What if we'd found highly evolved life on Venus?

[Luke]

It might be that the cloudy nights are driving me batty, but I wonder if out there in deep space there are systems where you have two planets with highly evolved life right next to each other?

Do you think there is a good chance of that or is it pushing it just to have one habitable planet per sun at most?

What if Venus was more like a twin of Earth and we had found highly evolved life there? When would we have known for sure, and what would the world be like today knowing that there definitely is life on other planets?

[Nexus 6]

Hi Luke, interesting question. My first thought was if there were such planets and if they were anything like us they would probably be at war. I think there must be such civilizations and hopefully they have learnt to do without fighting and live in peace. Only reason I believe there is something out there is the unimaginable scale of the universe. When we find out we're not alone it will change things for the better I'm sure:rolleyes:

Alan

[yeti monster]

For a start, all them religious [people would have to have a rethink]

[Keiran]

Wow, deep questions this late at night ...

I have a few thought on this question. Ive only just read this, and with little thought it has spurd many questions.

What would the likelyness be that there is two neighbouring planets would have intellegent life?

Im sure somewhere out there, there will be this scenario... As nexus said, it is such a vast place you would be stupide to think we were all that excisted.

But what would the likelyness be that we could communicate with one another... We as mankind only know one thing and thats ownership. Anything we come across we try to own. If we were to come across such a planet, all i could see would be war, if not caused by us, it would be caused by its inhabiters.

If we were invaded by aliens, we would try to protect our world... I dont think we would give the aliens a chance to explain themselves. An i thgink this would be the same if we invaded another world. We must protect what we call home.

It would be extremely unlikely that any two planets would contain the same life...

I think it would be the end of either us or them if we were ever to discover life on another world.... We cant protect what life we have on earth, let alone living in conjuction with another world.

The best we could do is find another world that could support our life forms, that was completly uninhabited.

Now at risk of being contrivesial, If we found a planet just like ours, that could supports our life, would there not already be humans there ????

Keiran

[yeti monster]

They might be man eating frogs...

[Keiran]

They might be man eating frogs...

No i dont believe that, maybe man eating Sgorf though

[ollypenrice]

I'd have thought that if conditions were right on one planet then they might well be right on an neighbour as well, though maybe not at the same time. Complex life is probably not something that appears for all that long in the whole lifetime of a planet.

I do think there will be life widespread in the unviverse but since we cannot really communicate with chimpanzees, with whom ae share a vast genetic heritage, then sadly I'm not optimistic about contact.

As for our dismal tribalism and passion for warfare, I guess it arises from the particular nature of our Darwinian evolution on Earth. But it might be possible to envisage a co-operative evolutionary model, especially in an eco system in which animals had no need to eat each other. Suppose they fed on abundant starlight, for example?

Olly

[nightfisher]

trouble is if we had a close planet with life intelligent life our government would tax all the inhabitants:D:D

[yeti monster]

trouble is if we had a close planet with life intelligent life our government would tax all the inhabitants:D:D

Only AFTER we'd, sorry, they'd won the world war to decide who owned this sister planet. Meanwhile the inhabitants of said sister planet were doing the exact same thing, now that, I think, would be rather ironic, Ms Morrisette...

[ollypenrice]

Worth remembering that Percival Lowell had a lot, even a majority, of educated people believing in Martian canal builders for a significant number of years. It must have been quite strange to live at the time of this widespread belief. He even argued that they were (like himself) right wing Republicans - all this based on observational evidence, don't you know!

Olly

[George]

For a start, all them religious mentalist would STFU!

Well seeing as religions are the root of most conflicts it would be a better idea to ban religion full stop. Would make life easier as there would be nobody to offend.

(probably this post will offend )

[ollypenrice]

Well seeing as religions are the root of most conflicts it would be a better idea to ban religion full stop. Would make life easier as there would be nobody to offend.

(probably this post will offend )

Probably it will, and it will also get you your knuckles rapped!

Let's thnk about some thngs that are banned but just may not entirely have disappeared...)

Drink driving

Speeding

Assault

Racial abuse

Cocaine

I could go on...

