Poll: Ancent intelegent life, is it possable?

[x EvilErmine x]

Ok so this is my first thread so go easy on me )
This was sort of inspired by the ancient aliens thread.

Does anyone think it's possible that we (humans) are not the first intelligent life form that the earth has ever produced?

I got thinking about this after seeing a program a while ago called life after people. It was about how the world would look and what would happen if people suddenly disappeared and nature was left to take over again. What surprised me was how fast things would disappear. I think they said after about 1000 years then nearly everything we have built, all out cites and things will be almost all gone, and after one million years there would be nothing left to show we were ever here apart from a few odd strata in the rocks and the stuff we left on the moon. Now i know that if there was life as advanced as us then we would have probably found some sort of evidence by now but what if they weren't quite as advanced? Say they got up to about the mid Victorian level of tech or something.

 

[The Shade]

Anything's possible.

I suspect they were a highly-evolved form of bicycle.

 

[Sevre]

You could be right. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism]

Of course there's plenty of things we haven't discovered yet, evidence of an ancient race far more advanced than us is a possibility.

 

[SnipErlite]

Sevre already posted the Antikythera mechanism, that's weird enugh.

I certainly think it's possible....stuff hidden deep undergroud....under the oceans....right in plain sight? (Hey if they had really advanced tech they probably have really advanced measures of hiding it...)

0_O

 

[x434343]

Ok so this is my first thread so go easy on me )

Be mindful of spelling, some of us are very... stickler-ish of that.



As for ancient intelligents, yeah. Underwater pyramids off the coast of Japan.

 

[Lord Legion]

They were called the Great Race of Yith.

it is a possibility, but life as we know it truly started only 600 million years ago. According to our current models of evolution - which are actually, quite incomplete - nothing got very advanced except us. There were probably very smart dinosaurs, but probably akin more to crows or some monkeys in terms of intelligence. Still lightyears behind us.

Then there are the neanderthals...which employed tool usage and a basic society. So I guess a very primitive version of us was around. But we killed them.

 

[Leg End]

Yes. Humans have no idea of those whom have been calling this planet home.

It is better you do not know. For your own good.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

Ok so this is my first thread so go easy on me )

Be mindful of spelling, some of us are very... stickler-ish of that.



As for ancient intelligents, yeah. Underwater pyramids off the coast of Japan.

Ahh spelling has never been my strong point sorry lol, but thanks for the advice )

You could be right. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism]

Of course there's plenty of things we haven't discovered yet, evidence of an ancient race far more advanced than us is a possibility.

Ooo that is very interesting indeed, thank you for the link. It was an intriguing read.

 

[Wolfram23]

Duh... didn't you watch Battlestar: Galatica?

 

[Vie]

Its perfectly possible for intelligent life to have evolved before, however the fossil record has yet to find any species that we can point to and say "Intelligent/Sentient". However I'd be willing to bet that there have been millions of species with the level of intelligence of Dolphins or Crows, and probably at least a few equivalent to that of our early ancestors.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

@ wolfram
Oh yeas how could i forget that....silly me lol

 

[DeadlyYellow]

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again.

Seemed fitting.

 

[antidonkey]

Must resist urge to make snarky comment on spelling........gah!



Anyway, sure it's possible but not really probable depending on the level of intellect you're talking about.

 

[A Raging Emo]

A better question would be, is "is Modern intelligent life possible?".

 

[teisjm]

Ok so this is my first thread so go easy on me )
This was sort of inspired by the ancient aliens thread.

Does anyone think it's possible that we (humans) are not the first intelligent life form that the earth has ever produced?

I got thinking about this after seeing a program a while ago called life after people. It was about how the world would look and what would happen if people suddenly disappeared and nature was left to take over again. What surprised me was how fast things would disappear. I think they said after about 1000 years then nearly everything we have built, all out cites and things will be almost all gone, and after one million years there would be nothing left to show we were ever here apart from a few odd strata in the rocks and the stuff we left on the moon. Now i know that if there was life as advanced as us then we would have probably found some sort of evidence by now but what if they weren't quite as advanced? Say they got up to about the mid Victorian level of tech or something.

Don't archeologists find lots and lots of stuff which is several thousind years old?
I mean, we do know a lot about lots of ancient human Civilizations from all over the world due to archeology.

As for the millions of year thingy:
"Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals that were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago)."

This is the 1-st line of wikipedias article about dinosaurs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaurs )
Thats quite a lot of million years, and they seem to have left more behind than a few odd strata behind.

I think if there has been non-human civilizations somewhat close to mid victorian are as you mentioned, we would've found traces, i mean we do find traces of human technology from as far back as the stone-age (arrow heads etc.) and if they had higher tec than that i think it would've left some sort of trace, just like i find it hard to belive, that if humanity died out, and some other spieces rose to dominate the earth, and started practicing archeology, they'd find lots of evidence of our existence.

 

[ShadowKatt]

This is an interesting topic. There's been other alien threads, but no one ever specified 'ancient' before.

