Life on other planets
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When you look at the numbers involved you cannot help but think we are not alone. 200 - 300 billion stars in our galaxy, most of them with planets, times that by a trillion galaxies. I would deduct the stars from the bright center of galaxies and star nurseries as there is too much energy and radiation to support life as we know it. That leaves us still with trillions of stars and planets. It's reasonable to think that a good amount of those planets are in a habitable zone.
Then take into account that 99% of life is composed of four elements, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen. Those elements happen to be in the top six of the most abundant elements in the universe. So with odds like that I would say the universe is full of life especially single cell organisms. More complex life and especially intelligent life would be much harder to come by but it took four billion years to evolve here, I don't see why it couldn't happen someplace else.
Unfortunately with the vast distances involved and the limits on speed we will never know.
Then take into account that 99% of life is composed of four elements, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Carbon, and Nitrogen. Those elements happen to be in the top six of the most abundant elements in the universe. So with odds like that I would say the universe is full of life especially single cell organisms. More complex life and especially intelligent life would be much harder to come by but it took four billion years to evolve here, I don't see why it couldn't happen someplace else.
Unfortunately with the vast distances involved and the limits on speed we will never know.
There are at least 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 10^22.stars in the observable universe, or quite possibly anywhere up to 10^24. The majority of stars have planets and probably multiple planets. If only 1 in a trillion stars (# I picked out of a hat) have an inhabitable planet, that's a tremendously large number of inhabitable planets.
So yes.
But (there is always a but),
Due to the large distances involved (and the speed of light and all that involved in transmission of information), IMHO, whether people on earth (if there still are any) will know about any other life forms in next, say million years or so, is pretty close to zero.
So yes.
But (there is always a but),
Due to the large distances involved (and the speed of light and all that involved in transmission of information), IMHO, whether people on earth (if there still are any) will know about any other life forms in next, say million years or so, is pretty close to zero.
I usually think about that stuff after some good weed and or some Gummy’s.
But then I forget about what great thoughts I had.
But then I forget about what great thoughts I had.
For example:
This thread on Life on Other Planets which started only because of a post in R.I.P. thread about Frank Drake.
TO
I've (and others) commented on my post about Anna, showing up and unasked starting to lick a guys asshole, while the guy was getting a BJ from another girl.
Think of it like this: if the aliens are going to traverse tens of trillions of miles to get here, it might as well to be because they want to see Anna, too.
And yes, this is why I thoroughly enjoy this forum. We're not just horny troglodytes. We can discuss this openly and rationally. As for me, I firmly do believe there's something else out there capable of communication and hasn't self-destructed yet, if only because of the almost limitless number of stars out there. Have they visited us? Possibly but they may have their own version of the Prime Directive. Maybe they decided that there's noting remarkable about us just yet and moved on. Maybe they took a left turn at Alpha Centauri and missed us completely. Still, it's fun to look up at the night sky and speculate.
And yes, this is why I thoroughly enjoy this forum. We're not just horny troglodytes. We can discuss this openly and rationally. As for me, I firmly do believe there's something else out there capable of communication and hasn't self-destructed yet, if only because of the almost limitless number of stars out there. Have they visited us? Possibly but they may have their own version of the Prime Directive. Maybe they decided that there's noting remarkable about us just yet and moved on. Maybe they took a left turn at Alpha Centauri and missed us completely. Still, it's fun to look up at the night sky and speculate.
This is a very interesting topic to me. Decades ago, Carl Sagan had published an equation which demonstrated that there would be a large number of intelligent species in the universe. Which then brought up the Fermi paradox.
I think maybe 10 years ago (don’t hold me to that), a group of scientists revised that equation. Turns out there are many things missing from Sagan’s original work.
Type of star.
The type of star matters. Too big and there would be just too much radiation. Too unstable then solar flares, CME, etc would wipe out any life developing on a nearby planet. You need a small, stable, long living star like our sun. With all the searches from Hubble and Webb we know that our sun is a rare object.
Size of planet.
