Do you think out of the Billions of galaxies out there, Earth is the only planet that harbors "intelligent" life??
What are you theories?
2007-01-24 02:11:13 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
So far we've seen no verifiable evidence of other sentient species. That said, I believe with some certainty that somewhere in our galaxy at some past, present, or future time, a sentient species did/does/will exist.
Why haven't we heard from them?
Perhaps they are not technologically advanced enough to be heard. They may be mastering stone knives right now, or experiencing their own Rennaisance.
Perhaps they are here right now. Any species sufficiently advanced to travel interstellar distances would be able to hide or masquerade with ease. That Boeing 737 that just flew by may be a surveillance craft.
Perhaps they are so far away they will never notice us and vice versa.
Perhaps they existed a million years ago and died out.
Perhaps they will exist a million years from now.
It is really impossible to know for sure.
The Drake Equation suggests that there is sentient life out there. The Fermi Paradox casts doubt. Play around with the calculation form at the second link and see what you think.
2007-01-24 11:45:11 · answer #1 · answered by Otis F 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It would be inconceivable that life, even "intelligent" life, has not developed elsewhere.
It is unlikely in the extreme that we would ever detect them and a discourse between the two civilizations is probably impossible.
First, to even detect a civilization over interstellar, much less intergalactic distances, would require a very strong signal. And forget about translating it or even having the proper technology to "read" it. the best we could realistically hope for is to just be able to discern that the signals were a result of an intelligent source.
Second, signals travel at light speed. Even so, such a signal would take about 1000 years to travel to the center of our own galaxy and millions of years to the nearest galaxy other than our own.
This brings up the problem of synchronicity. Humans have been transmitting and detecting electromagnetic signals for only 100 years. The odds that an advanced civilization's transmissions would be "heard" by us become vanishingly small the farther away they get.
2007-01-24 03:11:35 · answer #2 · answered by gebobs 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Multiply 100 billion galaxies we can see, by an average of 200 billion stars per galaxy. The resulting number is 2 with 22 zero's behind it (20 Sextillion). Now, out of all those stars, how can there not somewhere be other life besides ours?
2007-01-24 04:37:59 · answer #3 · answered by David W 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't believe in all the abduction and UFO stories, but there is a real possibility of life out there. It's probably just so far away that we'll never come across it.
Anyone that says there is no intelligent life out there is stupid, because in order to know that for certain we'd have to explore 100% of the universe.
2007-01-24 02:18:03 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
they're out there somewhere but i have my doubts about them having visited us
2007-01-24 02:23:30 · answer #5 · answered by glen t 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