We will be able to detect alien life in about 2-3 years. Here's how:

[gigantes]

i see this (http://www.insidehoops.com/forum/showthread.php?p=11215480#post11215480) kind of post pop up pretty often on the net and on ISH, so i thought i'd give it a stab--

...This is probably the answer to Fermi's Paradox. That is the question that if there are so many trillions of planets out there that aliens should theoretically be living on, why have we seen nothing?

ANSWER: because our technology is not advanced enough to peer across those incredible distances and see any real detail... yet.


as of now, cosmologists 'detect planets' (i.e. propose their existence based on evidence) through means such as physics modeling, the slight dimming caused by passing in front of their parent stars, gravitational lensing and other methods.

so far these methods have mainly been able to detect gas giants, like our own jupiter and saturn. not to mention, the number of direct images we have of extra-solar planets is close to zero.

this is all about to change, though.

in 2017 TESS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transiting_Exoplanet_Survey_Satellite) is scheduled for launch, and in 2018 the JWST (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope) is scheduled. these two orbiting telescope projects are successors to hubble and spitzer and will be able to detect far more detail than we're currently capable of. we will soon be able to visualise small rocky planets (like earth), the presence of water, and the chemical composition of planetary atmospheres.

if you've read news items the past couple years featuring various astronomers predicting the discovery of life in the near future, this is generally the reason for the optimism.

there is no consensus formula that predicts a specific likelihood of life arising across the universe, but we can agree it's a small percentage. but with roughly one hundred billion planets in the milky way, that sure is a lot of lottery tickets to hit that jackpot.

soon, we should be able to put those lottery tickets to use. we will be able to detect the presence of various planetary atmospheres created by living organisms, as well as ones which have an advanced civilisation such as our own (i.e. pollution is the clue). and we should be able to recognise life that does not conform to our current theories, given time to look over the data.

there is also a new theory proposes that life may be inevitable (https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140122-a-new-physics-theory-of-life/). this is a big deal. this would make the odds even more favorable... maybe hugely more favorable.

some science-heads here probably know a lot more about this stuff, but i wanted to point out some basic facts and new information some may not have been aware of.

[L.A.Showtime]

Too long to read about "potentially" contacting aliens in the future.

[knickballer]

Lemme guess you learnt this today and you wanted to share it with all of us to brag how much of an intellect you are. This ain't reddit bruh quit being a beta

[Draz]

Lemme guess you learnt this today and you wanted to share it with all of us to brag how much of an intellect you are. This ain't reddit bruh quit being a beta
:roll:
Dam. This post reminded me of when Charmander lost its flame. Don't know why..

Btw I didn't understand shit you wrote op. Maybe I'm just not thinking properly or that was a mind fck

[ItsMillerTime]

Btw I didn't understand shit you wrote op. Maybe I'm just not thinking properly or that was a mind fck

tldr: we are launching telescopes into space that can see distances further then ever before

[Draz]

tldr: we are launching telescopes into space that can see distances further then ever before
Thanks for the eli5

[Patrick Chewing]

I read somewhere about how humans are in the middle of an alien war and how we miss the signs all around us. Lizard people are real and are the enemy, and they are at war with the Greys. The reptilians are interested in global conquest, and have infiltrated themselves into high positions within the planet. The greys may want human DNA to advance their race.

I also read that they only thing that is protecting humans from the aliens is the Animal Kingdom, primarily dogs. Lizards and greys are not fond of dogs and dogs can sense when they are around and alert us by barking.

[shlver]

tldr: we are launching telescopes into space that can see distances further then ever before
What's the point of finding an earthlike exoplanet on the other side of the universe? The TESS telescope will look at nearby stars, monitoring exoplanets and observing any earthlike qualities.

[TonyMontana]

If you have knowledge of the occult and are adept at the practices you can experience them at this very moment. But you have to have a trained mind. Aliens exist as sort of a "spiriual" entity.

The greys, the reptillians, giant nordics, demons, angels. Some of the different kinds and names they go by.

