Regarding the question of the existence of life out there, search for "Drake equation" and it's explanation by Carl Sagan...
The What If Machine - XCOM
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This week Cam explores the world of XCOM. Should we expect an Alien Invasion, is there a project similar to XCOM in real life, and just what would any potential Alien conquerors look like?
401 comments
It is very bizarre for an astrobiologist to believe that we are alone in the universe because we haven't see any evidence of it. Our perspective of our galaxy is so incredibly small, we listen to such a small amount of the sky, they may not have a priority for broadcasting openly through means that we look for, and an alien species may be so alien that we wouldn't know what to listen for that life could be out there and we are actually unaware of it. The time it would take for an alien tweet to reach us across the void is astronomical so to suggest that the galaxy must be devoid of life based on its absence is almost laughable.
1 Like I remember reading a book by Carl Sagan in which he talks about the possibilities of alien life forms, and he uses a great example to describe just how different they would be. He imagines several species living within a large gas giant like Jupiter and describes them as massive, lightweight, oval shaped, helium based creatures (rather than earths Carbon based lifeforms) and goes on to describe a possible predator/prey relations ship and sexual reproduction and stuff, really mind mindbogglingly interesting...
Another thing to think about is how all Earth lifeforms are pretty well symmetrical, and this has to do with the way our cells reproduce and replicate themselves in pairs (mitosis), so just imagine some freaky alien with a totally different cellular structure... it could look like anything imaginable!
1 Like Here is something to think about. Physicists have just proved that Special Relativity works also at speeds above the Speed of Light, just like it works with speeds below the Speed of Light. The only place it does not work is when near (how near? above and below) the Speed of Light and at the Speed of Light. Perhaps it just takes longer in the future to come out with the next understanding of advancing physics and improvements take radically a lot longer than previously thought. It is not a convenience Universe, there is a Comfort Zone called an inhabitable planet like this one you are on. The traveling out in space-time may take longer to achieve and probably will not happen quickly. Ya, all the inhabitants of this Planet would first have to resolve to continue life and then there is money to pay for it all. If there is intelligent life in this Universe, it may not be even close to what life is considered to be on this Planet, and if very far advanced may resemble nothing that we know of that warrants us considering it life in the first place. Robots not withstanding. Decisions, decisions, decisions will have to be made, otherwise there be no need for a Universe and Life to exist in the first place. I think there is a time limit though to any of it.
Many of our modern radio technologies look like background noise unless you know exactly what to look for. Bluetooth, for example, can switch frequencies hundreds of times per second, so you need to know the hopping pattern before you can detect it.
If aliens use frequency-hopping or wide band when they commnicate with each other on their own planet, we might never knowingly detect it as it hits Earth.
Just because we haven't been contacted or cant hear radio chatter doesn't meant no life exists. If we were ever contacted by an Alien race we'd be in serious trouble.
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1 Like @artyom570568 Thanks very much! Glad you enjoy it. Three more episodes still to go this season!
@BradleyAPC89 People weren't exactly fantastic at keeping records back then, so if anyone saw something amazing that had been built a hundred years prior by their ancestors, they had reason to assume that it had been there forever and had been built by superior beings. Also, stories change over time. If someone built something in, say, a month, they might brag about how they did it in three weeks. Then, someone else tells their grand-kids about it, but to impress them, he says two weeks. This process could easily continue until it is shortened down to one day. Also, I have seen the photos of these so called "astronauts," and it strikes me as strange that they don't appear more often. If something had really happened, again, they would appear everywhere, not just once or twice every century. The astronauts are also suspiciously human-like, and I wouldn't say that it would be completely out of the question that what we are seeing are depictions of time -travelers form the future (although that sounds pretty ridiculous, too). Anyhow, chances are so minute that aliens would look that similar to humans that it is basically impossible. Look at us today. We have depictions of aliens everywhere, from Xcom to Predetor to those little parachute thingies that you get for a quarter at gas station vending machines. However, very few people in our age believe in (and even fewer claim to have actually seen) aliens. It is more than likely that some ancient cave artists was bored, and just decided to draw what they thought was a cool picture. Maybe one artist stumbled upon the drawings of another, and decided to make one himself. Also, the Spanish are hardly a reputable source. These were also the people who thought that you would fall of the planet if you sailed too far west. As for Atlantis? No one's taken that seriously since the occult Nazis in the early 30's, and the last real scientist who even considered the idea died about eighty years ago.
(Just thought I should mention that I'm not trying to ruin your beliefs or anything. I just like to argue)
@noah364 @BradleyAPC89 Well mate, I guess where gonna have to settle with our own opinions, I'll leave the argument where it stands not to say that I can't add anymore. It's been good debating with you bro, by the way, my name is Yehoshua (you said you were a Jew, does this ring any bells?).
This does not mean that I accept defeat, we could go on arguing, forever, except by then the aliens would have landed (lol, if that happens, it means that I win).
@BradleyAPC89Yeah. Definitely a fantastic debate. (And yes. Yehoshua is the Hebrew name for Joshua, right?)
I agree with the concept that we are the only advanced civilization existing in the galaxy. There have been a number of publications regarding the Fermi paradox which states that if there were any advanced spacefaring civilizations in the galaxy that they would have colonized the entire galaxy within 1 million years give or take 500,000 years depending on reasonable estimates of achievable interstellar propulsion. Since this obviously has not happened, there are no advanced civilizations capable of interstellar travel in this galaxy.Also based on my take on the Drake euqation, I would estimate that any large galaxy, such as ours or Andromeda likely has at least on advanced space faring civilization. Considering this, the future merger of the milky way and Andromeda gaalxies could be an extraordinary event indeed, assuing our civilization survives until then. If so there is no doubt that we will have colonized the entire galaxy.
