My gf's 13 year old is studying the planets and they have a project due on it so I was helping her out and digging up some stuff.

After reading site after site and theory after theory I think theirs a very slim chance that their is anything other then us out there. Granted this is based off of very limited knowledge but based off of the time to actually get to any other planet (8 months one way to mars) the distance for which we would have to travel and the speed that our physical form can handle ( meaning G forces) it would take hundreds of years, if not thousands, to actually explore anything in a meaningful way.

The other thing to consider is that everything space oriented is based off of Light speed and how fast light travels compared to our physical selves and we're looking at things happening before we even get remotely close to it. What we see now, has already happened hours, days, years before we actually see it.

I had once read and this is a long ass time ago that if the sun were to blow up right now, it would be three years before we knew it because of the distance that light needs to travel. This info could very well be wrong and my memory could be addled because of age so don't trust that one but it's to get the point across either way.   

It think it's a nice dream to have, something that is fascinating but when it really comes down to all the physics of it, I don't think it's something that we'll ever see... or our kids, or grandkids.

This is just my thoughts and threw this out in the space cuz it has absolutely nothing to do with anything other then opinions.

Anyway, that's my thoughts.

later,
Jand.

This reminds me of God, no proof one way or the other that there is one, i believe anything is possible, that way there is always hope.

Quote:


I believe there is way too much evidence that there is a creator. Random chance?? Life is an intelligent code which takes a creator. It takes more of a leap of faith to believe there is no God...

If anything visual happened to the Sun, we would know it anywhere between 490 and 507 Seconds later...

-----------------------

In my Opinion, humans are too limited to comprehend "life" in its grand (universal) scheme. That's why certain assumptions are made and slowly (by our standards) modified, e.g. adapted to new scientific discoveries.

All in all, it looks like life is a completely normal occurence in the Universe, but due to distances and scale involved, remains a certain mystery for its own lifeforms to think and ponder about.

The more we learn as a civilization, the broader our understanding becomes, but humans traditionally have a hard time admitting to themselfes that the existing knowledge is likely still only a microscopic portion of the big picture.

From an evolutionary point of view, it appears that the 'way is the goal' in order to develop.

Stangely (maybe systematically) that often leads to odd situations, where old assumptions, established ways and widespread (evident) opinions have to be willfully abandoned, in order to gain new, higher order insights and knowledge.
(in layman terms, mankind did not originally invent aircraft because of plain technical skills, but rather by abandoning old ideology ("nothing heavier than air will ever fly") AND accepting the Idea that it may be possible in the first place)

Maybe that's why some humans claim science was a new "religion" and endangering the "real" religions. They just don't realize that all Science is nothing but a) openly admitting all existing knowledge is valid only as to "it's the best we know today" and b) by definition, is constantly re-validating and on occasion invalidating its existing results when new discoveries are made... and it replaces "belief" rather with "best available knowledge" - and works a completely different field.

The Idea of "God" is IMHO a simple way to give humans a certain relevance. Otherwise (plain scientifically spoken), an Asteroid could end the world as we know it next week... but the rest of the Universe wouldn't even notice nor care. The harsh realities of this Universe are in stark oppsition to our "human arrogance", coming from being potentially* the most  intelligent species on our sphere.
It's also the most effective "broadband antidote" for most humans in order to somehow accept mortality, which technically is in extreme contradiction to every lifeform's own genetic survival instinct..

* potenially, because existing intelligence alone doesn't cut it , its application and utilisation is what makes the difference.

Gamma i hope you live on forever brother but im pretty sure your dog knows she will die, mine does . . when i was a kid are dog was old and on his last legs and he went off and hid and died, the vet said this was very common for dogs when they know there gonna die.

There are animals with sonar, can run 50 mph, can leap 20 feet, can move and carry tons of weight and could kill us in a second if they wanted . . . but thats not thier way, they live within the system of life, only killing when hungry or threatened, if they were greedy and selfish like humans we would have been wiped out long ago. man likes to think hes done something speacial but i really dont see it. . . it reminds me of my friend who hunts, hes always telling me its a sport to shoot some grazing animal for no reason at all, i'll never understand us(humans)

Well said FF.. Thanks for helping me understand. I voted. If every star is a sun and has planets orbiting each star it would seem to me that we are not the only star/sun that has life on other planets. As you may have surmised, I am a religious person and have no problem with life on other planets. When the Bible was written it states that God created the Heavens and the earth. I think that just about covers the stars in the sky, for me anyway..