[robert de niro]

If you have knowledge of the occult and are adept at the practices you can experience them at this very moment. But you have to have a trained mind. Aliens exist as sort of a "spiriual" entity.

The greys, the reptillians, giant nordics, demons, angels. Some of the different kinds and names they go by.
this is true.

[BigNBAfan]

What's the point of finding an earthlike exoplanet on the other side of the universe? The TESS telescope will look at nearby stars, monitoring exoplanets and observing any earthlike qualities.

I think we're better motivated for hardware research if we have a planet to explore in mind. If we found out that there was a planet that had the qualities to sustain life you don't think it would make people think twice about research/exploration?

[Dresta]

I still haven't heard someone explain why exactly Fermi's paradox is a paradox at all when there are a bunch of logical solutions to it. Paradoxes don't have clear and logical solutions to them.

[nathanjizzle]

perhaps earth is the seed planet to colonize the universe.

if you think about it, multiple things dont just pop up from nowhere, they start at one thing and multiply, just like all creatures on this planet, came from one living cell. going by that theory, how can aliens from far planets exists, since we or they would have have to come from one another, and that would mean they would be very close in proximity to us. There is the explanation of life traveling on comets and astroids, but that would be very improbable. perhaps earth is that 1 cell, and were meant to populate the universe.

then that leaves us with the question, where did humans or the creatures of this planet come from. from god? this kind of cycle of thinking leaves us not more or less enlightened. thats why we shouldnt bother wasting energy debating on it unless its just for entertainment.

[rufuspaul]

I think we're better motivated for hardware research if we have a planet to explore in mind. If we found out that there was a planet that had the qualities to sustain life you don't think it would make people think twice about research/exploration?

The one major obstacle being the laws of physics. The closest earth-like planet in our galaxy is over 1200 light years away. Even if these new telescopes detect an advanced civilization it would take millions of years to get there.

[~primetime~]

Yep. The universe is just really f-ing big and even two civilizations with fairly advanced tech relatively close together might not be able to detect each other.

It isn't a paradox any more than someone not having yet been pulled over by a cop is a paradox.
Isn't radio waves where the real issue is? SETI has been listening for radio waves and gets nothing. "Eathlike planets" have been around for billions of years, so they have had plenty of time to reach us. If the universe is full of intelligent life like ourselves, there would be lots of signals out there.

[Godzuki]

the big thing i wonder about the start of intelligent life is how the fukk does it survive the baby stage in the wilds? take for example the first human being, even if it were a chimp or any mammal, how does it eat as a baby to get to the point of being able to take care of itself? :confusedshrug:

i mean most animals, let alone a human, can't survive from a baby without nurture from a parent or the like, so how does intelligent life ever get past the first being stage?

[gigantes]

Isn't radio waves where the real issue is? SETI has been listening for radio waves and gets nothing. "Eathlike planets" have been around for billions of years, so they have had plenty of time to reach us. If the universe is full of intelligent life like ourselves, there would be lots of signals out there.
just because a planet is "earthlike" doesn't necessarily mean it will develop like us.

consider earth itself-- the planet is 4.5 billion years old and yet commercial radio has only been broadcasting for less than 100 years. that means that an outside 'listener' will have a microscopic window of opportunity to hear us... and that's IF they have the means to do so at that time and in that place.

for all we know, across human history we've already missed *several* radio communications from various hi-tech alien civilisations. we were too busy making stone tools, hammering metal and growing crops for almost our entire existence.

SETI projects on earth are only about 50 years old. that's another tiny window of opportunity hoping against hope to detect someone else's tiny window of opportunity.

someone want to calculate the odds on that...?


also, the the milky way <> the universe. searching for radio waves in our own galaxy is one thing, but i'm not sure if low-level, artificially-produced radio waves are able to cross galaxies like you seem to imagine.

it may be that diffusion, degradation or being overpowered by super-powerful natural signals makes it unlikely for that to happen. because so far the really clear radio signals come from things like stellar events and neutron stars... things that make the strongest broadcast system on earth look like an ant touching its antennae together.

also-- you're assuming the existence of intelligent civilisations much earlier in the universe. most galaxies are far away from the milky way, so it would take many millions or billions of years for potential radio waves to reach us.

if alien life is relatively contemporary with us, we have pretty much zero means of detecting it.

