Sunday, August 12, 2012

We See the Aliens When They Cease to Be Alien


SETI is a worldwide science project searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. They listen for radio signals, but that's jumping to conclusions. Radio communication is a recent thing on earth, applied for no more than a hundred years or so. Who says we'll even stick to it ourselves, much longer?


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

We See the Aliens When They Cease to Be Alien


kl. 8:57 PM
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9 comments:

  1. michaelAugust 12, 2012 at 10:00 PM

    "The speed of light is not the highest speed there can be. The present laws of physics..."

    Well, yes & no.
    In a local medium the speed of light is the highest speed there can be.

    But The universe does expand faster than the speed
    of light.

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    1. Stefan StenuddAugust 12, 2012 at 11:13 PM

      By local medium, do you mean something below the speed of light or something else?

      In any case, I guess the problem is for something below the speed of light to at all observe something above it, not to mention trying to utilize it.

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    2. michaelAugust 13, 2012 at 10:28 AM

      By a local medium I mean 'Inside' our universe.

      There are hypothetical particles that travel faster than light locally - Tachyons.
      Most physicists doubt their existence.
      But special relativity does not forbid the existence of them.

      Utilize FTL particles that would be something - Sending messages through time.




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    3. Stefan StenuddAugust 13, 2012 at 12:01 PM

      Our imagination travels faster than light. Reality should comply...

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    4. michaelAugust 13, 2012 at 12:52 PM

      The hyperspace theory has also reopened the question of whether hyperspace can be used to travel through space and time.

      and...reality should comply ;-)

      Delete
  2. JonniAugust 12, 2012 at 11:43 PM

    http://livebyquotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/calvinHobbes2.jpg

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  3. Gandhiji87August 13, 2012 at 8:27 PM

    "Still, I would be surprised if it turned out that we've never ever been visited by aliens. If they could reach us, they'd be a lot more advanced than us, so they'd make sure not to interfere with our emerging culture – like we do when we study wildlife in nature. They would think that there's a time for everything and nothing good comes out of rushing things."

    Really? REALLY? So you really think the logical conclusion to draw here is that we have been visited but they didn't want to intervene?
    Show me one piece of evidence, show me one reason that this is the most probable conclusion, show me one line of mathematics that shows how it would even be POSSIBLE that someone picked up our signals, made a mission here, and then returned. ONE of these and I would believe you. This is obviously the LEAST probable conclusion. If someone came here, we would know.

    I think we really need to understand how interstellar travel would function before it can EVER be possible to believe that intersteller travel has taken place. The opposite is for me as intelligent as believing that someone has invented cold fusion somewhere, even though physicians can't even fathom how it can be possible.

    Read Carl Sagan's books of the subject. He was leading in the SETI-project and a leading expert. He actually KNEW the science and physics behind these things and didn't think we could possibly have been visited by aliens, but he believed in intelligent life otherwise in space. Also, he's an excellent writer.

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    1. Stefan StenuddAugust 13, 2012 at 11:19 PM

      What's with the shouting?
      I don't make the claim of being able to prove what you demand. I speculate. I have my reasons, but they are circumstantial, at best. But if you claim that it's impossible, the burden of proof is on you.
      Good luck with that.

      Your comparison with cold fusion can be interpreted differently. Either someone has invented it or not. Saying that it can't be invented is as unscientific as saying that time is constant, because physics allowed for nothing else up to the 19th century.

      Things change. Our perception of reality, too. That we know from history. So, we are quite safe to bet on the future surprising us.

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