Where are the space aliens? Don't worry, they are here!
Posted on 05/13/2014 1:43:32 PM PDT by BenLurkin
As Snyder-Beattie explained in the article, the “Great Filter” is a response to the question of why we can’t see any alien civilizations. The “Great Filter” deals with similar issues as the Drake Equation, which talks about the probability of communicating civilizations outside of Earth, and the Fermi Paradox, which asks where the civilizations are.
Simply speaking, the idea is that if a civilization continues to expand (especially at the technological pace we humans have experienced), it wouldn’t take all that long in the lifespan of the universe for artificial processes to be visible with our own telescopes. Yes, this is even taking into account a presumed speed limit of no more than the speed of light. So something could be preventing these civilizations from showing up. That’s an important part of the Great Filter, but more details about it are below.
Here are a few possibilities for why the filter exists, both from Snyder-Beattie and from the person who first named the Great Filter, Robin Hanson, in 1996.
Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/111660/where-are-the-aliens-how-the-great-filter-could-affect-tech-advances-in-space/#ixzz31d9mu0xO
(Excerpt) Read more at universetoday.com ...
Maybe the big natural activities of those beyond Earth just happens to look exactly as if they are not there. Hanson said it seems rather unlikely, as it would be a “remarkable coincidence” if advanced artificial processes were actually responsible for all the astronomical phenomena we do explain from natural occurrences,- from pulsars to dark matter
In before the Ancient Aliens memes!
I’d imagine we will eventually run into aliens that have visited many planets and we will find out that they are ardent anti-communists because they found so many extinct civs that became communist right before they went extinct...
I always thought there should be a multiplying factor to the Drake equation, whose value is 1 or 0. And the factor is if God wanted their to be life elsewhere. 1 if yes, 0 if no.
Ancient Aliens memes!
I think they should pay social security and income tax also.
I’d say that if there is such a thing as ETs, chances are 50/50 they’d want to exterminate us.
Maybe there simply aren’t any alien civilizations. I personally don’t doubt there’s life but would prefer that they weren’t intelligent.
I was somewhat impressed with the Drake Equation — until I learned that he was just one of Sagan’s cronies.
The ET’s saw our politicians and immediately put a quarantine around earth so we can’t contaminate them. That’s your Great Filter.
I’m skeptical on the existence of alien civilizations. Fermi’s Question “where are they?” is compelling. My big laugh is the “contactee.” Here one has a civilization investing their wealth in developing and manufacturing a space ship, training a crew, then embarking on the extremely dangerous journey across interstellar space all to contact Joe Shlunk in a cornfield at 3:00 A.M. Joe Shlunk’s local time.
That’s some deep thinking there!
Maybe if half the astrophysics community didn’t take the approach of global warming ‘scientists’ we might have an answer. Instead, they play the same games, politics ect with their papers/journals, backbite each other and do little actual science.
Only recently could the mere IDEA that aliens ‘could’ exist be spoken in public without the entire community coming down on itself.
Lastly, Scientists aren’t as smart as they think they are. 500 years ago they were putting each other in jail for hersey. They only barely grasp the generalities of the big things they can see on a cosmological scale, much less fully understand them. Overall, they are like a kid with his first copy of Guitar World thinking he can play Steve Vai solos after reading the interview.
The “great filter” is distance. It’s a long way from here to anywhere, our radio traffic (the most distantly traveled part of our civilization, going relatively fast and starting early) has traveled through an insignificant percentage of our galaxy.
Here’s the scale to really get it:
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/3390.html
And of course that’s one way, if somebody near the edge of that heard us recently and sent a reply we’ll find out around 2100. And that’s with all kinds of assumptions about them having the technical specs to do it (we only use a fraction of the possible carrier wave spectrum), were actually listening, or care about the implications.
If there are billions of galaxies, and the distance between most of them are hundreds of millions of light years then two things are fairly certain. 1)There no doubt are many civilizations out there.2) Given the laws of physics and the fact that the speed of light is the universal speed limit, there is no way any biological entity or mechanical construction from an alien civilization has ever or ever will visit earth. However Earth has been transmitting data in analog form for over one hundred years and in algorithmic digital form for over thirty. It is quite possible that alien civilizations have linked up with one another by relaying data (with long travel times) to each other. Perhaps in thirty years or so some computers on earth will be “infected” with a truly wondrous virus.
Indeed. You can just imagine the two of them cooking it up over late night beverages or “cigars” — and then expect people to take it seriously!
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