[Rose]

Isn't radio waves where the real issue is? SETI has been listening for radio waves and gets nothing. "Eathlike planets" have been around for billions of years, so they have had plenty of time to reach us. If the universe is full of intelligent life like ourselves, there would be lots of signals out there.
Actually every once in a while SETI picks up some weird random shit, that is usually later explained by some scientists however....


A new study shows that the so-called "fast radio bursts" follow a weirdly specific pattern -- a finding that the researchers behind the study say "is very hard to explain."

"There is something really interesting we need to understand," study co-author Michael Hippke, a scientist at the Institute for Data Analysis in Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany, told New Scientist. "This will either be new physics, like a new kind of pulsar, or, in the end, if we can exclude everything else, an E.T."

Alien signals, really? That might sound far out, but a leading scientist in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) says we shouldn't rule out that possibility.

"These fast radio bursts could conceivably be 'wake up calls' from other societies, trying to prompt a response from any intelligent life that's outfitted with radio technology," Dr. Seth Shostak, senior astronomer and director of the Center for SETI Research who was not involved in the study, told The Huffington Post in an email. "On the other hand, they could also be perfectly natural, astrophysical phenomena."


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/radio-bursts-alien-signals_n_6984870.html


The biggest problem is that civilizations who are trying to communicate probably aren't using radio waves anymore, and we may have missed those waves if they ever did use radio. Or maybe they never used radio waves period and tried something else.

Or what gigantes said since he said much more eloquently than I did.

[~primetime~]

^^^ good points, yes

was just saying that the so called "paradox" of it is:

A. There are billions of "Earth-like" plants out there that have been around for billions of years so probability says there is lots of advanced life out there.

and

B. If there was lots of advanced life out there and there has been for billions of years, space would be littered with signals...but there are none (that we can see)

___________________

I don't think Shannon and others understood that part of it...it isn't so much about advanced life actually coming here and saying hello, it's about the lack of anything intelligent out there period.

and yeah I know it isn't literally a "paradox" and there are plenty of ways to explain the issue...

[gigantes]

no probs, amigo, but
B. If there was lots of advanced life out there and there has been for billions of years, space would be littered with signals...but there are none (that we can see)
space is certainly littered with such signals.

the problem is in detection... across the ridiculous vastness.

each tiny civilisation trying to reach another before the flame goes out... if earth be the model, of course.

[StephHamann]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvdL3R7fDL4

just watch this video.

The universe is so big, there must be some form of life anywhere.

[eriX]

^^^ good points, yes

was just saying that the so called "paradox" of it is:

A. There are billions of "Earth-like" plants out there that have been around for billions of years so probability says there is lots of advanced life out there.

and

B. If there was lots of advanced life out there and there has been for billions of years, space would be littered with signals...but there are none (that we can see)

___________________

I don't think Shannon and others understood that part of it...it isn't so much about advanced life actually coming here and saying hello, it's about the lack of anything intelligent out there period.

and yeah I know it isn't literally a "paradox" and there are plenty of ways to explain the issue...

Trying to use human behaviour to understand space and other creatures won't work. However we go about detecting life, they might be different. Using the assumption that aliens will use the same technology as us probably won't succeed in finding these alien life. I mean we only realized in the last couple of years that the universe is probably made up of mostly dark matter that we have no clue as to what it is.

Also we've only began searching for signs of life for less than a century. In space time that is literally nothing, it took the Earth billions of years to habour life, it is safe to assume other planets will experience similar evolution in order for an advanced civilization to grow.

