if we are alone in the universe what would be our mission

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nedjma

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Hi all

silence reigns
if we are alone in the universe what would be our mission

for eventual exploration to ensure the survival of man
or just study l'universe
or observe and admire the immensity of universe
or discover why we exist!!!!
 
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SteveCNC

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nedjma":228hqqhn said:
Hi all

silence reigns
if we are alone in the universe what would be our mission

for eventual exploration to ensure the survival of man
or just study l'universe
or observe and admire the immensity of universe
or discover why we exist!!!!

I go with the first one , for eventual exploration to ensure the survival of man but to study and pass on knowledge also .
 
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csmyth3025

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nedjma":ibn7ogef said:
...if we are alone in the universe what would be our mission...

The universe covers a lot of territory.

First we would have to determine if there's life (microbial or otherwise) elsewhere in our own solar system. If we put a lot of effort into this project it could take us several hundred years depending on how thoroughly we search the likely (and, pehaps, unlikely) places in our solar system.

Then we could start looking at planets in other solar systems - this could take us millions of years, depending on how far we wanted to go in our little patch of the galaxy.

If we haven't found life after a few million years we could just give up. By that time there would no doubt be human colonies wherever suitable planets and/or moons are found and we wouldn't have to feel alone in the universe anymore.

Chris
 
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kelvinzero

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My take is that as soon as we start exploring the universe, probably using sublight speeds, we will find it is populated with all sorts of weird races. They will all have come from earth.

We may be only a thousand years or so from AI, or genetically engineering ourselves to survive on gas giants as giant zeppelin sized creatures. If we were to take a tour of the galaxy, hundreds of thousands of light years across, what strange civilizations would we discover when we returned home hundreds of thousands of years later?
 
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nedjma

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planetling":1fc7cc6w said:
The question is bunk! We are NOT alone!

you are right at 50 percent

assumed we are not alone, my question is we're the first or the last being alive to exist in
universe.
science could give answer at this question !
 
A

a_lost_packet_

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planetling":1aj7n5qw said:
The question is bunk! We are NOT alone!

Some questions are worth asking even if you think you already know the answer.

For instance, let's say humans discuss and answer this question as a species. Mankind figures out a suitable answer to "What if we are alone?" and then goes about following whatever answer his wisdom allows. Then, we discover another species.

Then what?

How does our previously chosen course change?

Why would it change?

In short, the value of the question in the OP isn't just in trying to find an immediate answer. The true value is discussing how and why that answer would change if we discovered that other alien species existed.
 
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planetling

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csmyth3025":q87zpt9t said:
planetling":q87zpt9t said:
The question is bunk! We are NOT alone!

Why are you so sure of this?

Chris

Well of course nobody knows the answer to this, I was merely blurting out a little humor.

But one of my beliefs is, if humans can conceive an idea, it will most likely be proven, if it has not already. Either extraterrestrial life exists, or it does not. 50/50 maybe, but if I were to bet the house, I'd put ALL of my money on life existing on other worlds. Otherwise I'd surely lose!

We have not even barely scratched our back yard let alone begin to travel the dirt road, highway or super-freeway. Billions of galaxies, billions and billions of stars within each galaxy, billions upon billions upon billions of planets, etc., in our one single universe alone. I also believe that this universe is not the only in existance, but just 1 of billions of universes (multiverse). Believing that Earth is the only place that has in the past or now exhibits life would be extremely arrogant, in my opinion.

Now, whether I live to to see the actual proof is for yet another question.
 
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redbert

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I think most would agree that somewhere, there is some green slime under a rock. But the “i” in SETI stands for intelligence.

Now it really doesn’t matter to us if there is ETI in an alternative universe: we will never be able to contact it.
And it doesn’t even matter if there is ETI in another galaxy ; we will never be able to contact it. (that’s right ; I said “never” in a science forum): No intergalactic communications and definitely no intergalactic travel.

It is quite possible that we are currently the only intelligence in our galaxy.



http://www.fermisparadox.com/Fermi-paradox.htm


“Simulations of an expansion show that it is possible for one civilization to colonize the whole galaxy in about 10 million years, a short time compared to the age of the Galaxy (ten billion years).
The question then arising, and famously formulated by physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950: since only one extraterrestrial civilization could spread in a relatively short time, how is it possible that that we never saw the extraterrestrial ones and that our radio telescopes never collected signals of suspect origin? “

“There could be hundreds of galaxies in our galactic cluster with no intelligent life whatsoever, but of course we would not be present in those galaxies to observe this fact.”


And that my friends, is the same as being alone.
 
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Yuri_Armstrong

Guest
But you just can't say never on something like that. Alternate universes are all theoretical, and some theoretical physicists believe that one day (thousands or millions of years from now) we may be able to travel to them. Galaxies are millions of light years apart, so I agree that any type of linear communication that we use today would not cut it, we would need something that has not even been imagined yet for that.

And keep in mind that some parts of the galaxy will simply not tolerate intelligent life, the conditions would not be very good. I don't know the locations of the galactic habitable zones but it's entirely possible that we are separated from other intelligences that have colonized up to the borders of these zones but are cut off from expanding further to our section of the galaxy.

And it's also possible that there are developing intelligences a couple of million years or so behind us. While I agree that intelligent life will be very very rare (a million intelligences in one galaxy just does not sound reasonable today) and we could very well be the only intelligent civilization in our galaxy or even the universe. But saying never in topics such as these is not rational.
 
