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It will be very exciting when we can spectrographically examine the atmospheres of these planets. AFAIK we cannot yet do it, but we are close, technologically.
If you've got a planet with a very large percentage of oxygen, it almost guarantees life, as O2 is far too reactive to exist free without being continually replenished by photosynthesis. It would get locked up in the crust as oxides of various minerals. So if we see a lot of oxygen, that's where we want to go.
buuuuuuuut , as a race we are fast becoming from S/Fiction to S/Fact and the inevitable fact that int life is abundant in this vastness we call the universe and IMO we are a very inferior evolving part (with ETs help) of this abundance .
Really high chances that on Dec 3rd Earth will have a sister planet with life on it. The odds on favorite for curiosity is that she duplicated a test performed by one of the Mariner landers and has detected organic gasses released by life on Mars.
If you've got a planet with a very large percentage of oxygen, it almost guarantees life, as O2 is far too reactive to exist free without being continually replenished by photosynthesis. It would get locked up in the crust as oxides of various minerals. So if we see a lot of oxygen, that's where we want to go.
the funny thing is that it would take us a while to further differentiate this, so that we wouldn't know if such an earth-like planet was like earth circa 1,000,000 BC or earth circa 1880...
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
the funny thing is that it would take us a while to further differentiate this, so that we wouldn't know if such an earth-like planet was like earth circa 1,000,000 BC or earth circa 1880...
Absolutely true. You could have a water planet with an 80% O2 atmosphere that might have nothing more than oceans of algae. But the good part is, if there is O2 in quantity, there IS life, and we could land there and perhaps walk about without pressure suits.
An odd twist on this is that if the O2 percentage is high enough, AND the atmospheric pressure is greater than 2 or 3 times the Earth, the atmosphere would be toxic due to O2 poisoning.
If you have a rocky planet with combustible material (trees, plants) and the O2 percentage is too high, the whole planet could burn from a lightning strike. So what we have here on Earth is about perfect, adequate O2 to breathe but not so much that toxicity or fires are a problem.
I think the next 100 years are going to be very interesting w/regards to ET life, even without a "Disclosure."
I think the next 100 years are going to be very interesting w/regards to ET life, even without a "Disclosure."
yes, although i'd be shocked if we found anything intelligent within 60 light-years of us.
from our standpoint i'd think it'd be ideal if we found some sort of intelligent, preferably humanoid, species 100 or so light-years away with a late-19th century level of technology. it would give us some impetus to spend more $$ in technology as the safe guess would be that given the space in between they'd have roughly our level of technology today.
yet not so threatening that they could just reach out and snuff us.
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov
yes, although i'd be shocked if we found anything intelligent within 60 light-years of us.
from our standpoint i'd think it'd be ideal if we found some sort of intelligent, preferably humanoid, species 100 or so light-years away with a late-19th century level of technology. it would give us some impetus to spend more $$ in technology as the safe guess would be that given the space in between they'd have roughly our level of technology today.
yet not so threatening that they could just reach out and snuff us.
Intelligent life that can travel the stars will be hostile to other intelligent life. It takes a competitive drive to push technology to the point where such travel is possible and that means war and resource consumption. ET is not our friend.
Intelligent life that can travel the stars will be hostile to other intelligent life. It takes a competitive drive to push technology to the point where such travel is possible and that means war and resource consumption. ET is not our friend.
Conversely, one could genuinely posit that the technological ability of a species to implement interstellar travel is possible only if the species itself has managed to avoid technological Armageddon. This in turn implies an ascendant chirality of peace, prosperity, and coexistence.
Conversely, one could genuinely posit that the technological ability of a species to implement interstellar travel is possible only if the species itself has managed to avoid technological Armageddon. This in turn implies an ascendant chirality of peace, prosperity, and coexistence.
Lets hope so, im a firm believer we are working with et now and have been for awhile ,and if they were as malevolent as we are towards each other ,,they , et , would have toasted us long ago . Thats not to say they are all peaceful , theres bound to be some nasties around ,ones we aint met or we are being protected from IMO ?
And im curious as to what these guys see out there .
I have to track down the source again but I recently read an article which reviewed the Drake Equation based on our observations in the fields of astrophysics, astrobiology and astronomy. The end figure was a rather depressing best "guestimate" that there are only about 25 techic civilizations in our galaxy at any one time. If accurate this places places the nearest alien civilization thousands of light years away. So its highly unlikely at this point in time that ET has come a knocking.
If you are emotionally invested in 'believing' something is true you have lost the ability to tell if it is true.
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