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Horizon strange signals from outer space BBC2 - just now

Great documentary. If you're an astronomy bod like me, watch it
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Comments

  • Enjoyed it. Don't profess to understand it all but I'm always in awe of the people that do this sort of thing.

    Quite a cinematic feel to it wasn't there. Not sure what Patrick Moore would say!
  • edited May 2017
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  • Great programme last night about how they think the dinosaurs became extinct. Very watchable & very helpful that it starred Dr Alice Roberts
  • Thinking Man's Totty
  • Thinking Man's Totty

    Not bad, but she's no Lucy Worsley (or Janina Ramirez... or Victoria Coren-Mitchell, for that matter.)
  • I watched a good one on the history channel the other night all on dark matter and dark energy and how the universe is expanding.

    It really does make you feel small. Following it was a program on ancient aliens which always make me smile.
  • Enjoyed that last night. Quite liked the Lorimer couple that was on it too.

    When I grow up I want to be a secret service scientist.
  • I watched a good one on the history channel the other night all on dark matter and dark energy and how the universe is expanding.

    It really does make you feel small. Following it was a program on ancient aliens which always make me smile.

    That would be 2 hours of pure heaven for me
  • Really enjoyed, but the level of 'life' is the big one for me, yes micro and maybe some forms of very rudimentary plant life (slime) I'll go for, but whole new worlds nah.
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  • edited May 2017

    Really enjoyed, but the level of 'life' is the big one for me, yes micro and maybe some forms of very rudimentary plant life (slime) I'll go for, but whole new worlds nah.

    Really? It is estimated that literally billions of planets could support life (even if we assume that all kind of life needs conditions like on earth).

    Given those numbers I find it impossible to think that there isn't life elsewhere in the Universe in all guises - i.e. Less, similarly and more advanced than in Earth.
  • I agree with the odds but until proved I'll hold fire, deep sea vents on earth point the way for me, whatever fluid they may be living in that's where I'd start looking, europa is where I start, but I'm not paying for it.
  • Just looked and it's on I player.
  • I agree with the odds but until proved I'll hold fire, deep sea vents on earth point the way for me, whatever fluid they may be living in that's where I'd start looking, europa is where I start, but I'm not paying for it.

    I'd imagine there is planets out there with life that is far more advanced than us, who probably know of our existence and haven't been able to reach us due to sheer distances involved. Our furthest probe is barely out of our own solar system, and has been travelling for a number of years. Hell, 500 years ago (which in the universe's lifespan is nothing at all) we were all still arguing that the world was flat and didn't know of the existence of land and people on our own frigging planet, let alone what's out there in the sky.

    There is life out there, it's just a matter of when we contact eachother, but it's almost certain that 2 different lifeforms within the universe would have contacted eachother by now, and possibly even met, whether in peace or in conflict
  • Once proven contact would be incredible, possibly history altering, but would we come peace carry any weight, maybe it's a good thing the distances are so huge, for both sides.
  • sam3110 said:

    I agree with the odds but until proved I'll hold fire, deep sea vents on earth point the way for me, whatever fluid they may be living in that's where I'd start looking, europa is where I start, but I'm not paying for it.

    I'd imagine there is planets out there with life that is far more advanced than us, who probably know of our existence and haven't been able to reach us due to sheer distances involved. Our furthest probe is barely out of our own solar system, and has been travelling for a number of years. Hell, 500 years ago (which in the universe's lifespan is nothing at all) we were all still arguing that the world was flat and didn't know of the existence of land and people on our own frigging planet, let alone what's out there in the sky.

    There is life out there, it's just a matter of when we contact eachother, but it's almost certain that 2 different lifeforms within the universe would have contacted eachother by now, and possibly even met, whether in peace or in conflict
    Is there intelligent life out there? Almost certainly.

    Will we ever be able to make contact? Almost certainly not - unless Einstein was wrong about the maximum speed being the speed of light. Interstellar travel for any life form, however advanced, is probably impossible.
  • Statistically I believe it's odds on intelligent life has existed or exists in the Universe. The problem for me in encountering it, is spacetime and the sorts of energies needed for us or another form of intelligent life to meet.

    If you like all this astronomical/physics based stuff, get on those documentary channels. I also recommend this podcast with Neil deGrasse called star talk

    A bit American but very informative
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  • I agree with the odds but until proved I'll hold fire, deep sea vents on earth point the way for me, whatever fluid they may be living in that's where I'd start looking, europa is where I start, but I'm not paying for it.

    Double check the Labour manifesto. If you earn over £80k, you might also pay for flying the Little Green Men in and giving them a nice cushy council house. ;)
  • bobmunro said:

    sam3110 said:

    I agree with the odds but until proved I'll hold fire, deep sea vents on earth point the way for me, whatever fluid they may be living in that's where I'd start looking, europa is where I start, but I'm not paying for it.