I think that, like alien life being all too possible as is, it is entirely possible for there to be what we would consider ancient life out there. I believe the reason that we find it hard to believe is because can can't see ourselves making it that long. Humans are violent and war mongering, fighting over our petty differences. Someday, if we get over those petty differences and unite as a race, celebrating our diversity and creating a peaceful world, we could very well become an ancient race, living 10,000, 100,000, a million years.

There's no reason to believe that another race out there hasn't done that. In fact, I think it's suitable to believe that any race we do meet would very likely be considered ancient by our standards. I suppose it's possible that a race could be extremely advanced, young, but already expanding in the universe, but it's more likely that any race that is exploring the far reaches of the universe has been at this for a long time already.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

I don't really see it myself. We find things as fragile as footprints, bacteria, eggs, etc etc. I think that unless they weren't very widespread or had a particularly short innings we'd have found some evidence by now.

EDIT: To add to teisjms comment we find itty bitty bits of flint and bone tools that are over 2million years old. I think we'd find a whole city, victorian or not.

 

[Ramin 123]

Ok so this is my first thread so go easy on me )
This was sort of inspired by the ancient aliens thread.

Does anyone think it's possible that we (humans) are not the first intelligent life form that the earth has ever produced?

I got thinking about this after seeing a program a while ago called life after people. It was about how the world would look and what would happen if people suddenly disappeared and nature was left to take over again. What surprised me was how fast things would disappear. I think they said after about 1000 years then nearly everything we have built, all out cites and things will be almost all gone, and after one million years there would be nothing left to show we were ever here apart from a few odd strata in the rocks and the stuff we left on the moon. Now i know that if there was life as advanced as us then we would have probably found some sort of evidence by now but what if they weren't quite as advanced? Say they got up to about the mid Victorian level of tech or something.

Don't archeologists find lots and lots of stuff which is several thousind years old?
I mean, we do know a lot about lots of ancient human Civilizations from all over the world due to archeology.

As for the millions of year thingy:
"Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals that were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago)."

This is the 1-st line of wikipedias article about dinosaurs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaurs )
Thats quite a lot of million years, and they seem to have left more behind than a few odd strata behind.

I think if there has been non-human civilizations somewhat close to mid victorian are as you mentioned, we would've found traces, i mean we do find traces of human technology from as far back as the stone-age (arrow heads etc.) and if they had higher tec than that i think it would've left some sort of trace, just like i find it hard to belive, that if humanity died out, and some other spieces rose to dominate the earth, and started practicing archeology, they'd find lots of evidence of our existence.

Yeah but lets put the stupidity of the Victorian age into perspective here. There's bound to be piles of things we haven't discovered and the worst of it all is, EVEN if someone did find something, nobody would care anyway as the size of Victoria Beckhams meals are of more importance than archaeological achievement... -_-

 

[Leadfinger]

Not dead which eternal lies, strange eons death may die.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

Ok so this is my first thread so go easy on me )
This was sort of inspired by the ancient aliens thread.

Does anyone think it's possible that we (humans) are not the first intelligent life form that the earth has ever produced?

I got thinking about this after seeing a program a while ago called life after people. It was about how the world would look and what would happen if people suddenly disappeared and nature was left to take over again. What surprised me was how fast things would disappear. I think they said after about 1000 years then nearly everything we have built, all out cites and things will be almost all gone, and after one million years there would be nothing left to show we were ever here apart from a few odd strata in the rocks and the stuff we left on the moon. Now i know that if there was life as advanced as us then we would have probably found some sort of evidence by now but what if they weren't quite as advanced? Say they got up to about the mid Victorian level of tech or something.

Don't archeologists find lots and lots of stuff which is several thousind years old?
I mean, we do know a lot about lots of ancient human Civilizations from all over the world due to archeology.

As for the millions of year thingy:
"Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals that were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period (about 230 million years ago) until the end of the Cretaceous (about 65 million years ago)."

This is the 1-st line of wikipedias article about dinosaurs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaurs )
Thats quite a lot of million years, and they seem to have left more behind than a few odd strata behind.

I think if there has been non-human civilizations somewhat close to mid victorian are as you mentioned, we would've found traces, i mean we do find traces of human technology from as far back as the stone-age (arrow heads etc.) and if they had higher tec than that i think it would've left some sort of trace, just like i find it hard to belive, that if humanity died out, and some other spieces rose to dominate the earth, and started practicing archeology, they'd find lots of evidence of our existence.

Yes they do find lots of evidence of older civilizations but what i was driving at there is the fact that although we find arrow heads and pottery etc we don't really find that much, and mostly we find things because we know where to look for them and what to look for. most of the stuff that is dug out of the earth takes a trained eye to tell what it is. If you didn't know that then you might conceivably think it wasn't significant. Also if it was long enough ago then the process of subduction and continental drift, as well as erosion and stuff being washed into the see and swallowed up by the ocean depths may have erased or berried under miles of rock most of that evidence.

As for the dinosaurs well yea we find quite a few fossils but the thing about them is that they tell us a lot about the physiology of the animal but almost nothing about the intelligence level.