mrynit

yes there is/was. some appollo moon equipment was not sanatised completely and traveled to the moove. when it came back they found that it was still alive.

i heard taht some where...

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DaWei

Well, hell, we knew there is/was THAT kind of life beyond the Earth. Alan Shephard was there hittin' his li'l ol' golf ball. If you study that realllllllllllllly, reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly deeply, though, it prolly qualifies as earth life.

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nnxion

Hmm I have yet to read on Drake and Fermi, but I agree with you that it's possible there's life out there, but not likely. If there is though, chances are they're not as intelligent as humans (one may question how intelligent we are).

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Arevos

Essentially, Drake came up with an equation to calculate the number of alien civilisations in our galaxy. The results depend on a series of variables which are currently mostly unknown; however, estimates of these values usually return a large number of alien civilisation.

Fermi said that if that were the case, why haven't we detected or met any of these civilisations yet? The galaxy has been around a long time, and we haven't found one piece of evidence that extra-terrestrial life ever existed.

The arguments are more complex than that, but that's the gist.

There are quite a few theories put up to explain Fermi's Paradox. It could be, for instance, that any sufficiently advanced civilisation eventually discovers technology that will likely lead to its destruction. Perhaps nuclear weapons, perhaps something we haven't yet uncovered. Or perhaps intelligent life is such a fluke, such an unlikely event, that Earth is the only planet in the galaxy it has occurred upon.

In the novel Accelerando, my current favourite work of sci-fi, the author puts forward the theory that sufficiently advanced intelligences become so large that they lack the resources to spread out to other solar systems. Other novels have put forward the suggestion of "berserker" Von Neumann machines that exterminate any intelligent life they come across.

It could be that alien civilisations progress to an unknown and undetectable form of communications before we can detect them. If they're only using radio waves for a few hundred years, then switch to, say, quantum entanglement, then the chance of two civilisations of that tech level intercepting each others radio transmissions would be fairly low.

It could also be that more advanced civilisations have no interest in us, and have long since outgrown the need for planets with air and water.

Infinite Recursion

I think we are all just someone's / something's pet project with a rushed deadline... we are all just puppets.

I agree with the idea that advanced civilizations "discover" technology that will eventually lead to their demise... but I also think that is a bit biased towards anti-war mindsets. However, it still stands to reason.

I also think that advanced civilizations may not want to be bothered by lower civilizations... which is the reason they remain "hidden". For instance, how many of you wish those dumbasses that always ask you to fix their computer would leave you alone? If you are an advanced civilization and have ironed out all of your problems, goals, etc... why have some clutz civilization come in and disease your entities with sickness, polictics and stupidity?

haha

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Ooble

Personally, I just don't care. My feelings on God are the same: He might be up there, and he might not be. Until I have proof, it affects my life in no way whatsoever.

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DaWei

I liked a story, Asimov I think it was, about entropy and the progression of the human race through eons of time. Near the end, they had progressed through stages until there was just one entity of thought, pervading the universe. But the universe was nearly run down. Finally, the last star blinked out, the last emission was emitted, and all was over. Then there was this ultimate action/thought, last sentence in the story, "Let there be light."

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Infinite Recursion

@Ooble: I tend to agree, show me the proof and I'll believe it when I see it.

@DaWei: Pretty good concluding sentence for a story line like that... must pick up a few of Issac's books.

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"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

nnxion

That sounds like a reboot to me.

Problem is that it might be too late then, I hope not though for your sake.

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jim mcnamara

Visit the www.physicsforums.com and do a search on extraterrestrial. There are hundreds of posts from both scientists and the lunatic fringe.