Olly

[Guest]

That's interesting! I would imagine that it is highly unlikely for them to develop at exactly the same rate, so one is more likely to discover the other first, possibly while their planet does not even harbour intelligence yet, meaning that they may probe and experiment on the planet, or (from a more evil perspective) take over the second planet and put all the inhabitants in test tubes for research - a bit like the kind of takeover the native Americans experienced when we first sailed there (without the test tubes, of course!). Yes, I think that one would know about the life on another planet possibly long before intelligent beings would arise on it. But, if somehow there were two intelligent civilisations who evolved completely independent of each other, and first probed into eachother's existences at similar times, then they would both experience profound alterations of perspective - communications would probably develop in the form of radio messages transmitted and received, and the first thing they would do would be to focus all their space power on a mission to visit eachother. War may come later.

[Photosbykev]

Everyone knows women are from Venus so finding intelligent life there would be quite difficult

<dons flak jacket and helmet and goes to play in a minefield, a much safer place to be>

[Keiran]

Everyone knows women are from Venus so finding intelligent life there would be quite difficult

I think a few people may be wanting your head soon Kev

[ollypenrice]

Everyone knows women are from Venus so finding intelligent life there would be quite difficult

<dons flak jacket and helmet and goes to play in a minefield, a much safer place to be>

No no, Kev just means that finding things in a permanent downpour of concentrated sulphuric acid at roasting temperatures, in poison gas and crushing gravity, would be very difficult! Don't you Kev?

(You owe me a pint...)

Olly

[yeti monster]

a permanent downpour of concentrated sulphuric acid at roasting temperatures, in poison gas and crushing gravity,

So you've met Mrs. Yeti then?

[Tim]

Of course, ANY life is highly evolved, or more empirically speaking, highly complex.

[black5f]

what would the world be like today knowing that there definitely is life on other planets?

I think we know... don't we? I remember being taught that life can only exist in a very narrow band, the day before the exam a sub found life gathered around volcanic vents and the whole picture changed. Now we've found life in water at 100C, eating its way through the casings on nuclear fuel rods in conc NaOH, even the bacteria that causes sore throats survived being on the moon trapped in a camera lens. There is also increasing evidence that we are the aliens, or the stuff of life, amino acids, came from comets, most of the water in the oceans did?

There will be ever increasing evidence, gradually until somone actually put's one on TV, but it won't be so much a revelation as just confirmation? I don't think many will be suprised, just suspicions confirmed.

Personally I think its almost everywhere it gets a chance to grab hold and adapt before cataclysmic events destroy it.

[black5f]

Well seeing as religions are the root of most conflicts it would be a better idea to ban religion full stop. Would make life easier as there would be nobody to offend.

(probably this post will offend )

Not offensive. I wouldn't condone banning, they have a right to a view, but I'd like them to evolve and adapt a bit......

OK.... impossible, I forgot ignoring everything thats happend or been discovered in the last 2000 years, no argument

[Photosbykev]

No no, Kev just means that finding things in a permanent downpour of concentrated sulphuric acid at roasting temperatures, in poison gas and crushing gravity, would be very difficult! Don't you Kev?

(You owe me a pint...)

Olly

that's exactly what I meant, I thought it was clear enough

cheers Olly

[RobH]

If there was life on Venus as it is now, I think I'd be very very scared of it

BTW....please remember the COC.....please keep religion and politics out of what is a rather interesting discussion.

Cheers

Rob

[ollypenrice]

In one of those wonderful staccato bursts of speech Sir Patick asserted that if you went to Venus you'd be simultaneously burned, poisoned, crushed and corroded. It was the last one that made me choke on my teacake. Corroded! Way to go.

Olly

[RobH]

I reckon Sir Patrick could probably survive on Venus....he's one tough cookie

[Luke]

I'm usually optimistic that we would behave ourselves if we had the technology to visit ET, that we are still a work in progress and will get there by the time the technology is in place - if we are still around then!

Though I've been wondering what we would do if Venus was more like Earth but for want of better words, the most intelligent lifeforms were the Venus equivalent of, say, chimps.

Would we be looking to settle there, and would that be fair?

For me I think maybe we would be messing with the potential for the life to evolve into whatever the Venus equivalent of humans would be (if that is what normally happens on planets that support life for long enough). I suspect we would settle there, bit of a dilemma, maybe?