    I'd imagine there is planets out there with life that is far more advanced than us, who probably know of our existence and haven't been able to reach us due to sheer distances involved. Our furthest probe is barely out of our own solar system, and has been travelling for a number of years. Hell, 500 years ago (which in the universe's lifespan is nothing at all) we were all still arguing that the world was flat and didn't know of the existence of land and people on our own frigging planet, let alone what's out there in the sky.

    There is life out there, it's just a matter of when we contact eachother, but it's almost certain that 2 different lifeforms within the universe would have contacted eachother by now, and possibly even met, whether in peace or in conflict
    Is there intelligent life out there? Almost certainly.

    Will we ever be able to make contact? Almost certainly not - unless Einstein was wrong about the maximum speed being the speed of light. Interstellar travel for any life form, however advanced, is probably impossible.
    spacetime itself being able to be warped and bent so that nothing has to travel at the speed of light, I believe this may be possible. It's all theoretical but I think we could be so close to some mind blowing stuff
  • I agree with the odds but until proved I'll hold fire, deep sea vents on earth point the way for me, whatever fluid they may be living in that's where I'd start looking, europa is where I start, but I'm not paying for it.

    Double check the Labour manifesto. If you earn over £80k, you might also pay for flying the Little Green Men in and giving them a nice cushy council house. ;)
    In Blackpool 72 I trust, any financial shenanigans he'll sort it out.
  • cabbles said:

    bobmunro said:

    sam3110 said:

    I agree with the odds but until proved I'll hold fire, deep sea vents on earth point the way for me, whatever fluid they may be living in that's where I'd start looking, europa is where I start, but I'm not paying for it.

    I'd imagine there is planets out there with life that is far more advanced than us, who probably know of our existence and haven't been able to reach us due to sheer distances involved. Our furthest probe is barely out of our own solar system, and has been travelling for a number of years. Hell, 500 years ago (which in the universe's lifespan is nothing at all) we were all still arguing that the world was flat and didn't know of the existence of land and people on our own frigging planet, let alone what's out there in the sky.

    There is life out there, it's just a matter of when we contact eachother, but it's almost certain that 2 different lifeforms within the universe would have contacted eachother by now, and possibly even met, whether in peace or in conflict
    Is there intelligent life out there? Almost certainly.

    Will we ever be able to make contact? Almost certainly not - unless Einstein was wrong about the maximum speed being the speed of light. Interstellar travel for any life form, however advanced, is probably impossible.
    spacetime itself being able to be warped and bent so that nothing has to travel at the speed of light, I believe this may be possible. It's all theoretical but I think we could be so close to some mind blowing stuff
    Possibly - but the chances of any intelligent life being able to firstly understand the space/time continuum and secondly harness it for interstellar travel are far less likely than the existence of intelligent life. One is a remote possibility, the other a near certainty.
  • I particularly liked (and frightened by) the theory that the further advanced we get in terms of technology the closer we get to annihilation as a species hence why we can't find evidence of such advanced life in the universe.
  • edited May 2017

    Great programme last night about how they think the dinosaurs became extinct. Very watchable & very helpful that it starred Dr Alice Roberts

    yeah, i quite fancy her too.

    She also presented, I think it was horizon too, about the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

    And by the way she's a Prof, now.
  • If you think how long there has been life on this planet and what a small window that life has been sending signals outwards. And you consider how long we will be doing this for - we could quite easily blow ourselves up or destroy the planet within the next 100 to 200 years. Then you have to assume intelligent life will always happen and possibly die out, but from what I can see, the purpose of life is just to continue. Insects can be argued to be more successful than us because they have been around much longer. The intelligence we have has given us an evolutionary edge but we needed a bit of luck to get here. Strength and size could quite easily do the job and you don't get intelligent life! Maybe dinosaurs would have evolved into a similar intelligence to us though!

    Anyway, my point is, we are looking for life that may only be able to send out messages for a small fraction of time. Mathematics and common sense should tell us there is almost certainly intelligent life out there somewhere - we just don't know how prevelant it is. But another factor that needs to line up is time. For a signal to reach us from 100 light years away, it needed to be sent 100 years ago. If the last signal was sent by a civilisation went out 110 years ago, we would have missed it, even if it didn't miss us! So the same mathematics that tells us life is probable, also tells us we are unlikely to find it.
  • Great programme last night about how they think the dinosaurs became extinct. Very watchable & very helpful that it starred Dr Alice Roberts

    yeah, i quite fancy her too.

    She also presented, I think it was horizon too, about the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

    And by the she's a Prof, now.
    Nice cones. The ones at the centre of craters as well!
  • ooh let's consider the Fermi Paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

    basically, based on the idea that intelligent life must have happened elsewhere, why is there no evidence for it yet. The answer could be that once life reaches a certain level of intelligence and technology, it blows itself up. I can see that happening here. Happy days.
  • Daddy_Pig said:

    Enjoyed that last night. Quite liked the Lorimer couple that was on it too.

    When I grow up I want to be a secret service scientist.

    The Lorimer couple reminded me of these two.
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