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

[Chief_For_Life58]

Originally Posted by DaFace

A point made by Cosmos in a recent episode is that we're not only dealing with a challenge of space, but also of time. In other words, the math says that there should be a ton of other planets with life on them, but what's to say that life hasn't already come and gone on most of them? If it turns out that there just isn't a way to go faster than the speed of light, it's entirely plausible that we just won't have anyone else close enough and at the right point in time to find anything out there.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by Buck

I wish we (as a species) would put as much effort into exploring beyond Earth as we do trying to be as rich and powerful as possible.

We should save earth first. Plus something like 70% of this planet has not been explored and mapped.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

A bit like saying the pony express or telegrams could never allow us to have instant-contact with people in China. Life the last few centuries has changed at an unbelievable if not unsustainable rates.

I'm not sure why they need to find planets Humans could have survived on. Life finds a way under bizarre circumstances. Even Humans as they exist are only around due to ancestors surviving hard to imagine catastrophes.

Originally Posted by loochy

I always think that is weird too. Life could develop anywhere. Why does it have to have water and moderate temperatures?

You have to start with the known and expand from there.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by DaFace

A point made by Cosmos in a recent episode is that we're not only dealing with a challenge of space, but also of time. In other words, the math says that there should be a ton of other planets with life on them, but what's to say that life hasn't already come and gone on most of them? If it turns out that there just isn't a way to go faster than the speed of light, it's entirely plausible that we just won't have anyone else close enough and at the right point in time to find anything out there.

We don't need to travel the speed of light. Near relativistic travel substantially slows the aging process for the traveler/pedant

[DaFace]

Originally Posted by ChiliConCarnage

I'm not sure why they need to find planets Humans could have survived on. Life finds a way under bizarre circumstances. Even Humans as they exist are only around due to ancestors surviving hard to imagine catastrophes.

A lot of it really comes down to water. Everything we know about life suggests that H2O is necessary for it to work (reacting with carbon), so at a minimum you need a planet that is somewhere between 32F and 212F.

It's theoretically possible for life to be built in a very different way (silicon is a possibility in place of carbon), but we don't even know what we'd be looking for to try and find something like that.

[ToxSocks]

Great read. Something else for me to trip on while i toke this bowl.

[Chief_For_Life58]

Originally Posted by Detoxing

Great read. Something else for me to trip on while i toke this bowl.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by DaFace

A lot of it really comes down to water. Everything we know about life suggests that H2O is necessary for it to work (reacting with carbon), so at a minimum you need a planet that is somewhere between 32F and 212F.

It's theoretically possible for life to be built in a very different way (silicon is a possibility in place of carbon), but we don't even know what we'd be looking for to try and find something like that.

Hydrogen bonding is the key to life. It's why water is liquid at RT whereas other heavier compounds are not.

Silicon is unlikely. It's an interesting concept, but its weight is such that the London forces of compounds would significantly alter their makeup, and the size of the silicon atom makes it far more difficult for it to create double bonds (pi bonds), and thus, no carbonyl-type molecules, whereas carbon can form an infinite number of molecules.

[Chief_For_Life58]

I think we're before the filter....humans will invent some life changing energy source, fight over it and kill the earth or a scientist won't know what he's actually created and blow a hole in the ozone or something

['Hamas' Jenkins]

If you want some whack shit, consider this: all naturally occurring amino acids on Earth are left-handed, even though there is no real functional advantage for an AA to be right or left-handed. It's just an evolutionary quirk. Meteorites with trace amino acids have been found to have a 50-50 split of right and left handed AA's.

[-King-]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

If you want some whack shit, consider this: all naturally occurring amino acids on Earth are left-handed, even though there is no real functional advantage for an AA to be right or left-handed. It's just an evolutionary quirk. Meteorites with trace amino acids have been found to have a 50-50 split of right and left handed AA's.

Whoa, that's whack!

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by -King-

Whoa, that's whack!

[HonestChieffan]

****ers ran Chris off and let this shit stand?

[ThaVirus]

That was a great read. I'm about to give the "Putting Time In Perspective" article when I get more of it.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

If you want some whack shit, consider this: all naturally occurring amino acids on Earth are left-handed, even though there is no real functional advantage for an AA to be right or left-handed. It's just an evolutionary quirk. Meteorites with trace amino acids have been found to have a 50-50 split of right and left handed AA's.

Explain...