aliens

[Boxies]

does anyone here believe in aliens? i do, we cant be the only living things can we? what do ya reckon?

[Andrew]

Given the size of the universe, I believe there's life out there somewhere, though not necessarily in our solar system. We are probably just one of billions of planets inhabitated by life - it's quite an overwhelming thought that somewhere out there, there are life forms wondering the same thing as us.

I've read that there are theories of life forms in the atmosphere of the gas planets, Jupiter, Saturn, etc...creatures that breath those kinds of gasses, and kind of float/"swim" through the atmosphere, propelling themself through gas expulsion (artist conceptions resemble fish). I'm not all that convinced though, I still believe Earth is the only inhabited planet in our solar system.

[Boyk]

ive seen some pretty wierd shit flying tru the air in my lifetime, so i guess there could be something, but the nagain it could be just a air balloon and stuf like that.

but there was one night where me and my friend were playing cricket, and we saw this thing, there were ofthe mflying in formation, thought they were just birds, but as they were moving the objects were spinning, then all of a sudden it disappeared, as in left the atmosphere lol
dont think im crazy this is a true story

[Rens]

I think there's a pretty good chance that there are other life forms out there... but probably a lot aren't evolved a lot... like one celled creatures.. and others, if they can travel through space etc and are all that advanced (as a lot of people seem to think when you see those documentaries) why would they be interested in some self-destructive, badly advanced race such as our own? They'd be better off passing our planet, maybe blowing it up for fun.

[shadowgrin]

I believe there is life on other planets but not 'intelligent' life-forms as Dan mentioned...

why would they be interested in some self-destructive, badly advanced race such as our own? They'd be better off passing our planet, maybe blowing it up for fun.

Amen to that?

[Eugene]

Well, when you think of aliens, what kind of image do you draw in your mind? The traditional egg-heads with the large, ominous black eyes? Perhaps like the creatures from the movie Aliens? The creature from Predator? Star Wars? And the ships? Round saucers? Rocket ships? Immense ships like the ones in video games? How about from the movie Independence Day?

See, all these concepts are commonly flawed in one thing. They are all basically derived from humanoid forms. From the things on Earth. Even the creature from Aliens, which looked like no animal or living thing we have on Earth. As different as it looked, it still had a head, torso, legs, tail, eyes, mouth, even laid eggs.

If you read the book Sphere by Michael Crichton, then you know what I'm talking about. All concepts that we have of aliens so far are basically derivative of what we are familiar with. We don't consider that it's very possible -- even a downright certainty -- that aliens, or extraterrestrial life forms, are nothing like we've ever seen before.

For example, the creature may not even be biochemically capable of existing with us. Oxygen may very well be poisonous to them -- oxygen is, after all, a corrosive gas. Worse, whatever they may breathe may be lethal to us. They may carry bacteria or similar microscopic parasites that could destroy our nervous system, or directly attack our immune system.

Their vocal systems -- if they have them -- may produce sounds that we may not be able to hear. They may even produce frequencies that could explode our brains.

To further boggle your mind, we may not even be able to see them. Physicists theorize there may be up to a dozen different dimensions. We can see three -- length, width, and height -- and have an awareness of the fourth -- time. That leaves eight more dimensions. The creature may exist and act in the 5 dimension, so we only see parts of the creature at a time. We may not see them at all. We move in 3 dimensions. The said creature may move through 4 dimensions. That is, [he] may be able to move through time.

Or, how about this? They may not even share the ideas that we "know" to be true. Science is the art of quantifying objects and categorizing them, rather arbitrarily. In fact, our entire reality is based on arbitrary observations. The metric system and the english system is a perfect example of this -- on the same planet we have different measurements for the same length. One meter, for example is 3.1 yards. In the tribes of New Guinea, they have a completely different way of counting. The aliens may count in base six, whereas we count in base ten.

There are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. For us, anyway. The being may not even have a concept of life or death. We identitify life and death as two different states of being. If the being cannot die... he can't have conciousness of the two states.

Our sciences have been predicated on the physical world, things we can see, hear, and taste. Their sciences may be predicated on their minds. How they perceive the world around them. Maybe they're collectively blind. Their perception, then, could rely mostly on touch (sense of heat, difference in air pressure), hearing (sounds or lack thereof), smell.

Which leads to... their sciences may not be compatible with ours. Theirs may be so far advanced that their technology to us would be comparable to our current technology (let's say television) to the ancient Greek culture. Or, we may not even make contact with them at all. Our sciences have gone only one of many directions -- expansion. The aliens may have developed technology that has nothing to do with expansion. They may not have technology at all.

And this is the most fearful of all. As scary and otherworldly as the premises that I dictated might sound, they have all come from what people can imagine. I can't be so conceited as to say I've considered every possibility. So, what am I saying? Imagine the worst thing that the aliens could be. Worse still, then, is the thing that you couldn't even imagine.

Unless we are direct descendents of another extraterrestrial society, the possibility is infinitesimal that we'll ever encounter any alien forms in a meaningful way.

That being said, do I believe in aliens? Absolutely. I doubt, however, that I'll ever see one in my lifetime. It'd be great if I did though.

All the best,

Eugene

[Drex]

very nice post, eugene

[Boxies]

very nicely said, i hadn't considered all of those, but i was pretty sure that they if i did c one, it wouldn't have a normal body, well a body we r used to.......again, well said

[Andrew]

The very least you can say about any Eugene post is that it's an interesting read that makes you think. The highest accolade I can give it with my feeble vocabulary is that as usual, a most welcome, intelligent, truly awesome post.

It's quite true, our vision of extraterrestrial life is based on the familiar, not considering the true meaning of "alien". I guess we could counter, how can we describe or envision something that is completely unlike that which we know? Even the unlikely is still familiar, if it is derived from what we know (as you pointed out).

Which leads to... their sciences may not be compatible with ours.

Another one of Hollywood's images? The idea that aliens have a universal translator, and are capable of communicating with us. On alien technology, I am reminded of that old joke - why would creatures, so advanced that they can travel through space at light speed, visiting other civilisations and charting the infinite universe, suddenly get to Earth and crash?

[Rens]

why would creatures, so advanced that they can travel through space at light speed, visiting other civilisations and charting the infinite universe, suddenly get to Earth and crash?

Indeed... and the thing that puzzles me most.. it seems they're always headed for the USA. Maybe they have a built in sensor to know what country thinks most of it's powers?

Eugene's covers pretty much all concerns I can think of right now. I think if we'd encounter aliens that are further evolved than we are, there's quite a chance they'd be in some sort of energy form, since that would be the most efficient way to transport. Evolution is directed at efficiency the most. It's probably only a matter of decades before Humans start losing appendices and tiny toes

[TheBob]

It's probably only a matter of decades before Humans start losing appendices and tiny toes

This may have simply been a joke but from the way I understood evolution the chances are that we wouldn't lose tiny toes and appendices. From what I remember from school, don't you only adapt globally if the adaption gives you some sort of advantage?