I believe we should. What's the point living and not knowing something we could go and find out? There's a good amount of evidence for it, so why not?
Poll: Should we search for Alien life?
- Thread starter Jack and Calumon
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Can we have a bit more detail please? Why is it a big waste of time and money?cuddly_tomato said:
Yes I think we should, there would be a lot of information we could learn even if we just found some microbes on another planet.
Although I think we should spend more money and time looking for objects (meteors, comets, etc.) that could possibly hit the earth, and work on ways of diverting them.
Although I think we should spend more money and time looking for objects (meteors, comets, etc.) that could possibly hit the earth, and work on ways of diverting them.
This is a bit like a question i once saw on some stupid programme like jeremy kyle (its like Jerry Springer for those of you stateside) in which the audience was asked if they belive mutant fish are a problem to their unborn children, so my awnser is why do we or the 'other beings' particullary care?
Sure thing.Catkid906 said:
Get yourself a TV set, one of those that plugs into a standard aerial and can run on a car ciggarrete lighter. Drive for 5 hours in some random direction. Now take the worst indoor portable aerial you can find and try to watch something on TV.
Difficult?
Piss easy compared to SETI.
You have to point your telescope at the EXACT right point in the sky. We are not talking "to within a few degrees", we are talking about "to within 0.00000000001 degrees horizontal and 0.00000000001 degrees vertical". Now, let's assume you manage that. You have to hope that there is nothing in the way. Planets, stars, grit, asteroids, magnetic interference, black holes, and other things in the billllliiiiooooonnnnnsss of miles between here and there. Great, we have these two things perfect, and are pointing our little thingy at the alien world. Now we have a new problem - are we listening on the right frequency? Think back to that TV set, you have to get the right frequency to actually receive any signals. Otherwise you get nothing.
Yay! We have done all that. Now we face a new problem - are they broadcasting strongly enough? Or are those signals dissipating before they get here? Do they even have their sending equipment switched on?
No, SETI is a pure waste. looking for needle in a haystack the size of an ocean, and the worst is yet to come...
This needle looks just like all the hay. Let's assume that we did pick something up [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal]. Without any frame of reference or real knowledge of what we are looking for, just how useful would a detection be?
No, because we're currently incapable of it. Assuming we use unmanned probes, getting to mars alone takes about 9 months. No other planet can be reached without getting into years of travel, which is ridiculously expensive. On top of that, we would need incredibly powerful transmitters just to receive anything it might find, and power starts to get a bit scarce outside of our solar system. It's simply too expensive and impractical at this point. Maybe someday, but not any time soon.
I say no. And what is this said evidence for aliens? Did I miss some sort of credible discovery?
looking out for other beings without knowing they are there sounds like a huge waste of money, especially when we don't even know everything about our own planet yet.
looking out for other beings without knowing they are there sounds like a huge waste of money, especially when we don't even know everything about our own planet yet.
God no, of course there's life out there that's a no brainer. I just don't want us making contact and then all of our crazy Mormon, Jewish, Christan, Muslim, and Raptor Jesus believers (Google it if you think I'm joking) will try to convert them and most likely end up starting a galactic war.
I say no, we shouldnt look for life directly - but we should explore space and keep an eye open. But i agree with the above, we dont want some fucked up religious group ruining things for us. And what if the aliens have their own religion? If humanity can thik one up i dont see why others races cant
And havent we found it on mars, or are we talking about more advanced forms?
And havent we found it on mars, or are we talking about more advanced forms?
No. If other life exists it will be far far far away, further than we could hope to reach, and the chances are it will be either far more or far less advanced than us.
yes. it might take millenia to find it, but it almost impossible for life not to exist on at least one other planet. we just need to know what to search for.