So do ghosts, pixies and Santa Clause.
... sure.
So do ghosts, pixies and Santa Clause.
Everywhere we've looked that can physically support life from Swindon
Think of something like an ant, they, being so small, can probably see things minute that would be comparable to ants to us, but then are they able to percieve us on any level other than "OMG IT's DARK AND I'M ABOUT TO GET CRUSHED"
They would have to have spectacularly good eyes for that to work...
Will aliens perceive time in the same way we do?
this is a qualm I've always had with SciFi shows, they meet an alien, ask their age, and they instantly are able to say "I am x of your earth years" there's no "errr....well there's 9000 of what you measure as days per what you measure as year on my planet, our days however are 50 of your hours long, sooooo *pulls our space calculator*...*many hours later*... I'm x of your earth years"![]()
There is that as well, but i was looking deeper
i.e. what we perceive as 1second, what will they perceive it as. Humans all perceive 1second the same but what defines that and would a alien life form conform to that standard.
Back to aliens though.. I believe it would unite the human race and change various perceptions... This is what i look forward to the most.
Quite a common theory
It took life on Earth ~2 billion years to evolve from single cells to multi cell organisms.
Its not just the time that matters, its the odds of life evolving, then its the odds of evolving to have self awareness.
Once all that is factored in its not hard to see just how unique the human life form can potentially be.
I'm sure there is life out there, but the chances of it being intelligent and in our time line are pretty slim even in the great scheme of things
There are over 100 billion galaxies, each with 100 billion stars on average, each with a mathematical average 4 million earth like planets.
4 million x 100 billion = 400 Quadrillion (fifteen zero`s) possible inhabitable worlds in mathematical existence in the viewable universe.
Providing the civilised human race survives another ten thousand years, we will be out there. We are already slowly learning that the laws of physics that we thought we were bound by are turning out to be mere guides rather than the empirical facts we have all taken them for for the last 100 years, ask any physicist what happens to the laws of physics in a black whole and you will get two answers, one will be "eerm" and the other will be "there are no laws that work there" followed by a lot of sobbing into a pillow.
There are only two ways the human race will never meet other civilisations, either we are destroyed somehow before we advance enough to get out there, or as Carl Sagan said, "someone has to come first" which could well be us.
Source(s):
Carl Sagan
Horizon Documentary: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nslc4
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/as...s/021127a.html
http://www.stsci.edu/hst/
Im sure this theory isn't unique but it has never been presented to me by anybody else. I always spout this crap out when im drunk in a pub - and I could use some criticism. I want to believe in aliens. I want to believe that line in Contact - "Itd be a waste of space if we were alone".
Assumptions
Space is infinite (Read very large, if you want)
Time is infinite (Read very long, if you want)
All civilizations have a life span (E.G The human race will eventually cease to exist)
Life is rare
Theory
Needle in a haystack * Needle in a haystack * Needle disintegrates within 30 seconds = Would take a miracle.