. Its about getting to other planets. Its about advancing technology so that we can, when we need to, colonize other planets. It will be necessary and relatively soon.

[Combine 017]

I see both sides of the Mars issue. On one hand it would be amazing to see a man on Mars, a generation defining moment, one of mankind's greatest achievements, ect.....

On the other hand how many rovers have we sent there so far, that can pretty much do everything a human could do. We know there is nothing there, no real reason to actually send a man other than "it would be cool." Not to mention the billions (hundreds of billions?) of dollars it would cost to actually pull it off. Dollars the US obviously cant afford.

I have no doubt NASA could pull it off easily if they got the go ahead. Only problem I dont see any real good reason to spend the money.

When I heard "put a man on mars", I was more so thinking like putting a population on Mars, not just a single human. But ya, sending one man would be a waste of time and money. Sending one man with an atmospheric generator on the other hand would be more useful.

[Angrist]

We should send all our prisonors to Mars. Australia turned out pretty ok.

[Professor S]

http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lk19ovBKsT1qzw92qo1_500.gif

[TheSlyMoogle]

I actually saw this great documentary on colonizing mars and what it would take. The answer is several hundred years and a buttfuckton of money.