2007-09-11 00:23:28 · 9 answers · asked by Sporadic 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Your question was first posed in the 1950's by such people as Enrico Fermi and Frank Drake. It is a good question. Frank Drake in particular thought that our galaxy could be a busy metropolis of intelligent races carrying on interstellar communication and interstellar transport as a matter of routine, and that we have only to point our radio telescopes in the right manner and we will hear this busy chatter in intelligence. However, the SETI project has ruled out this scenario. According to a lengthy article on the subject that I read in Scientific American magazine, it is fairly clear now that our galaxy is still in "the wild state" as they put it. At least by all outward appearances, our galaxy much more closely resembles the continent of Antarctica than the continent of North America or Europe. This does not mean that there are no intelligent races out there. There may well be other Earths out there with races as advanced as say the Roman Empire or even as advanced as we are now. But a galactic downtown London? Not a chance. We would be able to easily see and hear the radiation given off by their starships zipping from solar system to solar system, at light like speeds, and we don't.
Me, I am kind of glad that the galaxy is so far unexplored by other intelligences. It just makes our eventual conquest of the galaxy that much easier.
2007-09-11 04:09:51 · answer #1 · answered by Sciencenut 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Possibly because the life-span of technological civilizations is too short. Our civilization is utilizing our natural resources at a ever increasing rate, and competition for resources frequently results in warfare. When you develop nuclear and biological weapons the chances for catastrophic miscalculations become ever more possible. Wasteful use of resources can also lead to global warming and environmental collapse.
Competition for limited resources is a basic part of evolutionary theory. There is no reason to believe that any race would be immune to this.
Therefore civilizations in our galaxy and beyond could have arisen, flourished briefly and died far in the past and that our particular civilization is currently the only existing one. SETI has detected NO signals. This probably means something.
2007-09-11 10:20:54 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
This is a secret the supreme architect of the universe is keeping close to his chest. To reveal the presence of other intelligent beings in the universe to us would amount to divulging knowledge about the nature of the universe and creation (or evolution or whatever you choose to call it), which we probably are not yet mature enough to be entrusted with. As far as creation goes, we (Homo Sapiens) are "neophites", being no more than a few hundred thousand years in existence on this planet. Other more intelligent species will definitely come after us and they will get closer to knowing what we are by nature currently limited to knowing.
2007-09-11 08:27:21 · answer #3 · answered by Paleologus 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If any exist, they are much too distant to visit our planet. No material object can travel at anywhere near the velocity of light. The closest star to our sun is Proxima Centauri that is over 4 light years away. At our escape velocity, it'd take a rocket from Earth 106,448 years to reach PC. There may not be any planets with intelligent life there, so we would probably need to go much further to find them or for them to find us.
2007-09-11 11:00:28 · answer #4 · answered by miyuki & kyojin 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I were them, being intelligent I would NOT contact humans unless I wanted to be treated with suspicion, locked up for entering earth's orbit, accused of terrorism for having a different faith or belief system, tortured, made to tell them where my planet is, murdered and vivisected, knowing that
after my death my planet would be invaded (sorry, "liberated"), its people exterminated, terrorised, raped and robbed, its natural resources stripped, and a government of collaborators installed as the lapdogs of earthly governments, and made to at all times to work "against alien terrorists"
Be sure, earthlings, aliens know OF us, and do NOT want to meet us or have anything to do with us. We are far too violent, agressive, intolerant and downright dangerous.
2007-09-11 08:01:41 · answer #5 · answered by Vicki W 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Intelligent aliens do exist in all parts of the.universe.
They are probably very short lived [2 or 4 hundred years].
They would likely parallel us closely in intelligence and technology.
No doubt they are listening for signals from us as we do from them.
Their ability to visit us is the same as our ability to find and visit them.
2007-09-11 08:53:12 · answer #6 · answered by Billy Butthead 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There are enough stars out there that there might be another planet with intelligent life.
But with technology as we understand it, the travel time to visit us could be millions of years, and that's if they knew where to look.
Beyond this, if another life form was smart enough to travel those distances, they might look at us the way we view insects.
2007-09-11 09:27:03 · answer #7 · answered by Mark H 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
And what makes you think they deem us worthwhile enough to communicate with?
If there are truly more intelligent/superior beings outside of our solar system, then that means there are countless others at similar or more advanced stages than we are.
Most likely, they don't know we even exist or even consider us intelligent by their standards.
2007-09-11 07:33:13 · answer #8 · answered by most important person you know 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A) They can't reach us.
B) They are scared of us.
C) We're too primitive by their standards.
D) They are xenophobic.
E) They are scared of my plan for world domination that involves arming cute little mutant rabbits with rocket propelled chainsaws of gigantic size.
2007-09-11 07:32:51 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