Astronomers acknowledge the probability of ETI-UFOs

[ylooshi]

I rarely post in on this site, but I've been reading for about two years pretty regularly. I ran across this tidbit of news and thought I'd share it for discussion/comment.

I'm a proponent of applying strict scientific inquiry to the ETI-UFO question and think that, while the vast majority of UFO sightings are NOT space aliens, that there are a small percentage that very well could be.

The sheer numbers of sightings alone is enough to give pause.

Not all UFO sightings can be explained

They agree that most of the UFO sightings in Norfolk county (UK) are meteorites, but up to 5% are unexplainable.

From the article: "When you consider there are 100,000 million other stars in our galaxy, millions of galaxies in the universe and that the universe is 13 billion years old, it is more logical to say that there is life out there than there isn't.

"Whether that life is at the same stage of evolution as on Earth, whether it is capable of exploring space and whether we can detect it, all remains to be seen."

-Yenald Looshi

 

[SkinWalker]

Most of the Unexplained Flying Objects seen each year turn out to be meteorites - but, of the UFO sightings reported in Norfolk each year, experts say at least 5pc cannot be explained.

Sure. The other 5% are probably hoaxes, planes, hallucinations, lights reflecting from clouds/fog, etc.

Just being able to identify 95% doesn't imply that the unidentified must be explained by space aliens. It means that there simply isn't enough data to make the identification.

I don't rule out the "space alien" hypothesis, but I don't see it as probable faced with the more likely, terrestrial, explanations that exist -such as those few I mentioned above. Until we have hard, physical evidence of space aliens visiting this planet, we really can't conclude that this hypothesis is more likely than lights reflecting from a cloud or even the infamous "swamp gas."

 

[snake river rufus]

Since there are some 70 quintrillon stars in the universe, I feel fairly certain there is other life out there. But visiting here,,,,,,

 

[ylooshi]

I look at it this way: what would we do if we had the technology to visit other stars (and assuming it was economical)?

1) We would pick the likely candidates either by passive observation (radio-astronomy, identifying habitable stars with planets that could be habitable). All stuff we are currently doing. Imagine what we could do if our technology were a few thousand years more advanced.

2) We would use active observation: send space probes to likely candidates and see if there is any habitiable life.

3) We would then send an expedition(s) to the best candidate(s). (Assuming we were able).

With that having been said, is it really all that far-fetched to think that beings from other worlds of other stars -even other galaxies- couldn't be visiting earth?

 

[Mr Anonymous]

There's a cherry tree outside my window, the misses planted it as a seedling in a tub and its now about 5 years old, looks a picture in spring with all the blossom on it. Currently its decked out with Christmas baubles, red ones. Terribly festive. It's often occurred to me, sitting here working away, if every solar system out there in this Galaxy alone had at least one world as rich and verdant with life as this one and I were to walk on the surface of as many as I possibly could in a lifetime, I may see forms of life comparable in both form and function to what we here on this world call tree's, but I'm never going to see a cherry tree on a single one of them other than here.

It just isn't going to happen, not unless the thing happened to be transplanted.

It's just one form of life out of countless millions specific to this world and this world alone. Other worlds may have their own versions of things familiar to us, but it isn't going to be the same and since a terrestrial biologist can occupy a lifetime of research just focusing on a few square hectares of rainforest here on earth and find benefit in the pursuit, of course, the study of life one any world poses an unqualified number of questions which need to be both studied and answered - so yes, given the opportunity we'd go, we'd catalogue and study and explore...

Would we be interacting in anyway with the higher, technologically developing dominant species, abducting them left right and centre, crashing our ships all willy nilly and forming secret alliances with shadowy factions hell bent on forming the next New World Order?

Would we crap as like.

Glad that latter remains completely absent from your thinking there ylooshi - always nice to make the acquaintance of a new, intelligent face.

Welcome to the loony bin, hope you enjoy your stay....

 

[Words of Wisdom]

True, it is possible that intellegent life evolved outside our own planet, but the probability of them reaching us in unlikely. Just for simplicity, lets imagine that 50% of all the stars in the universe have planets. 50% of thoses stars have earth like planets that can support life. once agian 50% of those planets acually do support life. (just wait there is more) 50% of these planets have life that is intellegent. 50% of those planets support intellegent life capable of intersteller travel. Last, 50% of those planets haven't blown themselves into cosmic dust over a nuclear war. That leaves a relativly small block of planets that are still in the running. Of the remaining worlds, you also have to consider that it would be shear luck to find us in our section of space. So it seems unlikly but still possible. If i have confused anyone, blame the scientists.

 

[snake river rufus]

I look at it this way: what would we do if we had the technology to visit other stars (and assuming it was economical)?

1) We would pick the likely candidates either by passive observation (radio-astronomy, identifying habitable stars with planets that could be habitable). All stuff we are currently doing. Imagine what we could do if our technology were a few thousand years more advanced.

2) We would use active observation: send space probes to likely candidates and see if there is any habitiable life.

3) We would then send an expedition(s) to the best candidate(s). (Assuming we were able).

With that having been said, is it really all that far-fetched to think that beings from other worlds of other stars -even other galaxies- couldn't be visiting earth?

Just out of curiosity, do you know how far the nearest planet from our system might be?

 

[phlogistician]

Just out of curiosity, do you know how far the nearest planet from our system might be?