@gsmull well, you're contradicting yourself. If we're so advanced why can't we go past the moon? Why can't there be better advanced civilization like ours who can travel further than we can but to a certain extent? You seem to believe that if a civilization is capable of interstellar travel they should be able reach us, ignoring the fact that the universe, as far as we can tell, doesn't seem to end, and these aliens could be so far away from us, that though they can travel great distances, they still haven't been able to travel up to us. Either way, what I believe is mother nature will destroy us before we can possible find another Earth to conquer (and destroy again)
1 Like Finally, a comments page that doesn't consist of "WTF PS3 SUX!!!" "NO YOU (insert homophobic slur) XBOX players are (insert another more colourful homophobic slur)" or " I disagree with your review score and misunderstand the concept of critial opinion so therefore you must be corrupt!"
Yes... welcome to the thinking man's corner of Gamespot
now excuse me whilst I light my pipe and go sit in my armchair by the fire.
1 Like @nych Ha! Crazy old Mr Robinson, terrified of the moon again :P. I love the way he said 'hovering'.
Cim Revolutions on the ipad... That gave me the first indication that this guy has no credibility!
Take us...: incapable of sending a human to the nearest planet at the moment. And take them aliens: with technology and science that enables them to travel the stars.
Can anyone actually think of us making a stand...? :-P
@noah364 @Gravelord_Nito That, my friends, it's the epitome of wishful thinking. ;-)
Home-turf advantage? How could you get any edge from that if you're a sitting duck...?
Stellar travel presents far more challenges than you may think at first. One of the biggest, maybe, it's the sheer amounts of energy required. And with that capability of generating that vast energy comes the ability to release it over our cities as well. It would be trivial to raze all of our settlements from space, actually. Not like in that stupid "Independence Day" movie.
We would never see the face of our destroyers.
1 Like @Abelius @noah364 come on man, you took that reply way too seriously :))) if you invest so much thought, intellect and time developing means to explore, then your intellect will also assume that...well, its called exploring bcs you are going into the unknown. and every creature values its own life. so developing advance weapon systems goes hand in hand will exploration.you need to be prepared
1 Like @Abelius well...maybe their whole capability is in that manner, they might be combat wusses :PPP (unlikely, i know haha)
the dude who made the call was obviously baked... speaking of which, i bet Aliens do amazing alien drugs!
It is a statistical nearest-to-certainty-possible that aliens do exist. For all we know there could even be bacteria in our solar system. The building blocks of life can be found on comets, and this has been proven, so the existence of aliens isn't that far-fetched at all.
@coperoco Actually, everything that you stated has been proven wrong. Chimps have been known to have fantastic problem solving skills, many of them human level. Sure, you've heard of them figuring out how to get food by standing on top of a box, but they have also been known to solve complex puzzles at near human speeds. The only reason that we can operate tools that are any more advanced than chimps' is that we've learned how to use them form our peers. If someone stuck a PC in front of you without telling you what it is or how to use it, you would be clueless, too. Why can we operate iPhones? Because we see everyone else operating iPhones, and many people still have to use an instruction manual to tell them what to do. Also, with a bit of sign language training, chimps have known to be great at conversation. And yes, they can and do ask questions. Actually, chimps are better rigged for learning then we are at a young age. A baby chimp is dramatically smarter than a baby human. Chimps are also able to come up with plans to "get girls," or to move higher up in their society. Truthfully, chimps are almost identical to us, but as I said earlier, we had the advantage of luck. Civilization started as soon as a stronger individual began to help a weaker one, and we just found that out a bit sooner.
2 Like What is the advantage that Asians, Native Americans and Africans had with the visit of Europeans?
What advantage would a civilization of space would have to contact a bunch of animals selfish, greedy, naive, ignorant and wicked?
Traveling light years to conquer a planet poisoned and exhausted to the comfort of the few and poverty for many. Taffelost the 1st world countries really improved a lot, as an example are just now catching (stealing) the seafood from Ethiopia and then spew radioactive and industrial waste off the coast of that country of 'pirates'.
Nature is fair, but unfortunately our species became her cancer.
@rlacerdacf Well Asians exchanged some tech, and were pretty consistent traders with the Europeans for a long time. But your metaphor is pretty sound for Africans and Native Americans.
1 Like For the Astro-Scientist! ;) Time for alternate sources.UFOTV® Presents : Out of the Blue - Full HD UFO Moviehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYPCKIL7oVw&feature=plcp
and thank you to everybody else who reads it and unlike the scientest ,may we never see that day
no life out there? is he mad? Damn for an xenobiologist he should know he might be wrong in 99,99999% because there are bilions of galaxies there
2 Like @Fowsed Actually, he was only referring to our galaxy, and to intelligent species existing in our galaxy. He clearly states that he expects us to discover extra-terrestrial life, and possibly discovering it elsewhere in our own solar system.
If he had been referring to our universe, then you would be spot on.
@Tobinius6 @Fowsed I doubt that. Even in our own Galaxy, we've only looked at about 1/4 of it's stars and potential planets. Even though we haven't "seen" anything, that doesn't mean one of the planets we've looked at doesn't already have life. From these great distances, you can't see city lights or any kind of technology. The drake equation (while obviously not 100% accurate) states that there could be as many as 1000-100,000 civilizations just in the Milky Way. We'll never know until we can visit those places ourself.
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