[rufuspaul]

Trying to use human behaviour to understand space and other creatures won't work.


it took the Earth billions of years to habour life, it is safe to assume other planets will experience similar evolution in order for an advanced civilization to grow.


Those two statements kind of contradict each other. If the evolution is similar then certainly some of the technology will be too.

[eriX]

Those two statements kind of contradict each other. If the evolution is similar then certainly some of the technology will be too.

I meant evolution in terms of planetary evolution of life, like planets going through its phases like the ice ages, the extinction of the dinosaurs etc... until the conditions was right for intellegent life to exist and grow. But that doesn't mean they will be on the same path as we are. Whatever decisions they make will be different to ours and as a result the snowballing effect will cause that civilization to be completely different.

[rufuspaul]

SETI has been listening for radio waves and gets nothing.


The Wow Signal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal)

[iamgine]

Is the standard just life or intelligent life?

[~primetime~]

Trying to use human behaviour to understand space and other creatures won't work. However we go about detecting life, they might be different. Using the assumption that aliens will use the same technology as us probably won't succeed in finding these alien life. I mean we only realized in the last couple of years that the universe is probably made up of mostly dark matter that we have no clue as to what it is.

Also we've only began searching for signs of life for less than a century. In space time that is literally nothing, it took the Earth billions of years to habour life, it is safe to assume other planets will experience similar evolution in order for an advanced civilization to grow.
I feel like it is safe to assume that "most" intelligent life at some point spit out radio waves into space...just like is safe to assume most intelligent life discovered the light bulb along the way...

The laws of the universe are the same throughout...



It is a certainty that if there is lots of intelligent life out there, that we are not the ONLY ones to discover radio waves...

[Nanners]

i think fermi has some good questions.

The Fermi paradox can be asked in two ways. The first is, "Why are no aliens or their artifacts physically here?" If interstellar travel is possible, even the "slow" kind nearly within the reach of Earth technology, then it would only take from 5 million to 50 million years to colonize the galaxy. This is a relatively small amount of time on a geological scale, let alone a cosmological one. Since there are many stars older than the Sun, or since intelligent life might have evolved earlier elsewhere, the question then becomes why the galaxy has not been colonized already. Even if colonization is impractical or undesirable to all alien civilizations, large-scale exploration of the galaxy is still possible using various means of exploration and theoretical probes. However, no signs of either colonization or exploration have been generally acknowledged. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

[rufuspaul]

it would only take from 5 million to 50 million years to colonize the galaxy. [/url]


Again you have to deal with the laws of physics. Even traveling at the speed of light it would take thousands of years to reach Earth and that's assuming that the closest Earth-like planet has intelligent life. If life evolves like it does on this planet then no intelligent alien life could survive the journey. Even if they just sent probes there is no telling if a probe can last millions of years in space without disintegrating or being destroyed by a comet or asteroid.

[Nanners]

Again you have to deal with the laws of physics. Even traveling at the speed of light it would take thousands of years to reach Earth and that's assuming that the closest Earth-like planet has intelligent life. If life evolves like it does on this planet then no intelligent alien life could survive the journey. Even if they just sent probes there is no telling if a probe can last millions of years in space without disintegrating or being destroyed by a comet or asteroid.

thousands of years is a very small period of time on a galactic scale... our sun is 4.5 billion years old

[Draz]

The Wow Signal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal)
Aliens speak English?

[robert de niro]

Aliens speak English?
you didn't read did you?

[Meticode]

The universe, something we can't even fathom right now, but we think we do.

I think the only reason anything is ever possible in our choices is because every conceivable possibility is/has already played out in time. We are prisoners of time, but I feel that all aspect of our lives exist at the same time, we just don't have an understanding of that 4th or 5th dimension to move around freely and observe it like we can the three dimensions of x, y and z axis.

[Meticode]

you didn't read did you?
I read in depth about that. Maybe it was just chance maybe it was a blip of intelligent life in that area of space. We'll probably never find out in our lifetimes.