Too small of a planet and it will not hold on to its atmosphere. Think Mars. Too large and it restricts the size and complexity of developing life. Too much gravity. Many “super Earths” have been found, but very few matching our size.
Type of solar system.
Having several gas giants in the outer system creates a shield for the inner planets. They absorb a lot of incoming debris from further out. Constant meteor bombardment is not good for developing life.
Evolution.
95% of the species that have ever inhabited this planet are extinct. Reptiles, giant insects, dinosaurs, have all had runs much longer than our current history. It’s all a race against time that others have lost and we are just starting our run.
Do I believe there is other life out there? Of course. And a very small number of that will even be intelligent. But sadly, I do not think we will ever get to experience the cantina scene from Star Wars any time soon.
I think maybe 10 years ago (don’t hold me to that), a group of scientists revised that equation. Turns out there are many things missing from Sagan’s original work.
Type of star.
The type of star matters. Too big and there would be just too much radiation. Too unstable then solar flares, CME, etc would wipe out any life developing on a nearby planet. You need a small, stable, long living star like our sun. With all the searches from Hubble and Webb we know that our sun is a rare object.
Size of planet.
Too small of a planet and it will not hold on to its atmosphere. Think Mars. Too large and it restricts the size and complexity of developing life. Too much gravity. Many “super Earths” have been found, but very few matching our size.
Type of solar system.
Having several gas giants in the outer system creates a shield for the inner planets. They absorb a lot of incoming debris from further out. Constant meteor bombardment is not good for developing life.
Evolution.
95% of the species that have ever inhabited this planet are extinct. Reptiles, giant insects, dinosaurs, have all had runs much longer than our current history. It’s all a race against time that others have lost and we are just starting our run.
Do I believe there is other life out there? Of course. And a very small number of that will even be intelligent. But sadly, I do not think we will ever get to experience the cantina scene from Star Wars any time soon.
100 yrs would correspond to our ability to transmit radio waves ( also = 100 light years in distance) which is the only way an alien race would be able to find us unless they just happened by luck to come across us while gallivanting across the galaxy. The earth is just one point of reflected light out of billions with the light of our own sun drowning it out making it impossible to detect from a large distance.
Not to nit pick, but you need to use the age of the Earth which is 4.5 billion yrs. Also since it took 4.5 billion yrs for intelligent life to develop here, it's reasonable to think it would take that long someplace else so 9.5 billion yrs should be used instead of 14 for intelligent life in the universe.
Not to nit pick, but you need to use the age of the Earth which is 4.5 billion yrs. Also since it took 4.5 billion yrs for intelligent life to develop here, it's reasonable to think it would take that long someplace else so 9.5 billion yrs should be used instead of 14 for intelligent life in the universe.
I overlooked something. I forgot to take into account the creation of planets which can only happen after a star goes supernova followed by a period of accretion of the matter the star expelled. How much time that is? The life of the star plus the period of accretion, is anyone's guess but your talking billions of years. I'll use 5 billion. So 14 minus 5 equals 9. 9 minus 4.5 equals 4.5. So those aliens would of had 4.5 billion yrs to find us.
According to the Big Bang Theory which is based on Einstein's formulas all matter was contained in a singularity, compressed by gravity with no dimensions. Then 14 billion + yrs ago the big bang took place and the universe was formed. This is provable by the existence of Cosmic Background Microwave Radiation which is the heat leftover from the bang and our ability to measure the rate of cooling which give us 14 billion + yrs. Scientist will say that time did not exist before the bang as nothing existed not even empty space.
This is very hard to wrap your head around. How can there be nothing, no time, no space???
While something definitely happened 14 billion years ago as per the CBMR and I am able to grasp the notion of nothing, the Big Bang Theory is based on a mathematical formula. Does that mean it actually happened that way? I don't know. And without a time machine we will never know.
This is very hard to wrap your head around. How can there be nothing, no time, no space???
While something definitely happened 14 billion years ago as per the CBMR and I am able to grasp the notion of nothing, the Big Bang Theory is based on a mathematical formula. Does that mean it actually happened that way? I don't know. And without a time machine we will never know.