stevie_b Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 I don't know the correct maths but surely the expansion of the universe is faster the further away from the center of the big bang? Which means time moves slower for them? So the galaxies in the center should be more advanced than us? We're all moving away quicker and quicker but time should be moving faster for some than others. I would imagine in the next 100 years or so we'll be advanced enough to go out and meet them, obviously if we develop tech to see further we'll only be seeing the light from millions of years ago so not seeing their true current state. It's true that the outer reaches of the universe are moving away from central parts. The red-shift of planets tells us that. I don't think any inhabitants of any planet could exploit the perceived time dilation though. If time goes slower, *everything* goes slower: it's not like watching a slow-motion film where you can still think and act in "real" time. Your thought processes, actions and movements (even down to your breathing and brain waves) would slow by the same amount. Even if your thoughts weren't slowed down, I'm pretty sure there would be other reasons why the time difference couldn't be exploited. Time dilation is experienced by relative speeds between an observer and the observed. By meeting up again (to exchange ideas etc etc), the relative speeds would need to be reversed. But this is a moot point due to the above paragraph. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampy442 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Well said Scott. The thing that gets me with looking for life, scientists base their search on finding water. Whos to say other life forms aint sillicon based etc? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Well said Scott. The thing that gets me with looking for life, scientists base their search on finding water. Whos to say other life forms aint sillicon based etc? As i understand it the main focus is on water because we can easily identify it. I remember seeing a show years back where it was explained that the possibilities were infinite and that we are best to simply concentrate on what we know rather than what we don't. Makes sense really Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Time dilation is experienced by relative speeds between an observer and the observed. By meeting up again (to exchange ideas etc etc), the relative speeds would need to be reversed. But this is a moot point due to the above paragraph. That's what I couldn't get my head around. Relative to us, other planets might have been running much faster or slower, but it would require us or them to develop a method of travel which avoids space-time and gets there without having to slow down our relative time dilation. Maybe if we went through a wormhole we wouldn't have the reversal of any gains or losses in time (obviously we don't know how wormholes work either, but you get the idea). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lamboyello Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 With how vast the universe is you'd have to silly to think that we were the only organisms in the whole universe. Good thread for copy and posting off google. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letmeshowyou Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Statistically, our position and planetary neighbours combining to make life possible and sustainable is infinitessimaly small Only this morning I was reading an article about what they believe to be the oldest fossilised life on earth having been found. 3.4 billion years old, and metabolisied using Sulphur rather than Oxygen. What we see as normal, could be very different elsewhere! so do the jebus creapers believe there is life on other planets? any religous people fancy confirming what they think please My mum has pointed out in the past that the bible doesn't say the earth was Gods first work, or even his last. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imi Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Maybe if we went through a wormhole we wouldn't have the reversal of any gains or losses in time (obviously we don't know how wormholes work either or whether they are possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 My mum has pointed out in the past that the bible doesn't say the earth was Gods first work, or even his last. Did she point out the Bible was written by a couple of men with an imagination millions of years after early man first existed? How many Women contributed to the bible? Strange that God would only share his gift with the males. It's also strange that the bible forbids females from teaching, yet your Mum taught you? Can't be much of a follower if you disregard what the almightly lawrd has requested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 with more galaxys than there are grains of sand on earth there has got to be life on other planets. mmmmm wonder if they have a supra club in a mirror universe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 with more universes than there are grains of sand on earth there has got to be life on other planets. mmmmm wonder if they have a supra club in a mirror universe What makes you say there are that many universes? Sure you don't mean universities? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imi Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 with more universes than there are grains of sand on earth it is just another theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustGav Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 it is just another theory. I would say, there is proof of other galaxies... not universes (Although I subscribe the multiverse theory) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Lol depends how you want to look at the whole picture, I love looking at the sky during the night amazing how it seems to be more stars every year. i used to work in the middle of the sahara desert ,you should see the night sky without any ground lights to muck it up its totally amazing you can see soo much more . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 i used to work in the middle of the sahara desert ,you should see the night sky without any ground lights to muck it up its totally amazing you can see soo much more . The distance you Welsh have to go to find someone willing to give you a job, Jeez! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tannhauser Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Most people seem to think there's a good chance of life occurring elsewhere, and while I agree with that general conclusion, there are a couple of things I think are either wrong or overstating the case. Firstly, the idea that life has already been discovered elsewhere is not correct. If there was definitive proof of even microbial life elsewhere, this would be colossal news. What we have instead are some claims of evidence of life elsewhere in the solar system by some scientists. These claims are disputed by others in the scientific community. This has been going on since the 1970s when Viking landed on Mars. It may well be that we get stronger evidence, but we are a way away from that yet - there's certainly no consensus. Secondly, the idea that there is certainly life and anyone who doesn't think so is naive. Well, no, that's not right. I think someone said that the universe is infinite. If the universe was truly infinite (by which I mean that was a limitless number of stars) then there would be life on an infinite number of plants, since a very small proportion of infinity is also infinity. But the universe is very large, not infinite, and therefore we can't be certain of life elsewhere. We can only make a statement about probabilities, so someone who denies the certainty of extra-terrestrial life is not being naive, but accurate. Thirdly, equations like the Drake equation - which try to establish the likely number of extra-terrestrial civilizations - well, they really aren't much more than guessing games. After all, we're extrapolating from our understanding of one planet with life on it. Self-awareness in