I think we need to add a few extra qualifications to that, if we're fishing for life. First, it has to be a terrestrial planet, not a gas giant, it has to be at the right distance from it's sun, (not too close to be too hot, not too far to be cold/only have frozen water) and be large enough to hold an atmosphere.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

... Well, if you're making a cook-book, it'd also need a geo-thermally active core producing a magnetosphere - won't get much other than highly irradiated crispy-critters on a world close enough to its star for liquid water to form on its surface with out one.

 

[kazakhan]

First, it has to be a terrestrial planet, not a gas giant, it has to be at the right distance from it's sun, (not too close to be too hot, not too far to be cold/only have frozen water) and be large enough to hold an atmosphere.

Why, is there some universal law that excludes the possibilty of life on gas giants? How do we know water is needed or even a planet? Do we know what the first lifeform on Earth was?

 

[snake river rufus]

Carl Sagan imagined life on gas planets. Soars and sinkers IIRC. Since it appears that there are more gas giants being found, we might need to change our search in fundamental ways.

 

[Communist Hamster]

If they have travelled hundreds of lightyears to here, why are they pussyfooting around? Simple reason: they are not here.

 

[mars13]

the fist life forms on earth were nanocrobes.

and there are no aliens visiting us.

 

[Balerion]

As has already been stated, the problem with ylooshi's thinking is the distances involved with the travel.

Everything else he said makes sense; there has to be life elsewhere. If we are here, then so must life be elsewhere. There are just too many stars out there for not a single one of them to harbor a life-giving planet. I'd recon that planets with life on them are more in the thousands, if not millions, just based on how many stars there are, and again, on the fact that we are here.

JD

 

[beyondtimeandspace]

Ok, words of wisdom, let's compute the numbers.

Let's say we have 100 trillion stars (and that's being extremely moderate).

50,000,000,000,000 have planets.

25,000,000,000,000 have earth-like planets that can support life.

12,500,000,000,000 actually do have life.

6,250,000,000,000 have intelligent life.

3,125,000,000,000 have intelligent life capable of interstellar travel.

1,562,500,000,000 are still around.

I wonder what the odds of these one and a half trillion races have of coming here.

Let's try some different statistics.

Let's go with a higher number, say, 100 septillion stars. This time, instead of 50% we'll go with 1%

100000000000000000000000000 stars.

1% of which have planets: 1000000000000000000000000

1% of which have planets that can support life: 10000000000000000000000

1% of which actually have life: 100000000000000000000

1% of which have intelligent life: 1000000000000000000

1% of which are capable of interstellar travel: 10000000000000000

1% of which haven't blown themselves up: 100000000000000

Interesting, we're still left with a very high number, 100 trillion actually.
Even at 0.1% we're left with 100 million intelligent races who can travel between stars. Remeber also that the number of stars that I postulated is moderate. But who knows, maybe the percents I've used are even extremely high compared to what should be used.

 

[phlogistician]

Why, is there some universal law that excludes the possibilty of life on gas giants?

No, but ultimately, I thought we were not just talking about the chances of life, but intelligent life, that was spacefaring. I can't see a life form on a gas giant being intelligent, and then, the idea of mining the core sounds impossible.

How do we know water is needed or even a planet?

Life is chemical reactions, and chemical reactions work well in solution. While a lot of chemistry can happen in vapours, the products will disperse very easily due to the chaotic motion of vapours. So some solvent based medium is most likely, and of all of these water the most prevalent.

Do we know what the first lifeform on Earth was?

Depends how you define life, but it will have been a self replicating chemical, similar to a prion, I should suspect.

 

[(Q)]

Clearly, if aliens visited Earth, they would have discovered that many of us want very much to meet with them and learn more about them.

However, they would also learn that billions of people are deluded into believing we are the only inhabitants of a universe created by supernatural beings, and that revealing themselves to us would cause worldwide panic amongst theists, who would do everything in their power to destroy the visiting aliens in order to preserve the god fantasy.

Nope, they would most certainly pussy-foot around and then leave in haste marking this planet as one to avoid at all costs.

 

[KennyJC]

Clearly, if aliens visited Earth, they would have discovered that many of us want very much to meet with them and learn more about them.

However, they would also learn that billions of people are deluded into believing we are the only inhabitants of a universe created by supernatural beings, and that revealing themselves to us would cause worldwide panic amongst theists, who would do everything in their power to destroy the visiting aliens in order to preserve the god fantasy.

Nope, they would most certainly pussy-foot around and then leave in haste marking this planet as one to avoid at all costs.

Yes, that's pretty much like the fact if science proved the existence of a God, the planet would be bombed into oblivion by God fearing citizens. The same way proof of ETI would create unstability by God fearing citizens too.

But I doubt it would be of great suprise to ETI, they would simply just go "Aww, they're at that age, ain't that cute?"

 

[(Q)]

But I doubt it would be of great suprise to ETI, they would simply just go "Aww, they're at that age, ain't that cute?"

We have the theists to thank for providing ETI the intellectually lowest common denominator, which must be carefully examined and calculated if they are to survive on this planet while visiting.

With that, I'm going to start another thread.

 

[Qorl]

More threads I read, more skeptical I am about human intelligence. How is it possible for people to be so blind? Do you still believe that we are alone in the never ending universe? Only a non thinkers have a dumb questions. Do you people play stupid or you really are. Now I know why are God's still invisible. No hard feelings.