Are we the only intelegent beings in the universe?

Not so fast Cosmos Guru....

The Universe works on the principle of symmetry. Also, it may be that life follows a specific blue print, like water is always H2O. The DNA in plants and animals are the same. No animal has weird DNA or triple helix. Nature is frugal and simplicity rules. So it is more likely, the aliens that evoloved from a similar background will grow to a similar species. A minor chage in eyes and other body parts not withstanding, I would say that aliens are just like us.

Now, if conditions are so different that life evolved differently with a non-DNA base, then communication may be impossible....
 
Things like a left handed dna spiral helix would certainly alter the function of any biological creature. I am not sure that such could exist.
 
Perhaps a left handed anything just proves chaos within nature.

As for different genetics, I should think it's possible, although there would still be similar chemical compositions, of course Chaos theory does dictate that no matter how chaotic a system there are points of reference where a system might stablise to a similar pattern from within itself, A preportion of a fractal before it sets off on chaotic course again.

I say this because it's chemical chain will have similarities, that is why all life has gene simularities even though they don't fit together the same.

I would say if we are to come across other life forms from some other solar system out there, they would have to have to cater for certain rules:

1: Resilliance, This is to both disease and to overcome hsotile environments such as worms, spiders, flies, rats, and maybe your clasic survivalistic human.

2: Dexterious design, the ability to improvise and work with what is at hand, since worms/spiders/flies/rats, can't build shelters, or use the advantage of materials they might find it difficult. Of course they are quite happy eating anything that's dead and decay, you on the other hand might not.

3: I would guess any life form would need an intake of oxygen if it is large, due to oxygens use in combustibility.

Of course the main point is if we do come face to face with some alien, how are we really going to react????

Think you and the alien speak different languages, any fast movements you make with any instruments you have (Like a cell phone) and the alien could think it's a weapon and thus a hostile action and vapourises you on the spot. Of course this on turn could be the same, the alien busts a move for his translator, you freak and attack him or run for cover.

If you try to use hand signals or get him to grasp the basis of "Hi I'm friendly!" how will you continue with the rest of your conversation, It's not like your going to want to take him to the local University to allow the scientists to meet him because word will get about and the next thing you know everybody want's to prod, poke and cut little bits out of him.

What valid piece of an intellectual gem do you tell to this traveller? Are you going to tell him the prime numbers? After all if he managed to make it all this distance I would say the prime numbers would be a bit basic, If anything he would probably want to know something that is current and at the peak of the present time. Neural networking perhaps?
 
The best way to analyze these scenarios is to get hold of the procedure no 551 (*) from whitehouse. It describes exactly what the whitehouse does in the event of a landing by an alien ship on the whitehouse lawn.

If you do not have access to that, then I suggest prepare 3 scenarios as to going to another planet and meeting another similar specis. I have posted this before - so you have to dig through.....
 
kmguru,

Actually, we already alter our form and function as a basic response to our environment. The people of the high Andes - living all their lives above 10,000 ft elevation, have evolved very large barrel chests to house oversize lungs that are needed to pull in all the thin air they need to wrk. The entire population is like this. The reason that Africans have black skin is in response to the high exposure to the sun. This is pure Darwin. We respond to our environment.

Exobiology would dictate that an alien that lived in a solar system with a dimmer sun would develop larger eyes. An atmosphere of more than 21% O2 would result in small lungs than we have. And so on.

Scientists have speculated that carbon is not the only element that could have beome the basis for life. Silicon might also have evolved life. Instead of carbon based creatures, we might well have evoled from silicon compounds. There is no telling what that might have produced.

Actually, given all our mutations, I think we have a pretty diverse group of humans right now.
 
Hi Moses:

You seem to have a good grasp of changes that occur due to environment and I agree with you, because nature adapts....it is a System Dynamics thing...

I read somewhere that silicon based life forms will consume too much energy to be useful, that is why we do not see them on earth. Nature is frugal. One thing I always wondered is why Chinese have slant eyes? It is as if they lived under a bright sun-light for many thousand years. Any ideas? Some say, they came on a spaceship???

Since nature adapts, but over several generations (otherwise, European Blacks would have turned white by now!!!) so if you are a japanese or chinese immigrated to USA recently, you will die eating American fast food....right?

Yes we have mutations, but they are minor and slow to change over a very long period. While there are many variety of dogs, from poodle to huskies, the dog property has not changed. They all bark, wiggle their tails (those who have them) and do doggy things...no one has ever looked at a dog in china, and said, my God, it is a cat!

My point is, biological looks and property will be similar for a specific specis under a cetain environment. If the environment is close to earth, we will have humanoids...period. If it is Europa, we will find fish like creatures. They could be intelligent but similar to Dolphins. Space crafts, televisions, cell phones, computers? I dont think so - unless you watched Abyss too many times....
 
I would say the reason for any Genetic trait that has been passed on in generation within the Mongoloids is that take for instance China has a vast area of mountain range above Sea level, This means that the horizon can appear below the level that you would see if you were at sea level, so the sun is in the sky for a longer period of time.