[rufuspaul]

thousands of years is a very small period of time on a galactic scale... our sun is 4.5 billion years old


True, but how many thousand year old people do you know?

[Nanners]

True, but how many thousand year old people do you know?

what does that have to do with anything? you dont need people to live a thousand years when you can just reproduce on your journey. besides its silly to assume that alien life would have a life cycle that resembles humans in any way.


Even traveling at the speed of light it would take thousands of years to reach Earth

actually at the speed of light it would only take a decade or two for us to visit one of the nearby star systems with planets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars_and_brown_dwarfs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_exoplanets

[eriX]

I feel like it is safe to assume that "most" intelligent life at some point spit out radio waves into space...just like is safe to assume most intelligent life discovered the light bulb along the way...

The laws of the universe are the same throughout...



It is a certainty that if there is lots of intelligent life out there, that we are not the ONLY ones to discover radio waves...

I would agree intelligent life would emit different wavelengths at some point but we have only been searching for less than a century, I'd argue the life that does exist are still so far away that their waves or light have not even reached us yet. But I don't agree that it is safe to assume they would discover the light bulb... the visible spectrum that we see is limited to human eyes, for all we know aliens could see in X-ray.

[~primetime~]

I would agree intelligent life would emit different wavelengths at some point but we have only been searching for less than a century, I'd argue the life that does exist are still so far away that their waves or light have not even reached us yet. But I don't agree that it is safe to assume they would discover the light bulb... the visible spectrum that we see is limited to human eyes, for all we know aliens could see in X-ray.
Again, the universe is billions of years old, and billions of "Earth-like" planets have been around billions of years. Radio waves have had plenty of time to reach us...

[~primetime~]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2107061/Earth-calling-Tiny-yellow-dot-shows-distance-radio-broadcasts-aliens-travelled.html

This isn't really a response to what you said, I just happened to quote you and was too lazy to go back

It's safe to assume other civilizations would be older than ours and if they used radio waves would have covered a much larger distance
that's a good link...


Yet, despite waves travelling a distance of 200 light years in all directions, they still have 118,800 light years to go until the entire Milky Way has heard the word.

That's just 118,800 years...the Milky way is 13 BILLION years old. Even waves from an advanced civilization that is just 1 million years old has had more than enough time to reach us.



Outside the Milky Way is probably another story though...could be life is really rare in the Milky Way, but in the galaxy next to us shit is like Star Wars. Cept probably no Jar-Jar, he wouldn't exist in RL.

[eriX]

Again, the universe is billions of years old, and billions of "Earth-like" planets have been around billions of years. Radio waves have had plenty of time to reach us...

You're acting like sending radio waves out will cover the entire universe... It's like shooting a gun at a random direction and hoping it would hit someone in the middle of a ocean. It doesn't matter how long it has been, there's so many variables in the way... These different wavelengths could be scattered by dust clouds, absorbed by black holes, hit a star or planets and gets absorbed or we just ignore the fact that the universe is expanding also.

[~primetime~]

You're acting like sending radio waves out will cover the entire universe... It's like shooting a gun at a random direction and hoping it would hit someone in the middle of a ocean. It doesn't matter how long it has been, there's so many variables in the way... These different wavelengths could be scattered by dust clouds, absorbed by black holes, hit a star or planets and gets absorbed or we just ignore the fact that the universe is expanding also.
Radio waves are similar to light, and move at the speed of light. I think it is similar to light hitting us, not a gun.

[Draz]

you didn't read did you?
Bunch of shit that they translated into the word wow?
Did you get abducted and butt fcked?

[eriX]

Radio waves are similar to light, and move at the speed of light. I think it is similar to light hitting us, not a gun.

Clearly you're missing the point of the analogy. When you emit radio waves or any electromagnetic waves of different frequencies, you don't just emit an infinite amount that covers all direction. The waves spread, and they get thinner, then encounters some obstacle and they are gone. Catching electromagnetic waves from other civilization isn't as easy as them reaching us.