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csmyth3025

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I think most people accept the notion that it will be a very long time before we're able to send a space probe to even the nearest stars. Note that I said send. The time such a probe would take to get there using any forseeable technology is, in itself, a very long time.

That leaves us with trying to detect signals or, at least, signatures of other inteligent species outside our solar system. I wonder if the signals and observable signatures our planet produces would even be noticeable to a civilization that was looking very hard for "extraterrestrial" life. I have a feeling that we would be undetectable by another such civilization even if it was only 100 light years away, let alone on the other side of the Milky Way. I may be wrong about this, so any informed commentary on this statement is welcome.

The prospect that other intelligent life may be invissible to us for thousands or, perhaps, millions of years doesn't mean we should call off the search, though. If we continue to move out into space we may eventually run into another culture. The timescale for this to happen may seem to us to render the search useless, but just by making the effort we enrich the technology and diversity of our own culture.

Chris
 
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planetling

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redbert
I don't dismiss "alternate" universes, but I believe that other universes don't necessarily have to be alternate. I think of other universes in terms of clusters, much like the way galaxies fill our own single universe.

Yuri_Armstrong
All excellent points, most of which I agree. The number of intelligent lifeforms existant in our galaxy, only time will tell, if we're here long enough!

csmyth3025
"...but just by making the effort we enrich the technology and diversity of our own culture."
That is the truest statement of the entire thread.
 
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matthewota

Guest
Your question is more philisophical than scientific. If we are truly alone, it would strengthen the case for a supreme being as outlined in religion, and would make us very lonely in a sense.

With the vast number of galaxies with the millions of stars within each one, there must be other intelligent life out there.
 
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planetling

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matthewota":1os90mla said:
If we are truly alone, it would strengthen the case for a supreme being as outlined in religion, and would make us very lonely in a sense.

Possibly true, but possibly not true. Of course I would not know what such a creator would have in mind, but with all that space out there and billions or trillions of planets, why create life on just one? Would it not make sense for a creator to experiment on different worlds?

Even if philosophical, I tend to leave religion out of space science. Whether there is just us or multiple worlds with life, I do not think either would support or not support the existence of a supreme being, even if there is such a being.

I do agree however, that if this is the only world with life, we would be very lonely, in a sense.
 
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nedjma

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planetling":ukaec32u said:
matthewota":ukaec32u said:
If we are truly alone, it would strengthen the case for a supreme being as outlined in religion, and would make us very lonely in a sense.

Possibly true, but possibly not true. Of course I would not know what such a creator would have in mind, but with all that space out there and billions or trillions of planets, why create life on just one? Would it not make sense for a creator to experiment on different worlds?

Even if philosophical, I tend to leave religion out of space science. Whether there is just us or multiple worlds with life, I do not think either would support or not support the existence of a supreme being, even if there is such a being.

I do agree however, that if this is the only world with life, we would be very lonely, in a sense.

Hi "planetling "

we have no right to judge the creator with a human thought :mrgreen:
 
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ZenGalacticore

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nedjma":m7cd44sx said:
Hi "planetling "

we have no right to judge the creator with a human thought :mrgreen:

If we are by right, or by no right, to judge the Creator, then how else other than a human thought?
 
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nedjma

Guest
ZenGalacticore":1gsba4wa said:
nedjma":1gsba4wa said:
Hi "planetling "

we have no right to judge the creator with a human thought :mrgreen:

If we are by right, or by no right, to judge the Creator, then how else other than a human thought?

Hi

The Human Thought is limited ,it is not perfect.
the perfect is the creator "the god"

My friend don't believe god created the universe for no reason
you scientists, is your duty to provide the answers as sign of recognition,because you are the preferred of all these creations ie you are the smart. :mrgreen:
 
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SJQ

Guest
@planetling:

"Would it not make sense for a creator to experiment on different worlds?"

A creator capable of creating (a) universe(s) needs to experiment?!? The very need for "experimentation" suggests something less than infallibility, to my mind. I suppose a creator could go the Monte Carlo route, but that had better be for amusement purposes, not modelling, and the implicit reliance on chance suggests something less than an all-powerful being either way.

Call it Intelligent Design or God, your choice, but either way, there is still an inherent contradiction.

SJQ
 
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bdewoody

Guest
kelvinzero":3tolvgqn said:
My take is that as soon as we start exploring the universe, probably using sublight speeds, we will find it is populated with all sorts of weird races. They will all have come from earth.

We may be only a thousand years or so from AI, or genetically engineering ourselves to survive on gas giants as giant zeppelin sized creatures. If we were to take a tour of the galaxy, hundreds of thousands of light years across, what strange civilizations would we discover when we returned home hundreds of thousands of years later?
I wonder why you have the idea that if we find other intelligent beings somewhere in our galaxy that they will have originated on earth?
 
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BaronHarkonen

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bdewoody":1t3ltk6u said:
I wonder why you have the idea that if we find other intelligent beings somewhere in our galaxy that they will have originated on earth?


Do the words "only begotten son" have any bearing here?
 
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origin

Guest
BaronHarkonen":2618ttcd said:
bdewoody":2618ttcd said:
I wonder why you have the idea that if we find other intelligent beings somewhere in our galaxy that they will have originated on earth?


Do the words "only begotten son" have any bearing here?

No, this is not the religon forum. Secular, godless, science here. ;)
 
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bdewoody

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OK, a new question. What makes anyone think this is the first or only planet that God has visited or blessed with life?
 
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