Serious UFO/Aliens question.. from a scientific pov
October 28, 2009 3:06 PM Subscribe
How would aliens get here?
So I personally think its ignorant to think that there's absolutely no life somewhere else in the universe. As far as that life traveling here, I'm skeptical.. and here's my question:
How did it ("they") get here? Even if they traveled the speed of light it would have taken them a LONG TIME to get here... I did read about some scientist saying that using some material not found on earth was used to vector gravity..?? And my other question is how do these UFO's get all the way to almost ground level undetected by all of today's equipment?
So I personally think its ignorant to think that there's absolutely no life somewhere else in the universe. As far as that life traveling here, I'm skeptical.. and here's my question:
How did it ("they") get here? Even if they traveled the speed of light it would have taken them a LONG TIME to get here... I did read about some scientist saying that using some material not found on earth was used to vector gravity..?? And my other question is how do these UFO's get all the way to almost ground level undetected by all of today's equipment?
This post was deleted for the following reason: This started kind of chatty and is just getting worse as the thread goes on. Maybe there's some answerable hard science core to this question, but this is not the way to persue it in askme. -- cortex
It's entirely possible that our planet was seeded with life from comets traveling in from the Oort Cloud.
posted by KokuRyu at 3:10 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by KokuRyu at 3:10 PM on October 28, 2009
There's no way that we understand that they can do either of those things. Which is why most people don't think aliens have ever visited Earth (except for Erik von Daniken).
posted by GuyZero at 3:12 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by GuyZero at 3:12 PM on October 28, 2009
So I personally think its ignorant to think that there's absolutely no life somewhere else in the universe.
"X despite the lack of evidence of X" is the height of ignorance, FWIW.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:12 PM on October 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
"X despite the lack of evidence of X" is the height of ignorance, FWIW.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:12 PM on October 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
It's actually kind of interesting to contemplate the assumption that there might be "intelligent" life somewhere else out in the universe, or that "intelligence" and self-awareness is the pinnacle of evolution that all species, terrestrial and extra-terrestrial, aspire to.
There may be other sentient life out there, but there may be no other technological societies (and by technology I mean things like fire, pottery, or open-source software) in the universe.
While technology has allowed us to leave the planet, it has also allowed us to wreck the planet, and perhaps similar scenarios exist elsewhere.
posted by KokuRyu at 3:14 PM on October 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
There may be other sentient life out there, but there may be no other technological societies (and by technology I mean things like fire, pottery, or open-source software) in the universe.
While technology has allowed us to leave the planet, it has also allowed us to wreck the planet, and perhaps similar scenarios exist elsewhere.
posted by KokuRyu at 3:14 PM on October 28, 2009 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I'm not sure that they're here, but there have been quite a few unexplainable UFO's (ie.. the huge on in Arizona). I'm just asking as a skeptic; if they did indeed visit, how/why did they travel that vast distance?
posted by jfid1 at 3:15 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by jfid1 at 3:15 PM on October 28, 2009
It's also an big assumption that they would live on a time scale similar to ours. The concept of "a long time" is relative when you look at the fact that the longest lived among us goes about 100 years. An alien race that lived for a thousand years or ten thousand might not find near-light speed travel to a distant solar system quite so impossible.
posted by quin at 3:15 PM on October 28, 2009 [2 favorites]
posted by quin at 3:15 PM on October 28, 2009 [2 favorites]
oh, ok. so yeah, back to the first part, then : they get here slowly. that's the only answer our current physics model supports.
posted by radiosilents at 3:16 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by radiosilents at 3:16 PM on October 28, 2009
quin does bring up a fine qualifier.
posted by radiosilents at 3:17 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by radiosilents at 3:17 PM on October 28, 2009
This book is easy to read and entertaining, but gives a fairly good overview (to my layman's mind) of possible explanations for the Fermi Paradox (Basically: it seems highly likely that there should be intelligent life out there, so why haven't we seen any signs of it?).
posted by Infinite Jest at 3:18 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by Infinite Jest at 3:18 PM on October 28, 2009
I'm not sure that they're here, but there have been quite a few unexplainable UFO's (ie.. the huge on in Arizona).
But why do we assume these UFOs come from outer space?
posted by KokuRyu at 3:20 PM on October 28, 2009
But why do we assume these UFOs come from outer space?
posted by KokuRyu at 3:20 PM on October 28, 2009
However they get here, it will be indistinguishable from magic.
posted by jeffamaphone at 3:21 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by jeffamaphone at 3:21 PM on October 28, 2009
Response by poster: "It's also an big assumption that they would live on a time scale similar to ours..."
I've thought about that, but wouldn't their relative size determine their timescale?
posted by jfid1 at 3:21 PM on October 28, 2009
I've thought about that, but wouldn't their relative size determine their timescale?
posted by jfid1 at 3:21 PM on October 28, 2009
It is not unreasonable or unscientific to strongly suspect that there exists intelligent life in at least one other location in the universe.
