are we alone in the universe?if not why havnt we been contacted by higher intelligences?

Answer 1

Probably not.

We're just not that interesting. Do tourists come knocking on your door?

Answer 2

Mathematics is the universal language.
1 + 2 = 3 throughout the entire universe. A higher intelligence would have another name for 3, but it would still mean the same thing and equal the same sum.

Why haven't we been contacted by a higher intelligence?

First of all, we are not intelligent, that is, compared to the potential of intelligence.

On the "evolutionary clock" of our universe, say, for example, the entire time that our universe has been in existence is represented by 24 hours. Humans have been here for only one second. That is hardly enough time to expect that any form of intelligence would have had the time to find us, let alone that we have developed an intelligence high enough to be up to the task of meeting that higher intelligence. On the "evolutionary clock" we will be lucky if we last 5 seconds out of the 24 hours without destroying ourselves first.
We have a long way to go before we can ever hope to find or be contacted by another intelligent species from somewhere in the universe.

Answer 3

Lets limit this to the Galaxy. The gulfs between the stars make interstellar travel nearly impossible. To suggest bridging the intergalactic gulf: thats madness.

Lots of people trot out the Drake equation. On the surface it sounds good. The galaxy should be teeming with technological civilizations. Yet we listen to the skies and all is silent. There are no alien artifacts. Something is wrong.

I suggest reading two wikipedia articles:
1. Rare Earth Hypothesis: this states that while life in the galaxy is probably common, the life is probably simple: like moss. The difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic is like the difference between a rowboat and an ocean liner. Earth may be unique in having advanced cells appear.

2. the Fermi Paradox: named after the physicist Enrico Fermi who when asked your question, thought for a minute and asked " where are they". A technological civilization capable of interstellar flight should be able to colonize the galaxy using self replicating starships within about 5 million years. Add ten million extra years if self replicating ships are not used. In either case they are not here.

Not being here implies three possiblities:
1. they don't exist
2. interstellar travel is impossible.
3. they existed, but destroyed themselves before they could
colonize.

And finally who says there have to be "higher" intelligences. Homo Sapiens evolved about 200,000 years ago. The brain size has remained constant. Its very likely that the guy who was chipping arrowheads in the neolithic was just as smart as we are. Not very well read, obviously. But if raised by modern parents their children would be indistinguishable from their adoptive parents. Its very possible that after a certain intelligence is reached, there is no further evolutionary advantage to intelligence.

Answer 4

I cannot see how we on Earth can possibly be alone in the universe. It is so vast with so many galaxies out there that there must be other forms of life, probably in loads of different stages of development.

We may well have already been contacted by some, but I doubt the powers that be would let that be public knowledge, somehow, though.

Answer 5

We haven't been contacted because of the great distances involved. Other intelligent life forms are likely to be over 100 light years away.

That means that even if they could look at us with a super telescope, they would see people riding horses, etc.

Answer 6

Because of the vastness of the universe, any "higher Intelligence" would still be subject to the laws of physics in that the speed of light is a constant, and any "messages" may take millions of years to reach us and if they ever did reach us, we may not be able to understand them.

Answer 7

There are likely millions or billions of intelligent,technological societies like ours.
They would likely be based on some sort of DNA not too much different from ours.
They could look like anything you or science fiction could imagine,they would likely parallel us in intelligence and technology,have all the problems that we create for ourselves.
We may or may not ever get proof of their existence,or they about us.
Time and distance is a problem,if the closest was 1000 light years away we would likely never hear from them.
Probably they will always theorize about our existence as we do about theirs.

Answer 8

We had radio signal leaking in to space for years, so any ET on a nearby world would have received them by now. So they could not be bothered to reply or the civilization is not that developed enough to receive them. Perhaps we should look closer to home and under the sea for intelligent life,

Answer 9

its likely that we are not alone, as the universe is so big, but then conditions for life dont evolve everywhere.
maybe weere not being contacted because other forms of life maybe far away and/or not developed enough to contact us. or maybe they want to check us out first. that may be the reason for all those alien sitings. or maybe, they just dont want to contact us. again, they might have been wiped out by smthngs like global warming,before they could contact us.

Answer 10

Higher intelligences have no need to contact us Earthlings they are getting along nicely. It is likely they have, or there has been contact by them, but would we recognise it?

Answer 11

Of course its must be the New computer.In Cyber Space.Do I stand out alone in the Universe?. Yes there is no exact duplicate of me.