Does Extraterrestrial Life Exist?

[United Marxist Nations]

Space battleships are considerably less effective when your opponent has nuclear weapons that can be launched into space.

Said space battleship had nuclear weapons. The plan was to carry 500 20 megaton warheads. Not to mention the nuclear death ray. http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/r ... apedcharge One pass and everything from East Germany to the Kamchatka is ashes.

But the Soviets actually did have a doomsday machine that was set to launch nuclear weapons if it wasn't told not to, so it wouldn't matter in the end.

[Blazedtown]

Said space battleship had nuclear weapons. The plan was to carry 500 20 megaton warheads. Not to mention the nuclear death ray. http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/r ... apedcharge One pass and everything from East Germany to the Kamchatka is ashes.

But the Soviets actually did have a doomsday machine that was set to launch nuclear weapons if it wasn't told not to, so it wouldn't matter in the end.

America would live on thanks to colonies on Mars, to one day retake earth from the damn dirty apes who rise up in the aftermath.

[United Marxist Nations]

But the Soviets actually did have a doomsday machine that was set to launch nuclear weapons if it wasn't told not to, so it wouldn't matter in the end.

America would live on thanks to colonies on Mars, to one day retake earth from the damn dirty apes who rise up in the aftermath.

But after that, would the survivors even want to go on?

[Blazedtown]

America would live on thanks to colonies on Mars, to one day retake earth from the damn dirty apes who rise up in the aftermath.

But after that, would the survivors even want to go on?

Of Course.

[Conscentia]

I find it implausible that Earth is unique in the universe.

[Conscentia]

Absolutely. We aren't alone in this universe and I know that.

There is almost certainly life on other planets, yes.
However, the existence of extraterrestrial civilisations as advanced as ours within our reach is improbable.

Yeah. Most extraterrestrial lifeforms might even have more advanced civilizations than ours.

There's no reason to believe that.

[United Marxist Nations]

Absolutely. We aren't alone in this universe and I know that.

Yeah. Most extraterrestrial lifeforms might even have more advanced civilizations than ours.

There's no reason to believe that.

Indeed, there's no reason to suspect that the other civilizations advance in the same ways we have; it is entirely possible that there is a civilization somewhere that has telephones, but is still in the age of sail.

[Blakk Metal]

Yes, but it doesn't visit because of the epic farce called the '1973 oil crisis'.

[Blakk Metal]

There's no reason to believe that.

Indeed, there's no reason to suspect that the other civilizations advance in the same ways we have; it is entirely possible that there is a civilization somewhere that has telephones, but is still in the age of sail.

Any civilization with the ability to build, power, and operate a telephone system has the ability to build, power, and operate an electric powered ship.

[Anollasia]

Yes but it's obviously not the way Hollywood sees it.

[Assorted Sucrose-Based Lifeforms]

It is effectively a 100% certainty that life exists elsewhere, in fact that the galaxy and the universe itself teems with life. It is also effectively a 100% certainty that given the vast distances involved, and the limitations of what can be accomplished technologically, not only will we never meet another life form, we'll never even detect them.

That kinda sucks.
I mean, even if we had FTL travel, it'd still be like trying to find a couple of atoms from a pin in a planet's worth of hay. And even if you pick up a signal from an atom, if the signal came from more than a meter away, it's more than likely that the atom will have vanished by the time you get there.

I enjoy wondering if stuff is ever as mundane on these foreign worlds as it is on earth?
Do any of these foreign worlds have their version of the internet?
Do they have normal office jobs?
Do they have lifeforms who ponder stuff like this when they should be sleeping too?

[United Marxist Nations]

Indeed, there's no reason to suspect that the other civilizations advance in the same ways we have; it is entirely possible that there is a civilization somewhere that has telephones, but is still in the age of sail.

Any civilization with the ability to build, power, and operate a telephone system has the ability to build, power, and operate an electric powered ship.

They may have a limited ability to supply electricity.

[Nervium]

Yes, but it doesn't visit because of the epic farce called the '1973 oil crisis'.

The Bush family and global capitalism are my second guesses why our neighbours might hate us.

[United Marxist Nations]

It is effectively a 100% certainty that life exists elsewhere, in fact that the galaxy and the universe itself teems with life. It is also effectively a 100% certainty that given the vast distances involved, and the limitations of what can be accomplished technologically, not only will we never meet another life form, we'll never even detect them.

That kinda sucks.
I mean, even if we had FTL travel, it'd still be like trying to find a couple of atoms from a pin in a planet's worth of hay. And even if you pick up a signal from an atom, if the signal came from more than a meter away, it's more than likely that the atom will have vanished by the time you get there.

I enjoy wondering if stuff is ever as mundane on these foreign worlds as it is on earth?
Do any of these foreign worlds have their version of the internet?
Do they have normal office jobs?
Do they have lifeforms who ponder stuff like this when they should be sleeping too?