But is unreasonable and unscientific to say that people who won't believe that without actual evidence are ignorant, especially given the fact that a huge number of proponents of UFO/alien theory are clinically insane. Being a skeptic never amounts to ignorance.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:22 PM on October 28, 2009
But is unreasonable and unscientific to say that people who won't believe that without actual evidence are ignorant, especially given the fact that a huge number of proponents of UFO/alien theory are clinically insane. Being a skeptic never amounts to ignorance.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:22 PM on October 28, 2009
Just for fun, here's a list of some crazy long lived things that exist right here on Earth, albeit in a non-sentient fire-and-wheel-making sense.
posted by quin at 3:23 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by quin at 3:23 PM on October 28, 2009
Response by poster: "X despite the lack of evidence of X" is the height of ignorance, FWIW."
Go look at images from the hubble telescope of other galaxies which contain trillions of stars like the one in the center of our solar system...
posted by jfid1 at 3:24 PM on October 28, 2009
Go look at images from the hubble telescope of other galaxies which contain trillions of stars like the one in the center of our solar system...
posted by jfid1 at 3:24 PM on October 28, 2009
Best answer: As quin points out, they might simply have very different time scales; maybe they need(ed) five hundred years to get here, but are capable of building ships that can operate on that time and they live that long, or maybe they just don't mind having whole generations come and go to get from Point A to Point B. Certainly if we had a light-speed ship, we'd go check out Alpha Centauri, and might blow the minds of its hypothetical native critters who live only half an Earth year apiece. But the short answer is that if aliens have visited Earth - an outrageously huge assumption to begin with - there is no way of knowing how they might have gotten here. Either they did so with technology we could probably at least comprehend, but at a speed that would be incredibly slow for humans (eg, even at 10% of the speed of light - a speed we can't even approach yet - it would take 44 years to get to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri) OR they have technology that breaks the laws of Physics as we understand them (warp drive, wormholes, something like that.) Note that in the event of the latter, it would mean more than figuring some new stuff out; anything that allows anything like FTL travel would mean rejiggering absolutely everything we've thought we knew for the past, oh, hundred years or so. The lightspeed limit appears to be extremely fixed, and there are fun complications like "as you approach the speed of light, your mass increases, and approaches infinity."
posted by Tomorrowful at 3:26 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by Tomorrowful at 3:26 PM on October 28, 2009
Some have posited that aliens are visitors from another dimension, so rather than cross the stars, they're simply jumping dimensions.
As an aside, Harry Turtledove wrote about an alien invasion of earth where it did take centuries for the aliens to reach here (and the resulting snafu when they learned humans did not technologically evolve as slow as to be expected!).
posted by Atreides at 3:26 PM on October 28, 2009
As an aside, Harry Turtledove wrote about an alien invasion of earth where it did take centuries for the aliens to reach here (and the resulting snafu when they learned humans did not technologically evolve as slow as to be expected!).
posted by Atreides at 3:26 PM on October 28, 2009
Go look at images from the hubble telescope of other galaxies which contain trillions of stars like the one in the center of our solar system...
Stars are wonderful but don't amount to convincing evidence.
Anyone who is strongly skeptical of natural selection and evolution is ignorant.
Skeptical doesn't mean "I DON'T BELIEVE JEEBUS WILL SAVE ME", skepticism means demanding proof and not blindly following along. Proof (not absolute, according to some, but tending to excluded all other explanations) of evolution is there for anyone who cares to research. Proof of life on other planets is not present.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:37 PM on October 28, 2009
Stars are wonderful but don't amount to convincing evidence.
Anyone who is strongly skeptical of natural selection and evolution is ignorant.
Skeptical doesn't mean "I DON'T BELIEVE JEEBUS WILL SAVE ME", skepticism means demanding proof and not blindly following along. Proof (not absolute, according to some, but tending to excluded all other explanations) of evolution is there for anyone who cares to research. Proof of life on other planets is not present.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:37 PM on October 28, 2009
Response by poster: I personally think that they wouldn't travel at light speed not only for the physical impossibilities but even light quickly becomes a slow means of travel given the vastness of our universe... I always liked the whole Dune idea, bending space... This is the article that I was referring to about using gravity Is this possible?
posted by jfid1 at 3:38 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by jfid1 at 3:38 PM on October 28, 2009
Response by poster: "Proof of life on other planets is not present."
I hope your not a bettin man. haha
posted by jfid1 at 3:43 PM on October 28, 2009
I hope your not a bettin man. haha
posted by jfid1 at 3:43 PM on October 28, 2009
I hope your not a bettin man. haha
If you have proof of life on other planets, share it. I don't believe in psychic powers either.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:44 PM on October 28, 2009
If you have proof of life on other planets, share it. I don't believe in psychic powers either.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:44 PM on October 28, 2009
"X despite the lack of evidence of X" is the height of ignorance, FWIW.
Careful, there. "I do not believe not-X" is not the same as "I believe X." jfid1 seems to me to be saying only the former.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:46 PM on October 28, 2009
Careful, there. "I do not believe not-X" is not the same as "I believe X." jfid1 seems to me to be saying only the former.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 3:46 PM on October 28, 2009
I find the theory/speculation that alien virii arrive to Earth via meteor kind of fun. Very slow, but no special technology or intelligence required.
posted by Kurichina at 3:47 PM on October 28, 2009
posted by Kurichina at 3:47 PM on October 28, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by radiosilents at 3:08 PM on October 28, 2009 [1 favorite]