The obvious answer is, of course, that these planets with intelligent life could be so far away that even at the speed of light it would take thousands or tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years for them to reach us.
But consider that many experts think there could be at least tens of billions of planets out there - or perhaps many, many times that.
That would mean that there is a strong likelihood that there is intelligent life out there, and that there are civilizations that precede us by perhaps millions of years.
By now, some civilizations surely would have developed the technologies to contact other worlds, travel to other worlds, or send out transmissions to other worlds.
But humanity has yet to make any contact with anyone out there?
Why is this?
Given the numbers, wouldn't it be a good guess that we should have heard from someone by now?
Is there really life out there?
2007-12-10 17:35:45 · 11 answers · asked by Zezo Zeze Zadfrack 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
hmmmm. seems like a valid point your making.
I was assuming that life out there could have at least a 200 million year head start on us
obviously resulting in greater technology.
and if thats true, we should be able to or have been able to hear some kind of radio transmission.....
maybe they found something else other than radio from the start? it seems possible.
maybe even they did use radio, but have evolved past it. The signal may have come past us once, but either we weren't here or couldn't hear it.
maybe they cycle. radio, no radio, radio, no radio. alive, dead, alive, dead
perhaps we just can't understand them yet.
I'm thinking if distant aliens are going to stay in contact with each other and they have been around longer than we have,
they might be using some kind of quantum tunneling communications (as an example) to be able to cover such large distances quickly.
there HAS to be life........ even within our own galaxy.
attenuation maybe (the fading of their signals)
not powerful enough?
2007-12-10 17:55:04 · answer #1 · answered by Mercury 2010 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's chance that a species like us have developed to this point in which we have technology. Radio waves were only discovered because humans wanted to send sound waves across continents, countries, cities, etc. without physically being there. As well as this, humans (and most Earth species) have evolved ears to sense the sounds.
In other planets, maybe the sole ancestor didn't evolve the same 5 senses we have. Maybe it doesn't have hearing or maybe it does have hearing but it isn't noticeable because the planet is submerged in water. Point is, not every species will be the same. It depends on the origin and complexity of life.
2007-12-10 17:41:41 · answer #2 · answered by Philip S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I agree. It is curious that we haven´t heard of them by now. So, there are several possibilities:
1. They are too distant, their radio waves haven´t come yet to this neighborhood.
2. They don´t exist at all. A fact that would lead us to a major discovery: we would be unique in the universe!!
3. They are there but they are not interested in interstellar communications.
4. They haven´t developed technology like ours to get in touch. Maybe they live under water!
5. There is life in other planets, but only in inferior forms unable o communicate with us.
6. They sent a signal, but we were in the Stone Age and they thought there was nobody home.
2007-12-10 17:58:35 · answer #3 · answered by Asker 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Like you said.It is very far and radio waves take thousands of years to travel that distance.We should have to wait.And the SETI group will say if they have found life on other planets.Wait until we find life on Mars or other moons.And if just one bacteria is alive on Mars now,that means that other places has life too.
2007-12-10 19:10:25 · answer #4 · answered by ChrisCT 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Read Stephen Baxter's novels:
Manifold: Origin
Manifold: Space
Manifold: Time
They are three approaches to answering this question - otherwise known as the Fermi Paradox.
Personally, I think the Galaxy is just one enormous place... and space travel so very very slow.
2007-12-10 18:02:29 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do believe that there is intelegent life out there. But if they are only as smart as we are then it will be a long time before we ever meet. Given the time and distance between the planets and stars it may be a very long time indeed.
2007-12-10 17:40:30 · answer #6 · answered by D S 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My opinion on this whole controversy / conspiracy / whatever you wanna call it is that extra terrestrials pass by our planet and solar system all the time. Traveling through space they just stop in to see what's up. That's why there have been so many sightings and what not.
2007-12-10 17:38:50 · answer #7 · answered by Tony I 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Radio contact is unlikely. consider the distance, the strength of any probable signal and if I remember correctly the signal would become weaker as a function of the cube of the distance.
2007-12-10 17:42:36 · answer #8 · answered by Stephen Y 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
have you considered that they are already here and live among us.and we are being studied by them and they don't mean any harm to us as they can see we are doing a good job of destroying each other without any help from them
2007-12-10 17:50:42 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Perhaps they're shy.
2007-12-10 17:56:36 · answer #10 · answered by stork5100 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