My theory is that other intelligent life may already know about us and they just dont want to contact us. Why this could be the case I have no idea, but it was just a thought !
2007-01-07 19:31:30 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
The universe probably is teaming with life,intelligent,and technological like us.
Many things could interfere with signals from them but I believe the largest obstacle is longevity.
Civilizations like ours are quickly reaching the point where they are capable of destroying themselves.
We live in an information society sharing the collective knowledge with all.
There are thousands of intelligent people on earth who would destroy us all if they could,we are rapidly approaching that point.
Give us maybe another 200 years or so!
2007-01-08 03:45:47 · answer #1 · answered by Billy Butthead 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I agree that it is highly likely that there is life, even intelligent life, elsewhere. It's just that it is unlikely in the extreme that we would detect it, or they us.
The first problem is the distance any signal would have to travel. Our galaxy is 100,000 light-years across. The Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light-years away. The next nearest cluster of galaxies is over 50 million light-years away.
This has two problems associated with it. First, the strength of any electromagnetic signal decreases with distance. Any signal more than a few light-years away would be exceedingly weak unless it has the intensity of a star at origin.
Second, there is the timing. Humans have had the capability of transmitting and detecting electromagnetic signals for only 100 years. What are the odds that a civilization on the other side of the galaxy will detect it 100,000 years hence?
It's likely that intelligent life has formed and extinguished many times in the universe without being detected by us. It's just as likely we will similarly anonymous.
2007-01-07 20:15:00 · answer #2 · answered by gebobs 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
considering the distance to the next nearest star, where life might have formed is still to far for us to reach in a life time even if we could travel at near light speed, I would say there well could be life out there attempting to contact us right now, we just won't know about it until the transmission reaches us, in about another thousand years. this is of course assuming that life on that planet has gotten up to or past our point of tech progress, and that the planet is in OUR galaxy and not on the other side of the universe. since it took man over 4 billion years to appear on the earth, it is reasonable to imagine that there are other planets out there that also have advanced life, but due to the distance issues I have stated, even the most intelligent form of life may not be able to make a long distance call.
2007-01-07 20:04:20 · answer #3 · answered by tak_disc 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The nature of theories is that they can never be proven. They would otherwise be factual. It is nice to fantasize about beings visiting us from other worlds or distant galaxies but it will probably always remain the stuff of science fiction. It would be an error to dismiss the possibility that other races of beings exist somewhere in this vast universe but it can never be proven. The distances between here and there, where ever there may be, are too great to overcome in any vehicle that humans are capable of creating, so that leaves them coming to us. But even if any of them could, don't you think they'd monitor our radio traffic and figure out before spending the cash to get here that Earth isn't a very nice place to visit and why waste their time?
2007-01-07 20:42:38 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You're assuming that the universe is "teaming with life". Personally, I don't believe this.
You also seem to be assuming that if there is life elsewhere, it has the capability of communicating, and it also has the capability making that communication reach us.
Systems and galaxies are isolated from each other over long distances. As advanced as we are, we still haven't figured out how to get people beyond the moon, and that's a very short distance in astronomical terms. We have to wait decades for information back on probes that we launch that never even leave our system.
2007-01-07 19:56:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
So what makes you think that the Universe is teaming with life ?
2007-01-07 19:35:15 · answer #6 · answered by g_man 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
The universe is very big. - While we have been listening for radio signals from space for a long time, planets in other solar sysems are so far away that it is unlikely that we could pick up a radio signal from one of them, unless it was powerful and intentially aimed directly at us, even using our largest radio telescopes. -
2007-01-07 19:40:39 · answer #7 · answered by Franklin 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
There is no proof that we haven't been contacted by extraterrestrial life, and there is no proof to the contrary. Your question can not be answered w/o speculation.
2007-01-07 21:22:27 · answer #8 · answered by dealerschool2006 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Think about it.... we spend our time attacking each other. If you were from another planet, would you want to mess with that, or just sit back and place bets on which country goes first?
2007-01-07 19:39:44 · answer #9 · answered by immortal_angel_01 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Well, they realized there is not much intelligence on earth....
2007-01-07 19:33:42 · answer #10 · answered by John R 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