Stephen Hawking and the aliens

[ZOG]

I've just watched the first episode of Stephens Hawking's Universe and I have to say I enjoyed it even though it was mostly stuff that I've seen before on other programmes. This episode concentrated on alien lifeforms and how they may evolve on other planets. Hawking believes that the universe could be teeming with life, a belief that I agree with. He also states that the laws of physics would be the same throughout the universe, a statement that I find a little condescending, why should theories by scientists on a speck in the universe hold true for the whole universe ?

The one stand out item though was his statement "if there is intelligent life in the universe, would we want to meet them ?"

A quick look at life on earth shows that there are few species that can co exist peacefully. The law of kill or be killed, eat or be eaten is more the norm.

I would imagine that any aliens capable of inter stellar travel would have good reasons for wanting to visit other planets and these reasons would probably be more for acquisition rather than exploration.

So what do you all think, if their is intelligent life out there, do we really want to meet it ?

[TheThing]

Do you not watch Dr Who?!? Very few species out there can be trusted not to take us over and destory us!

[Earl]

I dont think there are any aliens capable of interstella travel and i also belive the human race will never achive interstella travel.

So far we have done a very good job of proving how much a mess of things we can make. Ironically the only time we achive serious technological progress is wehn we busy ourselves in working out how to kill each other.

I wonder if Alien civilizations have the same problems we do?

[Matthew.Blake]

He also states that the laws of physics would be the same throughout the universe, a statement that I find a little condescending, why should theories by scientists on a speck in the universe hold true for the whole universe ?

The converse question is, of course: "Why should we be any different from the rest of the universe?" After all, we are not special.

[acey]

Paul Davies, who is chair of SETI's post-detection group, thinks that although the universe could well be teeming with life, there might not be any "intelligent" life apart from ourselves. He's written about it in his latest book, The Eerie Silence, reviewed here:

Book review: The Eerie Silence, Paul Davies - Scotsman.com Living

[ZOG]

The thing about SETI is it's all very well listening for radio signals from space...BUT... there would have to have been a civilisation using radio as a communication medium (and not a very good one at that) at exactly the right time based on the distance of that civilisation from us for us to detect it. I would imagine that any civilisation has a finite lifespan so the odds of any of them being at the same stage of evolution as us in the last forty years that we have been listening to be pretty small.

To communicate over the vast distances involved, a far superior means of communication would have to be in place. Of course this then throws Einsteins theory that nothing can travel faster than light into chaos. Suppose that an advanced race of beings communicated telepathically, would this form of communication be restricted by distance or would it be immediate.

My head starts hurting around this point but anyhow, the question was, IF there are other intelligent races out there, would we WANT to meet them ?

[alowen]

Good thread, i would like to see what they looked like before making a decision.

But i think i'd rather not meet them.

[richbyers]

i find that to say we are the most intelligent form of life in the entire universe is madness, im sure at some point in the future there will no longer be a debate, for good or bad

rich

[astromerlin]

He also states that the laws of physics would be the same throughout the universe, a statement that I find a little condescending, why should theories by scientists on a speck in the universe hold true for the whole universe ?

Would it be reasonable that the statement above holds true in order for the universe to exist as a whole, Our observable universe obeys the laws of physics why not the rest?

A quick look at life on earth shows that there are few species that can co exist peacefully. The law of kill or be killed, eat or be eaten is more the norm.

We are now at the stage of our evolution where we now understand that due to population increase on our planet that there is not enough space to grow enough food to feed us all. Growing meat is expensive, wastes valuable land and increases atmospheric pollutants.

There may be a point where acceptable alternatives to meat an other food products will need to be found. Our species is starting to learn that conservation of resources on a global scale is paramount to our survival.

I would imagine that we'll either kill ourselves fighting for it or resolve our differences and work together. If the latter then peace will eventually be the norm. One thing is for sure, we need to get off this rock and find some more to colonise to keep up with population expansion.

If we do get "out there" and meet a species capable of space travel, I would imagine that they would have gone through a similar advancement in their society which unfortunatly means that once exploration becomes easier acquisition will be next on the agenda.

Lets hope they aren't like us eh.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I enjoyed the first episode but honestly it did not deal with anything that has not been dealth with before on the likes of the tv show "Universe". #

I am waiting til it deals with things such as blackholes,wormholes,lightspeed travel etc.

That is truely when Hawkings comes into a world of his own.

[Macavity]

He also states that the laws of physics would be the same throughout the universe, a statement that I find a little condescending, why should theories by scientists on a speck in the universe hold true for the whole universe?

And there may even be a "multiverse" of universes t'boot. But the very fact that we are here to observe our one (at least locally) may be significant, coincidental, consequential etc. etc.

Anthropic principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[LukeSkywatcher]

As Hawkings stated: Our planet is one of 8 in our solar system (9 if you still include Pluto as i do). Our Sun is one but of hundreds of billion stars in out galaxy (The MilkyWay). There are billions of galaxies in the known universe. MANY with planets orbiting a local Sun.

The notion that all life on Earth is a one off in the universe is CRAZY. There simply is life out there in the universe.

We jusr have not discovered it yet and it has not discovered us. We may never discover each other due to the vastness of the universe.

I really like to think that out there somewhere in the universe there is another intelligent species gazing up into their night sky wondering if they too are alone in this universe,.

[Lowstar]

There are those that are convinced aliens are here amoungst us already, perhaps studying our development ( or lack off ) as we progress towards a perfect world. That might take a while.....

[acey]

The problem is that we keep confusing "life" with "intelligent life". There are an estimated 1.5 million distinct species of life on Earth. Only one of them is intelligent (in the sense of having language, technology, etc), and it has existed for about 0.1 per cent of the time that life has existed. Paul Davies's argument is that we can't assume the evolution of intelligence is inevitable (as Carl Sagan did) but rather that it is an extraordinary fluke. There is no evolutionary pressure towards intelligence (as distinct from, say, the evolution of eyes, fins or limbs). Most creatures manage quite happily without.

[GuillermoBarrancos]

I strongly believe we are not alone.

There is other life out there. For sure!

A lot of galaxies are much much older than ours.

So it's pretty safe to say that the chance of much further advanced inteligent life is very high and pretty sertain really.

But like one says. The Universe is BIG!

A galaxy consists of billions of stars and thousands, maybe even millions of solar systems.

The known and visible universe consists of billions of these galaxies.

One advanced inteligent species meeting another comes down to simple maths really.

I think that the chance of one person winning the lottery 10 times within a lifetime is higher, then us finding other inteligent life or them finding us.

Wich is also dissapointing. That the universe is maybe just too big to find one another.

[callisto]

The series V comes to mind

mark.

[Talitha]

So what do you all think, if their is intelligent life out there, do we really want to meet it ?

If they come here, i don't see that we'd have any choice in the matter. As the dominant intelligence, they'd be holding all the cards and we'd literally be at their mercy... if they possess any.

However if we as a dominant intelligence went somewhere, i'd only hope that we'd be on a peaceful exploratory mission. But reality being what it is, there's the chance that we'd be looking for a new planet to inhabit. The inferior intelligence would be at our mercy, much the same as Native populations here on Earth were at the mercy of advanced invaders.. and we all know how those stories ended.

[LukeSkywatcher]

The series V comes to mind

mark.

I'm loving the remake of the original series on Sy-Fy.

[Earl]

However if we as a dominant intelligence went somewhere, i'd only hope that we'd be on a peaceful exploratory mission.

Unfortunately we have quiet a few thousands worth of history showing that we pillage all the way.

We still do it now just not with axes and rading partys, we use Commerce and Peace Keeping forces to take what we want.