As for silicon based life... Well from what I understand, if we run into Silicon based life then it's been developed by a Carbon based life form to start with (Namely artificial intelligence/Robots)

As for the intelligence of Dolphins, Their intelligence was measured by the quota of the brain they use, Since they are Aquatic and use sonar which uses part of their brain to map the ocean in three dimensions with just sounds, there is no wonder why people think and find them so intelligent.

If us humans had sonar capability we too would find that our IQ's would be measured that much higher due to the fact we would be using more of our brain.

As for how an alien looks, Perhaps they will have got to the point of working a few things in together. Take a piece of the Uploading the Human Mind posting and a little bit of imagination and you get:

It takes many light years to travel from X to get here, So the beings that want to travel the distance Upload themselves into the Mainframe on board ship, While on the journey to here they mess around int he ships lab working out what form they want to take, or from looking at our broadcasts work out what form we would find acceptable, Over the time it takes them to travel to here they have the chance to grow clones from their designs in a vat and upload themselves to them.

By the time the craft reaches here they now have a version that we find are Suitable in appearance. If you don't believe me... question your neighbour... j/k
 
...joining this discussion now:
SILICIUM BASED LIFE:
Well the Silicium atom has - like Carbon - 4 possibilities to bind with other atoms, thus (theoretical) ability to form long chains, and cycles... However the CHON (Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen Nitrogen) based life is much much more probable:
First C, H, O and N are very frequent elements in the universe, while the next line of the Mendeleiev table is much less frequent.
Second The electronic orbitals around Si are such that it favours ionic-type links, which means: less flexibility, cristalline structure, too strong links. Good example is CO2, very important element in life, a gas at normal temperature and pressure, bringing greenhouse effect capabilities (yes it can help...), while SiO2 is a cristal (harder to incorporate in oxydizing/reducing type of chemical reactions)
Third you need a solvent: the CHON solvent is H2O, water - liquid between 0°C and 100°C... While it would be NH3 - liquid at much lower temperatures... which means the cinetics of chemical reactions are much much slower...
In summary, not impossible, but quite improbable to have a non Carbon-based life.
ENANTIOMERES:
the life is Left-handed on Earth... and there is quite some mystery re. the explanation... nobody knows... however I've read a recent article (pb is I absolutely do not remember on which Internet site !!!) on a discovery that in some far molecular interstellar cloud, there was UV light that was polarized, and the polarization triggered a preference for L-shaped molecules or D-shaped depending on this polarization.
My (personal) hypothesis is thus that we are L-shaped because the UV light (the one that can trigger reactions binding prebiotic molecules in interstellar cold clouds) in our neighborhood was polarized in a certain way..
No reason why in some other area of the galaxy, one finds D-shaped life...
HUMAN-LIKE LIFE FORM?
For me, yes for the general aspect like: organs performing sensing would be dual (it gives a 3-d perception), with probably sesnsitivity to the light (CHON-life, thus general conditions close to Earth-conditions, thus atmosphere with Oxygen - the most efficient oxidizer for Redox reactions, energy pumps...-, protection against hard radiation, some CO2, N2, possibly Sulphur-derivatives... ), in any case transparency to visible light, next UV, next IR. Definitely some symmetry axis, a sensitivity to gravity separating the top from the bottom, with sensors rather at the top etc....
Now details may be quite different. Could be fun to imagine a complete history of an exoplanet, then retrace how the life could evolve (with same fundamentals as earth as I just mentionned... DNA and so on..) and 'create' an alien form, both close and different from us...

INTELLIGENCE?
Well, no idea. Drake equation and my personal belief say Yes... but maybe not frequent, and nearly impossible to contact, unless we are extremely lucky (and that does not prevent us to try... see SETI).

Scorpio
 
One thing I always wondered is why Chinese have slant eyes? It is as if they lived under a bright sun-light for many thousand years. Any ideas? Some say, they came on a spaceship???
Click to expand...

im pretty sure thats to adapt to the light condiditions of northern china.

Indigeouns australian's have very "thick" brows which kinda act like sun shades

kinda the reverse of asian people
 
In the book "The Millennial Project", Marshall Savage believes we are the only intelligent life in the universe. His argument is quite interesting.

Life tends to fill all available niches. We will escape the Earth and colonize our solar system. The solar system has a lot of real estate, not just the planets and moons, but millions of asteroids and kuiperoids as well. Our solar system could _easily_ accomodate trillions of people in comfort on all those asteroids.
And we could easily do this for any solar system as we expand out into the universe.

If intelligent life existed elsewhere in the universe, why wouldn't do the same thing?

With such heavy colonization, they would be easy to see straight across the universe.

There may be intelligent life at approximately our stage of development, however, since our technological development stage is so short in comparison to the age of the universe, it is highly improbable.

Primitive life is more likely, and I believe that could exist elsewhere in the universe.

Recently, there been articles about a galactic habitibility zone, which seems to make life less likely. If you are too close to the center of a galaxy the environment is too hostile with bomardments and massive radiation. If you are too far from the center of a galaxy, then there are not enough metals (anything besides hydrogen and helium) to form planets. In addition, it may be that whole small galaxies may not have any planets at all!
 
exciting new discovery

Just recently, some scientists discovered an extra-solar system just a few light years from us. The exciting thins is that they found the orbit of one planet is nearly circular like the Earth's orbit around the sun. Even though the chance for life is nearly none since the sun over there is much larger than ours, the point is, it is not that rare after all to have a nearly circular obit, with the right condition of the sun, life could well be possible. After all, it's a big universe!
 
