What might aliens be like, if we ever find them ?

[John]

Interesting BBC radio cast on this topic

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gcvs

[John]

Another one in this series if you are interested - Have we already found aliens ?. What should we do if we ever find them ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000g4z3

[Ouroboros]

1 hour ago, John said:

Interesting BBC radio cast on this topic

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gcvs

I listened to this one just now. It’s quite an intriguing argument.  I’m not sure  I quite understand his “fallacy of mediocrity” argument. Or rather I do when I hear it but I’m not sure I could explain it to someone else. 
 

It’s an interesting new take on the Fermi paradox. Not promising if true. 

[Steve Clay]

To be honest I work with a few people from a different planet....

[JamesF]

Interesting, though I can't help thinking that it tells you more about statistics than aliens

James

[banjaxed]

I think the aliens are already here and buying all our toilet rolls 😀

[DAVE AMENDALL]

They won't be the Borg thats buying 'em it will be the Bog

[theropod]

With the recent discovery of a complex life form right here on earth that has an anaerobic metabolic system exobiologist now have yet more places to look for alien life. While this recently discovered life form is secondarily anaerobic, meaning it adapted to this metabolic system, it doesn’t rule out such a possibility on an alien world.

Here’s what I mean: Suppose life arises on an alien world where oxygen is present, but over millions of years said oxygen is somehow gradually lost. Those alien oxygen dependent life forms would either adapt or become extinct. The fact that such an adaptation happened here, where no such lack of oxygen exists, it can happen anywhere. This opens the door to a wider search of places where we might otherwise jump to the conclusion that life couldn’t exist because of an oxygen.

”Life finds a way” is just a fact.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Life on this planet arose in an oxygen free atmosphere, even though there was plenty of water, as provided by comets etc., Anaerobic bacteria formed the first life & reigned supreme for a few billion years, it was only when Cyanobacteria evolved, that the atmosphere started becoming rich in oxygen, as they produced oxygen as a by-product, i.e. photo-synthesis.  

I don't believe that planets start off with an Oxygen atmosphere, as that would mean that the planet has an oxygen rich environment at its birth, which is highly unlikely, as the prevailing temperatures, of an early life cycle planet, would bind any free oxygen radicals to other elements, locking it away.   

 

[theropod]

Yes, earth’s first life was anaerobic. No debate there. The point I was trying to make is that until this complex anaerobic life form was discovered there has never been any evidence that such life forms had achieved complexity, or could. Indeed this seems to be a case of a previous oxygen metabolic organism that adapted/evolved an anaerobic metabolism.

[Ruud]

After 12 minutes of examples of nothing being ordinary, I get the feeling that not being ordinary is quite ordinary.

[Dave Dubya]

If you opt for the strict SETI specification for intelligent life, it's that they can build and operate a radio transmitter.

Which means they need the opposable digits to use a soldering iron.

 

[barkis]

In HG. Wells 'War of the World's, it was Earth's microscopic life forms that  overwhelmed the Invaders, now there is another army of the little blighters trying to remove us from our World.                Doesn't add much to this threads topic, so apologies to John. I quite enjoyed the original movie, but not the Tom Cruise remake😁.

Ron.

 

 

[7170]

One day you will all realise your planet is not the only one that is inhabited in the universe.

[Chaz2b]

As per the title, what could aliens be like? Well the human imagination could conjure allsorts of visual adaptions of humanoid like existence, but would we be even close as to what is real?

I for one, believe that we are not alone in this universe, however I also believe we have yet to be visited by et, if ever!

It does make me laugh when we try to portray what an alien is, with programmes like Dr Who, such as blobs to dastardly Darleks! My favourite . But if you try to consider it seriously, then imagination is probably all we have.

 

chaz

 

[Alien 13]

I have no doubts that the only Aliens that had the technology to send radio signals and have the ability for space travel would look pretty much like us....

Alan

[jonathan]

On 22/03/2020 at 20:03, barkis said:

In HG. Wells 'War of the World's, it was Earth's microscopic life forms that  overwhelmed the Invaders, now there is another army of the little blighters trying to remove us from our World.                Doesn't add much to this threads topic, so apologies to John. I quite enjoyed the original movie, but not the Tom Cruise remake😁.

I liked the original film too, but the Tom Cruise version seemed much closer to the original story and also the Jeff Wayne musical.  Can't beat a bit of Richard Burton though...  Who would've believed....

[jonathan]

On the subject of aliens, I tend to think that the statistics are against them.  Statistically speaking they should exist, yet statistically speaking they should probably also have been wiped out by some natural or self-inflicted disaster, so by the time we turn up in our fancy faster-than-light ships they'll probably just be dust.  We're apparently overdue a killer asteroid ourselves, or an extinction super volcano, that is if human incompetence doesn't get us first.