Some probably do.

[Assorted Sucrose-Based Lifeforms]

Indeed, there's no reason to suspect that the other civilizations advance in the same ways we have; it is entirely possible that there is a civilization somewhere that has telephones, but is still in the age of sail.

Any civilization with the ability to build, power, and operate a telephone system has the ability to build, power, and operate an electric powered ship.

What if they haven't figured out propellers yet?

[United Marxist Nations]

Yes, but it doesn't visit because of the epic farce called the '1973 oil crisis'.

The Bush family and global capitalism are my second guesses why our neighbours might hate us.

I would think WWII and the Holocaust would probably be bigger.

[Blakk Metal]

Any civilization with the ability to build, power, and operate a telephone system has the ability to build, power, and operate an electric powered ship.

They may have a limited ability to supply electricity.

Any civilization with access to electronics would almost certainly need metal which they can melt. In order to melt the metal, they would need to be able to heat it significantly. Any power source able to do this on a civilization wide scale would also be able to power a steam turbine.

Yes, but it doesn't visit because of the epic farce called the '1973 oil crisis'.

The Bush family and global capitalism are my second guesses why our neighbours might hate us.

Why would they avoid Planet China?

Any civilization with the ability to build, power, and operate a telephone system has the ability to build, power, and operate an electric powered ship.

What if they haven't figured out propellers yet?

Anyone who's waved their arms about in an atmosphere can figure out fluid pushing machines.

[Nervium]

The Bush family and global capitalism are my second guesses why our neighbours might hate us.

I would think WWII and the Holocaust would probably be bigger.

Yeah, that too...
Wouldn't blame them if they hated us.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Indeed, there's no reason to suspect that the other civilizations advance in the same ways we have; it is entirely possible that there is a civilization somewhere that has telephones, but is still in the age of sail.

Any civilization with the ability to build, power, and operate a telephone system has the ability to build, power, and operate an electric powered ship.

No. They may not have grasped electromagnetism, and lack motors and generators. Batteries can be recharged chemically, y'know. Or they may have the theory, but lack adequate methods of making and/or powering ship-board motor/generators (lack of fossil fuels, say).

Or maybe they figured out very efficient airfoils, like we're now using on racing yachts, and have sailing ships that mock our feeble attemps in that direction. Every time the silly question of putting roaring fires on ships to make them go comes up, the sailors point out that their ships are better than crappy fossil fuel/electric ships could be anyway.

Hell, according to Last of the Cape Horners, our late clipper ships were better than the propeller ships of their day, because the big waves in the Southern Ocean tended to break the driveshafts of propeller-driven ships by tossing the ships around so much. The author says that what killed off a big hunk of the last clippers was the opening of the Panama Canal, not an inherent advantage of combustion-powered ships (whether steam, diesel, or */electric, modern ships burn something to make them go).

Any serious study of how we developed our technology will show that it's far from obvious or necessary that it developed in a particular way.

[Northwest Slobovia]

What if they haven't figured out propellers yet?

Anyone who's waved their arms about in an atmosphere can figure out fluid pushing machines.

Which is why propellers were invented in the Neolithic, along with stone tools and pottery.

[Personal Freedom]

Anyone who's waved their arms about in an atmosphere can figure out fluid pushing machines.

Which is why propellers were invented in the Neolithic, along with stone tools and pottery.

It doesn't mean some type of intelligent creature will invent propellers. Especially if they have wings.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Which is why propellers were invented in the Neolithic, along with stone tools and pottery.

It doesn't mean some type of intelligent creature will invent propellers. Especially if they have wings.

Precisely. The propeller is "obvious" only in retrospect. Desiging one without some notion of the theory of how they work is difficult, and making something with a plausibly-efficient shape is harder. It's not like people built paddle-wheel steamers (and their "reverse", waterwheels) because they were simply too stupid to grasp that propellers/turbines are the obvious answer to the problems of exhanging motion between water and wood/metal.

[Arlenton]

Didn't we already find alien microorganism fossils on a meteorite or are they not entirely sure?

[Northwest Slobovia]

Didn't we already find alien microorganism fossils on a meteorite or are they not entirely sure?

If you're thinking of a meteorite called "ALH 84001", the claim didn't pan out. While there are still some scientists who claim that the tiny blobs found in it are fossils, the evidence is far from conclusive, and abiological processes are sufficient to explain the blobs.

[Arlenton]

Didn't we already find alien microorganism fossils on a meteorite or are they not entirely sure?

If you're thinking of a meteorite called "ALH 84001", the claim didn't pan out. While there are still some scientists who claim that the tiny blobs found in it are fossils, the evidence is far from conclusive, and abiological processes are sufficient to explain the blobs.

Oh, well then the search continues.