Who even thinks we are intelligent? In view of the current state of our planet, one must hope that there is intelligent life SOMEWHERE..........
 
a joke and my conviction

I have a joke on this.

That there is an intelligent life in the universe,
best proves the fact that no one has ever tried to contact us.:D

But seriously I think that we were visited by aliens in our ancient history. There are many books on that. I suggest you to read on of Erich Von Daniken books. I don't belive in everything he writes but a lot seems a good proof to me. One of my hobbies is ancient history and I have studied(as a hobby) myths of various cultures as well, and I can say that there is smth in there.

I don't say that I belive in nowaday UFOs. Don't have so much proof as I have for ancient times.

But definitely there is intelligent life somewhere out there.
I'm not talking about a simple cell life or smth like that. It is obvious.
there is even a calculation but I've forgotten that. It stated that there may be about 100 000 advanced civilizations in our universe ?or galaxy? at the present moment. So I find it unlikely us to be the only ones.
 
An exerpt from an essay I did years ago on why we haven't
detected aliens already:

The aliens are not interested in space travel to alien worlds. They do not want to contaminate a growing civilization.

The aliens have no use for us. They may require alien atmospheres and climates, ie they breath ammonia. One intriguing thought is the idea that aliens live on neutron stars (see the novel Dragonegg and Starquake by Robert Forward). Because they live on neutron stars, there is no possibility at all they could live on a planet like Earth. Ordinary matter to them would be like a fog; their bodies could slice through the hardest of diamonds with the greatest of ease. Living on worlds less than millions of gravities would be impossible for them.

Aliens species would only come to us on antimatter-powered spacecraft, that serves as the seed ship for colonization. No alien would undertake a trip across the stars casually because of the energy and time required for such a journey. The energy required for an interstellar journey is 10^17 kwh. Compare that to the energy produced in an entire year on our planet now -- 10^13 kwh. Furthermore, the time is an issue. Nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. All interstellar journeys would take years. The time can be reduced somewhat by time dilation, the slowing of time when something is travelling close to the speed of light. Unfortunately, our bodies can only take so many g- forces, so there is a limit to how fast we can accelerate to the speed of light. An interstellar journey could take less than a year, but our bodies could not stand the stresses required to make it in less than a day.

Perhaps the aliens are already here, but have taken steps to remain undetectable by our technology. Advanced cultures, capable of making interstellar journeys, ought to have advanced nanotechnology. Intelligent nanorobots, trillions of them, as small as bacteria or even viruses, could be monitoring every aspect of our world -- our bodies, our culture, our languages etc, without our even knowing it. These nanorobots would know enough to move out of the view of electron microscopes or anything else that could potentially detect them. The same goes for the aliens' base of operation, well hidden on some moon, asteroid or spacecraft. Why would aliens bother in doing autopsies and abductions or even landing on the planet, when they can do it secretly, and receive a horrendous quantity of information to boot? And when they do decide to reveal themselves, they will have enough information to perform first contact gracefully.

Full text is at:
http://users.efni.com/~brentt/tourist/article0.htm
 
Human intelligence is one of the lower forms of intelligence in the universe. It is a solitary form of consciousness. The universal mind is the arena in which the human mind operates. A bigger venue working in such complex manners that the inhabitant cannot even comprehend the proximity of its form.

Life and intelligence is everywhere. It is what the world is made of :)
 
Re: a joke and my conviction

Originally posted by avatar
...there is even a calculation but I've forgotten that. It stated that there may be about 100 000 advanced civilizations in our universe ?or galaxy? at the present moment. So I find it unlikely us to be the only ones.
Click to expand...

Avatar,

I agree. The equation you are referring to is known as the Drake Equation. Here is an intersting link that describes the Drake equation.

http://www.seti-inst.edu/science/drake-bg.html
 
Carl Sagan Explains the Drake equation and other topics about life in the uniiverse in great detail in Cosmos. Read It it is great



That there is an intelligent life in the universe, best proves the fact that no one has ever tried to contact us
Click to expand...

hehe, i got to remember that avatar. Nice one. Oh, you remined me of something I will put in my signature:

"....And it is hardly out of the question the we might destroy ourselfs tomarrow." Carl Sagan
 
How you know for sure no Alien has ever contacted a huma being.
There are humans who have contacts with Beings from the Spheres.
You should read Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts.
I mean it, I highly recommend it to you.
Read it if you can and let me know please.

No visible Aliens, something about the Light-Beings from the Spheres and the contacts here on Earth and how it is, the Cosmos.:)
 
I forgot something very important.
The Whales and Dolphins and more of these Sea Rulers have a higher IQ then humans have.
In fact it should be better for the world if they could rule the countries.

And I disspice the countries who capture them. I hate those countries. There you can see how low minded a human is, to capture and kill these great Rulers of the Seas.:confused:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top