I believe that the universe has gazillions of life forms on countless planets. But how do you account for the?

Question

fact that not one of these life forms has ever made unambiguous contact with us? Not that we are so important (we are actually NOTHING in the universe), but don't you think there should be life forms out there so advanced that they could map out the entire universe and then make contact with whomever they wish? The only explanation I can come up with is that it is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light so everyone is limited to how far they can travel. Any thoughts?

Answer 1

Your explanation that nothing can travel at the speed of light is the likeliest reason - even the closest star to our solar system is over 4 light years away.

The Drake Equation considers all the factors that can influence the number of intelligent races in our galaxy.  Depending on the values input for each variable, current estimates are that there could be up to 10,000 intelligent races in our galaxy.

A related argument to the Drake Equation is called The Great Filter - basically, it says that since there are no observed extraterrestrial civilizations, despite the huge number of stars, something must be acting as a filter to reduce the final value of the Drake Equation.  

According to this view, either it is very hard for intelligent life to develop, or the lifetime of these civilizations is too short for them to travel to Earth.

And you use the phrase "make contact with whomever they wish".  So even a long-lived civilization may just not want to contact us - maybe they are xenophobic or just like to stay home.

It could be that at any point in time, the number of civilizations are too small in our galaxy that its just impossible for them to find each other.  Or it could be that distance (and the speed of light limitation) makes it too difficult or too expensive.

Answer 2

That is a possibility but right now we don't detect any aliens with the visible universe. This is might be the same with the unseen part of the universe.

Answer 3

You're not aware of the contact they made. Ever heard of the expression, "invisible in plain sight". We are nothing to them so why should they even say "hi".Do you say hi to insects, for example.

Answer 4

Well my theory is that since the universe is essentially infinite and if we are limiting the travel to no greater than the speed of light, it would seem wasteful of an advanced society, who would be intricately aware of entropy and how it effects them, to contact us for anything less than a dire situation. Also, I think that an advanced society would be able to see and understand the effects that contacting and giving us such information before people were ready to receive it could change the course of our civilization in a very negative way. This also applies to the new technologies that they could bring us. Not only all of this, but also, scientists have hypothesized that any other advanced form in space would be similar to our insects at home, and thus would probably live in a very different society and have different mobility needs not to mention food and air water (if they drink H20), so if it takes them 400 years to get here, and they have to stay they need to go somewhere where they can adapt easily to the environment and also have the inhabitants of the planet accept them, which we would probably not do.

hope this helps,

m

Answer 5

You do not appear to grasp the size of the universe, that is why the possibility of meeting any aliens is about 0.0%

Answer 6

Well, I've heard from some show on History Chanel.. that there are four type of civilization on the Universe..

Type I: All the civilization or intelligence being can harness all the power from their plainet..

Type II: All the civilization or intelligence being can harness all the power from their solar system..

Type III: all the civilization or intelligence being can harness all the power from their own galaxy

Type IV: all the civilization or intelligence being can harness all the power from the entire universe..

Well... Human being have not been able to harness all the power from the earth.. so we are not even 100% Type I civilization..

Answer 7

Earth is the only planet with life on it. I believe that .

Answer 8

We have been transmitting radio signals for less than one hundred years. A nearby advanced civilization would have to be less than fifty light years away to notice our signals and respond so that we could have already heard them. This isn't very far.  We don't currently know the density of intelligent species, but a fifty light year bubble isn't very big. For example, many of the stars in that bubble aren't old enough to have planets that could have evolved intelligent life.

Answer 9

my thoughts are simple, i dont doubt at all that there is other life outside our planet.  the question i have is, since we know itd probably be smarter than us, why would it want to come here? our intelligence is decent at best, but look at the big picture.  i for one can understand if they dont come here.  the people on this planet, myself included, have destroyed this place.  the earth is horrible, and will probably be uninhabitable soon.  so why do u think smart life forms would want to see and talk to another race  that is h**l bent on destroying itself and its home? i know i wouldnt.

Answer 10

I'm sure there are, but they may not be ready to make contact with such a primitive culture.  I wonder if people have ever made the connection between how we study animals and the stories of the "abductees".  We catch an animal, tranquilize it, take blood samples, check it over, attach a tracking device, and release it.  Sound familiar?

Answer 11

YOU believe there are "gazillions".  The fact that none have showed up might indicate that there are not gazillions.  

There are probably 10 to the 40th power stars in the notionally visible Universe.  Even if only one in a billion stars has a planet like Earth there would be thousands of billions of Earth like planets.  It could be a smaller number or it could be bigger.

The chances are that if there is life on any of these Earth-like planets, it is only the local equivalent of bacteria.  For most of the history of life on Earth, the only life was single celled or casual associations of cells that could and did live independently.

Even if there were multi-celled animals, they might only be as smart as fish, dogs or monkeys, or not even that smart.  For most of the history of multicellular life on Earth, no animal was any smarter.

If there are intelligent beings, there is no guarantee that they have advanced as far as humans had 200 or 500 years ago.  For most of the history of humans on Earth, technology and science etc. had not got even that far.

So the chances of there being a space-faring civilisation anywhere else in the Universe seem pretty small.  There might be a hundred, there might be a million.  Even if there were a hundred million, these are not enough for one per galaxy.

So the chances of there being any other space-faring civilisation within millions of light years seem rather small.  

Since the speed of light seems to be an absolute limit for objects with mass, crossing the likely distances between one civilisation and another could take 50 million years if not more.  That is likely to make most aliens and humans reluctant to boldly go - - -.   So the chances that any extraterrestrial aliens have visited this planet appear to be miniscule.

Historical records of major events are pretty good for some parts of the Earth over the previous 2,500 or more years.  There is no record or indication of aliens visiting any of the more advanced civilisations along the Nile or Euphrates rivers, or in China.  

  

Aliens as an explanation for any unidentified flying objects are the least probable one that does not involve outright magic, superstition and fantasy. And that is why I don't believe that extraterrestrial aliens have ever visited the Earth.

Answer 12

i beleive that guite well.i think theyve found us but dont think wer ready yet.yes we r nothing in the universe.hears a date that explains that theyve found us.1948.town/bases name rosswell new mexico.ive been hear for 60 years now my basterd brothers didnt fix my space calibrater and i crashed then they start cutting me open.they said the found my toung that was my d**k!!!!!!!!.loflo ya my planet has exiledme hear since the secret about life in other places got out 64 years befor it was suposed to.

Answer 13

Too big, either they would have to master a form of travel faster than the speed of light (good luck) or their lifespans would have to be incredibly long to make such a journey

That or they don't care

You can't argue that we are alone, it is stupid to, if the Universe is infinite than that means the conditions needed for life, no matter how unlikely, are infinite. Not only are their bug people but there are thousands of "Earths" out there with human races Identical to ours, in fact there is an unlimited supply of your exact duplicate as far as probability is concerned