particular might be a response to a peculiar and incredibly rare combination of circumstances. I think the great age of the universe - and the possibly limited lifespan of species and civilizations - lowers the odds of our ever making contact. Personally, my own hunches are: Probability of life elsewhere: very high Probability of intelligent life elsewhere: a lot lower, but still high Probability of intelligent life still being around whilst we are: much lower, but still good Probability of making contact during the lifespan of our civilization/race: very low Probability of making contact during our personal lifespan: almost zero Probability that 'they' have already made contact: see Rob's post. Almost zero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Attero Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14637109 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snooze Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Whilst I believe civilisations will probably have sprung up all over the universe, my observations of human development lead me to two beliefs: - the time required for a civilisation to develop the technology to actually travel far enough to meet a civilisation in another solar system is long enough for some cataclysmic natural event (meteor strike, etc.) to have occurred and culled them first. The probability of a civilisation surviving long enough to develop technology that can overcome natural resource limitations and provide self-sufficiency to survive in deep space is insanely small - natural armageddon aside, in all the species on earth, natural competitiveness (which seems to be required to drive evolutionary intelligence) makes races unlikely to actually survive long enough without wiping each other out. If we ever develop the technology to travel interstellar distances, imagine what will have happened with miniaturisation and weapons technology in the meantime - you'll have bombs big enough to blow up countries in the size of a briefcase. It only take ONE nutcase to get his hands on such a thing and it's game over So - life on other planets? - virtually 100% definite. Are we ever going to meet one? - nope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mellonman Posted August 24, 2011 Author Share Posted August 24, 2011 that is so very true snooze, we would need to go through space ie a black hole and entry out the side, or bend or distort space to get anywhere. but to do both of them we would need massive amounts of energy which is a renewable source so we could get back from where we are going, thats us! but other planets may have other elements and minerals, we may never know Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 I think we need to be mindful of what is/isn't possible varies with time massively.............impossibilities of one era can easily become "taken for granted's" of another. The advances made say in the last 500 years are huge and yet a proverbial nano second if not shorter! of universe/interstellar whatever you call it time. I obviously have no means to quantifiy this but 500 years ago being told we could put up a satelite that orbits the earth that can take pictures and effectively map out the earths surface, or we could speak/listen to someone hundreds of miles away through a handheld device, would have perhaps seemed as implausible as the idea of teleportation is today? I/we have grown up with, electricity, fossil fuels, the silicon chip and space travel, massive discoveries that have had major implications on the advances the human race has had, but we take them for granted.............perhaps some more revolutionary changes are around the corner? those millions of pounds and intellects in Cern could perhaps stumble on a harnessable energy source or some other science that changes the way we think or provides us with new previously unimaginable technology? Who know's maybe one day down the council depot we will have a machine that dispenses elemental material from any old rubbish, you chuck some old cardboard boxes in and a plasma of protons, neutrons and electrons is created and then can be rearranged to give the nuclei you've selected, the ultimate in recycling!? no one can know can they, but if we are still around as a race in 2500 you can bet there will have been some monumental advances..........i'm not sure we can even begin to think of where an intelligent life form of perhaps a million years more progression could be can we? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 The advances made say in the last 500 years are huge and yet a proverbial nano second if not shorter! of universe/interstellar whatever you call it time. no one can know can they, but if we are still around as a race in 2500 you can bet there will have been some monumental advances..........i'm not sure we can even begin to think of where an intelligent life form of perhaps a million years more progression could be can we? If we're still here. I think if a species can get to the stage where they can move to another planet and start to colonise, then the massive threat of extinction is halved or more. It's not long after that we make efficiency improvements and start looking further out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCK10 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 I think a lot of people seem base there theories on us, and how intelligent we are which in my opinion is wrong. Who's to say they couldn't figure out space travel or what not in a fraction of the time we did? If there is indeed some sort of "intelligent" lifeforms out there, we really don't have ANY idea who/what they are, and more importantly what they are capable of... ...Hopefully Optimus Prime's kickin' about somewhere though Edit: Just to add about civilisations likely to wipe themselves out in a war before being able to make contact with other planets, again this is based on how we work. There's no reason to rule out that other lifeforms are completely peaceful. Just because we have mass murderers, junkies and people that are just generally wrong in the head, doesn't mean other planets or life will too?... Everyone's guess is as good as another though. We'll never find out till it happens (If it happens) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminator Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Life on earth is due to a lot of fortunate occurrences in the planet's history. Given the massive number of stars with orbiting bodies out there, the chances of life evolving on some distant globe, are probably better than winning the lottery jackpot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 There is life out there just not what we expect. The problem is mankind is too arrogant that it thinks it is the most intelligent species in the galaxy. Mankind last visited another planet in 1969 and since then man has been no further than 40miles up from the earths surface. Intelligent life out there - more than likely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooter Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 to be honest I think since 1969 it has been a case of us sending and remotely controlling machines that can do a lot exploration for us, Huble, Mars landing probes and other outer planetary passing probes etc................I think are all giving valuable data? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snooze Posted August 25, 2011 Share Posted August 25, 2011 I approve of the many comments that we don't know what we don't know. In 1900 they had no idea what life would be like in the year 2000: [ATTACH=CONFIG]137822[/ATTACH] That said, I would weigh that up against the fact that with the (suggested) age of the universe so far - if it IS technologically possible within the physical laws of the universe - why has no other civilisation in the universe has found a way to communicate with (or travel to) humans on Earth (again - I am making what I believe is a pretty sound assumption that they haven't - I'm not a believer in genuine alien UFOs or Area 51 conspiracy theories, I'm afraid!) ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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