The Fermi Paradox - Why we haven't been contacted by aliens

[Chief_For_Life58]

Interesting read. What's your opinion?


http://waitbutwhy.com/2014/05/fermi-paradox.html

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by BossChief

NASA gets a pretty nice share of the US budget. At least it used to.


Very possible.

If 0.3% of the budget is a lot then the answer is yes. NASAs entire budget since it's inception is less than the bank bail out of 2008.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

I don't think we need to be "savant" or super intelligence" species to be able to travel at the speed of sound.

The speed of sound is not a particularly difficult achievement as far as physics is concerned.

The speed of light, or even coming very close to it if you want to think about relativistic travel, is an extremely daunting physics challenge, and comes very close to "pretty much impossible".

[Chief_For_Life58]

the human race needs to birth some more Isaac newtons so we can develop light speed travel. Oh I came up with physics but I need a type of math to make it work, k cool just invented calculus.

[Chief_For_Life58]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

If there are a lot of advanced civilizations and the superpredator theory is true, then it seems like we'd be picking up signals that then stop abruptly.

the article gives the analogy of if you go into an office building with a walkie talkie you won't hear anything because everyone is using cell phones and texting

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by alnorth

The speed of sound is not a particularly difficult achievement as far as physics is concerned.

The speed of light, or even coming very close to it if you want to think about relativistic travel, is an extremely daunting physics challenge, and comes very close to "pretty much impossible".

Sorry, I meant light.

And of course it seems "pretty much impossible" today. We thought black holes were a myth 50 years ago. Convinced the world was flat 400 years ago. etc. etc.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Chief_For_Life58

the article gives the analogy of if you go into an office building with a walkie talkie you won't hear anything because everyone is using cell phones and texting

I think that's a different problem. I guess I'm assuming that the communication problem is solved (by us or the gigantic wolf spiders that kill everything).

[Chief_For_Life58]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I think that's a different problem. I guess I'm assuming that the communication problem is solved (by us or the gigantic wolf spiders that kill everything).

yeah I like to think of the predator aliens as the bugs from starship troopers

[Discuss Thrower]

It's because reality is a computer simulation and "extraterrestrial" intelligence wasn't called for in the programming.

[alnorth]

Originally Posted by BigRedChief

Sorry, I meant light.

And of course it seems "pretty much impossible" today. We thought black holes were a myth 50 years ago. Convinced the world was flat 400 years ago. etc. etc.

At this point, the only possibility I'm conceding is a warp drive. And even that requires some exotic materials that probably do not exist. The laws of physics are pretty clear that matter can not travel at the speed of light, even a single atom using nearly infinite energy. The only way around it is to cheat by moving at a normal speed through warped space.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by alnorth

At this point, the only possibility I'm conceding is a warp drive. And even that requires some exotic materials that probably do not exist. The laws of physics are pretty clear that matter can not travel at the speed of light, even a single atom using nearly infinite energy. The only way around it is to cheat by moving at a normal speed through warped space.

The answer lies in the other 90% of our brains that we aren't using.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Great article. The one on time was a great read as well.

[Marco Polo]

Originally Posted by BossChief

NASA gets a pretty nice share of the US budget. At least it used to.


Very possible.

Doesn't NASA only get like half of a penny on the dollar of the overall budget? Half of one percent does not seem like a pretty nice share compared to how much other wasteful spending is out there (I promise you that I'm not trying to be political).

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

True.

At our current level of understanding.

We are talking about a civilization who has only had automobiles for 100 years, and even we have some understanding of how the gigantic hurdle of those vast distances can be circumvented.

[stonedstooge]

Here's what will happen when space travelers come to Earth

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by alnorth

At this point, the only possibility I'm conceding is a warp drive. And even that requires some exotic materials that probably do not exist. The laws of physics are pretty clear that matter can not travel at the speed of light, even a single atom using nearly infinite energy. The only way around it is to cheat by moving at a normal speed through warped space.

It would have to be this or a worm hole.
If we were to travel at anywhere near the speed of light, by the time you returned from a 5 year mission, 100 years would have lapsed and everyone you know would be dead.