The science behind the probability of extraterrestrials

[Agathon]

That book I referenced has an extremely long and detailed discussion of the Drake equation.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov


Well, that's essentially what Diss is asserting...

interesting response.

P.S. I'm not religious (unless you consider satanism a religion )

[Dis]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov


It's pretty obvious, actually. If he believes life "isn't possible," in our universe, then he's essentially stating he believes the only way human life could exist here is through miraculous means, i.e. a metaphysical act of creation.

one cannot discount the fact that we exist, however. Or we think we exist.

can we be proven to exist. How do we know we aren't a dream of some other being?

this was all I'm getting at. expand your thinking. Don't just blindly accept the universe as is.

[MrFun]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Until we figure out how a feasible means of interstellar travel would work, I think it's fair to say any extraterrestrial contact is pretty unlikely, ever.

If you think about it, the fastest we've ever gotten an object to go was the Helios satellite which orbited the sun, which traveled at about 150,000 mph. At that speed, it would take you ~11,000 years to reach the nearest neighboring star system to us, Alpha Centauri.

And then we'd have to know about just how common intelligent life might be, which we don't. My hunch is that it's not very common, but no way to tell now. But even if it is common, the distances between inhabited systems may still be too much to traverse.

But I'm talking about communication contact without necessarily having interstellar travel -- from one planet to another, contact is possible without either species on either planet physically traveling to the other in a spacecraft.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Dissident


interesting response.

P.S. I'm not religious (unless you consider satanism a religion )

Nor did I say you were religious. I just don't think you really considered the ramifications of what you said.

can we be proven to exist. How do we know we aren't a dream of some other being?

Descartes seems to have answered that question some time ago.

Now look up "solipsism." Between that and the anthropic principal, you have homework to do.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Dissident
How do we know we aren't a dream of some other being?

Let me punch you a couple of times. Maybe you actually feel pain

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Agathon
That book I referenced has an extremely long and detailed discussion of the Drake equation.

Drakes equation is a piece of sh1t. (IMHO )

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by MrFun
But I'm talking about communication contact without necessarily having interstellar travel -- from one planet to another, contact is possible without either species on either planet physically traveling to the other in a spacecraft.

There's still know way of making any reasonably accurate guess without knowing how common life is. What if we're the only inhabited planet in our galaxy? Or the nearest inhabited world is 10,000 light years away? With such a vast galaxy, it's quite possible that communication from another world could pass right by us without us noticing it.

[Agathon]

Descartes seems to have answered that question some time ago.

Alas no.

Anyway, stop this crap and order my friend's book from Amazon. He needs the money and it is in fact a good book.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Let me punch you a couple of times. Maybe you actually feel pain

when I dream, I dream about pain. pain can be felt in dreams.

[Boris Godunov]

Aha, it's a shameless plug for a friend. Now I see.

I'm inclined to agree with reds4ever, if just because there are too many variables in the DE for which we have no real idea that render it pretty damned useless as anything other than what-if fantasizing.

[MrFun]

I'm watching a different program on right now on the NG channel -- it's a program on different scientific methods that some people are using to try to find extraterrestrial life.


I shall return after the show.

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov
Aha, it's a shameless plug for a friend. Now I see.

I'm inclined to agree with reds4ever, if just because there are too many variables in the DE for which we have no real idea that render it pretty damned useless as anything other than what-if fantasizing.

Exactly, if you don't know what numbers to plug in, whats the point?

We could all come up with 'equations'

[Agathon]

Exactly, if you don't know what numbers to plug in, whats the point?

We can make pretty reasonable estimates for a lot of the variables.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov


Nor did I say you were religious. I just don't think you really considered the ramifications of what you said.



Descartes seems to have answered that question some time ago.

Now look up "solipsism." Between that and the anthropic principal, you have homework to do.

I have done all my homework, now can I play computer games?

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

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