whats the chances of alien life form more intelligent than us?

[NavajoEverclear]

of coarse there'd be aliens more intelligent than us--- why wouldn't there be? I don't think theres an answer to that question. Their intelligence would probably be a lot different than ours. They would have complex comprehensive abilites for learning and communication. That does not require their skills which define them as intelligent to have any relevancy in relation to our reality of psychology. The only thing i think that is likely similar is being bilateral, its a pretty simple matter of symetry, there aren't that many other options, there aren't any asymetrical animals (by that i don't mean that the symetry is perfect, but basically all organisms have symetry on some level)

 

I don't know why you say they'd have thumbs. They could evolve adaptation to any number enviroments, with a mechanism other than thumbs. There are many possible ways to work the resources, thumbs just happened to be our way of dealing with our enviroment.

[Sayonara]

of coarse there'd be aliens more intelligent than us--- why wouldn't there be? I don't think theres an answer to that question. Their intelligence would probably be a lot different than ours. They would have complex comprehensive abilites for learning and communication.

I don't think Irkens count...

[ydoaPs]

Admirl is trying to deny that he said heat shields are used for pressure by pointing out my bad typing skills. Wow, thats mature.

[Sayonara]

Maybe he doesn't think heat shields are particularly relevant to the topic at hand.

[admiral_ju00]

Maybe he doesn't think heat shields are particularly relevant to the topic at hand.

 

Thank you, Sayonara.

 

As for you yourdadonapogos, please take a look at the following post #'s.

133,137,139 & 143

 

Surely with your *cough*fictitious*cough* BSc in Aeronautical Engineering, you can figure something out, eh?

[DarthDooku]

I would say that, given the size of the universe, its pretty much inevitable that there are other planets that can support life. The chances of one solar system in the whole universe containing life, is unthinkable. Will they be like us and smarter than us. I would say a little bit of everything. Some will be smarter, obviously since they have been here longer. But others may be in the prehistoric age with dinosaurs roaming around.

 

As for looking like us, again, a little bit of everything. Some may look exactly like us. Some may have green skin that can absorb or reflect different kinds of radiation. And heavy dark eyelids that protect from powerful solar radiation. You cant go around saying its not happening. The universe is too big. And with the 100 and more planets that we have found, I would say we havent even broken the surface.

 

With the right conditions, life could evolve in many different ways. There is no way to tell what they will look like and what they will breathe and eat. But i like to believe that somewhere there is a blue planet that has life, just like Earth.

 

There is no way to answer these questions. It is all theory.

 

I think the best place to start looking is Europa. There is a great possibility that there are deep sea lifeforms under the ice. I would just die to see what they look like. In Astronomy magazine, they said a mission to Europa would likely be in the middle of the next decade, around 2010-2015. By then the station on the moon will be up and running and preparing for space flights, based from the moon.

 

This is the most exciting thing since the first landing on the moon. Its our first steps towards interstellar travel. Now if we could just get some of those NASA geniuses to develop and spaceship that can travel the speed of light and more.

[Sayonara]

This article is somewhat relevant.

 

It points out that our own radio signal is fading, having lasted about a hundred years, due to the increase in microwave and cable communications which are less "leaky".

[Guest Sev]

Right, simply to throw up some astronomical facts since there appears to be a lot of mis-information going around.

 

Disclaimer: I only read the first 4 pages and got annoyed with the errors, so this may have already been said

 

Extra-solar planets: There have been around 100 planets found around other stars. However, we have not found a planet around every single one we've searched, but any means, however statistics show the based upon the way we find planets, and the possible positions and sizes for planets, it means that based upon our current models, virtually all solar systems will have planets.

 

This is due to the fact that, currently, to find a planet it must be a large (jupiter sized) planet in a very close orbit to the star, which considering the range of distances for planet formation would actually be quite rare. It is also possible to find planets through another means, which we can currently use to detect planets of a similar size to neptune, however the chances of a giving star's planets being in the right situation for this is even smaller than with the jupiter sized planets (the orbit has to be pointing directly at us).

 

Considering the chances of finding a planet around a given star using these methods, we can come to two conclusions: There are planets around almost every planet, and smaller planets are more common than large ones, with increasing frequency as the size goes down.

 

Astronomers hope to be able to find earth-sized planets by 2012.

 

Now, point two: If we do ever definitively find life outside of Earth (dubious fossilised martian microbes not counted as definitive evidence), then it is almost a certainty that there will be life far more "intelligent" than us out there, or at least further along the evolutionary path.

[ydoaPs]

first photo of extrasolar planet.

 

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mystery_monday_040510.html

 

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/09/10/exoplanet.image/

 

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-09/11/content_373646.htm

[Ophiolite]

May I commend to you all the following book.

'Rare Earth' by Peter Ward & Donald Brownlee published by Copernicus Books (ISBN 0-387-95289-6)

The sub-title 'Why complex life is uncommon in the Universe' is a nice summary of their thesis. They lay out a suite of well presented evidence and carefully reasoned arguments as to why microbial life is probably common, but multi-cellular life very rare.

[Mokele]

I turn to the ultimate reference:

 

"And pray that there's inteligent life somewhere out in space

Because there's bugger all down here on Earth."

- The Galaxy Song, Eric Idle, Monty Python's Flying Circus

 

Mokele

[Guest Brandon]

I had a question! what are the temperutures of each planet during each season? Please reply!!! ;-)

[Gilded]

Mokele, the Galaxy Song owns indeed. There's nothing, I mean nothing, not the universe nor the meaning of life that Monty Python songs can't solve.

[jaime]

Hy. I think, first of all, that they are already there, and if they are around traveling, it means they are more advanced than us, they have no intentions of entering into contact with us, unless meeting a civilization that is of comparable inteligence. Any beings traveling through space are way too advanced to want to engage us in any type of comunication. In the same way we want to protect the species in our planet, create reserves, and let them live happy their natural lives in natural enviroments, they (aliens) see us as a species in developement, and , if inteligent, will not want to engage us in any type of communication. I am sure they are observing us. Even beings from our future could be seing us. If we could go back in time and witness under cover(in the confort of our vessels, without disturbing anybody) the dinasaurs, the different ages and times, like the mammals era, the Reptiles, the dinasaurs, etc, if we could witness the sabre tooth tiger roaming around, the neanderthal men doing their things, we would not(at least should not and the educated mind would agree) dare interfere, we would just witness and take notes, enjoy the show. What point would there be in acting and protecting an alticamelus from falling victim to a american cave lion? what would we achieve in helping a neanderthal defeat a sabretooth tiger, changing the natural course of things? ...well, I think we have them all over, but they would not interfere, even if we destroy ourselves with nuclear weapons, it would still be the course of things, the natural course of things, they are more inteligent than us, they just observe.

Oh, by trhe way, thay do not have to be humanoid, they probably need hands, and a head, and a body, but different atmospheres and gravities will create a zillion different ways,all perfect in context.

Jaime