Aliens could be discovered in the next 20 years, say astronomers. - Polidicks

Anyone else hoping & praying the first ET we meet is Barbarella? [img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_rgHggJyX4Gs/TP354WVPPqI/AAAAAAAAACk/yQay7RBjSG8/s1600/barbarella.jpg[/img] [I]"Shh, do not tell your planet of my species."[/I]

[QUOTE=Cone;44881958]i wonder what low-gravity sea life looks like. some kinda weird space octopus i guess? [editline]23rd May[/editline] the first thought is some eerily beautiful aquatic creature but the reality is that they would probably be horribly scary and disgusting in every way imaginable, because that's just our luck with these kinds of things[/QUOTE] The deeper and darker the ocean the things that live there get exponentially scarier. Factor in an alien world and you've got some absolutely terrifying nightmare monsters. [editline]23rd May 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=false prophet;44882482]If you guys desperately want to find advanced civilizations out in space, look for galaxies that are further away from the proposed center of the universe or around the same distance as we are.[/QUOTE] Or, just as a wild idea, we could look at the stars around us that formed around the same period and just start studying every body until we can find one that could host life similar to ours, just as a safe bet since we know life like ours can exist, and just comb through every system until we see something that could be particularly interesting, as well as just beaming a laser with a bunch of first contact type data and then see if we get anything back since for the foreseeable future actually hitting up one of these planets is hopelessly optimistic.

[QUOTE=Wizards Court;44884682]tbh, i would be more disappointed, than actually terrified, if we were the best the universe could come up with in terms of "intelligent species" as well as life. :v:[/QUOTE] You shouldn't be so pessimistic. We might have our problems but we're still pretty amazing beings when you think about how complex we actually are. In my opinion it's pretty amazing.

[QUOTE=bravehat;44886400]The deeper and darker the ocean the things that live there get exponentially scarier. Factor in an alien world and you've got some absolutely terrifying nightmare monsters.[/QUOTE] eugh, a whole moon of mutant low-gravity angler fish. i'm starting to think there's a reason they're sealed off from the universe by a kilometers-thick ice crust

[QUOTE=pentium;44881262]What if we've discovered them but we're so self-centered we don't believe it? Edited: No, really. How many times have we written off planets as being places to support life because they couldn't support humans? That's so fucking narrow-minded.[/QUOTE] pretty sure these people arent just going "well humans cant live there theres nothing there next planet"

[QUOTE=Cone;44881958]the first thought is some eerily beautiful aquatic creature but the reality is that they would probably be horribly scary and disgusting in every way imaginable, because that's just our luck with these kinds of things[/QUOTE][QUOTE=bravehat;44886400]The deeper and darker the ocean the things that live there get exponentially scarier. Factor in an alien world and you've got some absolutely terrifying nightmare monsters.[/QUOTE][QUOTE=Cone;44886860]eugh, a whole moon of mutant low-gravity angler fish. i'm starting to think there's a reason they're sealed off from the universe by a kilometers-thick ice crust[/QUOTE]i'm starting to think that when it comes to the outside appearance of alien lifeforms, Lovecraft may have been right

It's impossible to compare Europian(European?? Europan??) life with Earth life because the evolutionary paths would be completely different, and we have no idea what the environmental conditions of the ocean floor or surface ice. A good guess would be stuff found in [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vostok#Biology_results"]Lake Vostok[/URL] since they've been isolated in a somewhat (not really, but our best example) similar environment as Europa for millions of years. But that life has diverged from other life on earth. The theorized oceans on Europa are [I]a lot[/I] deeper than Earth, so if life started there it would be unlike anything we've ever seen before given the unique physiology required for life at depth. Possibly chemosynthetic and visionless, everything would be clear and without color, because color doesn't exist to them. There might not be a use for bioluminescence or eyes. They would congregate around geothermal vents if those are present (very important if discovered). To have hard shelled animals we'd need calcium carbonate, so finding any amount of that would be very important. If life is able to grow in cracks in the ice, that would be very exciting too. It seems most likely, if we find any life at all, it will be bacteria huddled up around sources of nutrients for chemosynthesis. But the hard reality is, the chances of life on Europa is still an [I]"I want to believe"[/I] moment, as nothing we know suggests it has any life at all. If we find anything at all, it will be the greatest discovery in the history of humanity, as it will likely resemble nothing we've seen or dreamed of from a biological standpoint.

We'll get Mass Effect - we discover new means to travel around our galaxy and find more and more aliens

obama may take a shit in the next hour or so, says gastronomers.

[QUOTE=RocketRacer;44899507]We'll get Mass Effect - we discover new means to travel around our galaxy and find more and more aliens[/QUOTE] I do kinda hope there actually is a GalCom. But even if there isn't, that means mankind could potentially kickstart the Federation if we come across any alien worlds. Speaking of which, if mankind accidentally made contact with a feudal alien civilization a'la how the European colonists encountered the Amerindian tribes, without the precautions of remote observation or setting up a "masquerade", would it be best to withdraw until they achieved space travel on their own, or to maintain contact with them and guide their development to the point where they are suitable for integration into the Federation? I imagine after the existence of mankind is revealed to a kingdom of xenos, it would be pretty damn hard to set up a masquerade and obfuscate the evidence of our "incursions" from those in the know, let alone the general public. Sure they could cover up the evidence of our roadside picnics, but a patrol ship crash-landing in the Halcyon River would be pretty hard to pass off as a mere falling star.

[QUOTE=pentium;44881262]What if we've discovered them but we're so self-centered we don't believe it? Edited: No, really. How many times have we written off planets as being places to support life because they couldn't support humans? That's so fucking narrow-minded.[/QUOTE] When we look for planets, we're searching for the [I]most likely[/I] to support life. We've only found a handful that fit in with our definition of life-supporting so it's possible we've already observed one with life but simple put we just don't have the equipment to confirm it. Basically we're going through with our primitive human space-peeping-devices and earmarking possible candidates so there's always the opportunity to study it further in the future.

[QUOTE=errur;44885967]Racist old farts will be all "These darn martians and stealing our jobs". At least the racism will actually be about race for once.[/QUOTE] Damn space boogers, they wanna take away muh railguns!

I'd recommend anyone that is interested in these kind of discussions to read this article on the Fermi Paradox: [url]http://gizmodo.com/the-fermi-paradox-where-the-hell-are-the-other-earths-1580345495[/url] One interesting point it makes: if we discover other (simple) life in our solar system, but we find no traces of [I]intelligent[/I] life [I]anywhere[/I], it probably means we're fucked. That intelligent life never manages to spread through the universe.

Possible but if aliens already know our existence or we make contact with life more intelligent then us they probably wont want to do anything with us because all we are is greedy self destructing society and from what they can see we are already destroying our selfs and they don't need to waste their resources.

[QUOTE=Archikuus;44900185]Possible but if aliens already know our existence or we make contact with life more intelligent then us they probably wont want to do anything with us because all we are is greedy self destructing society and from what they can see we are already destroying our selfs and they don't need to waste their resources.[/QUOTE] i don't think this is true, surely any race more technologically advanced would have run into similar problems in their younger days. they'd probably just quietly observe and wish us luck [editline]25th May 2014[/editline] in less they were some sort of hive mind, then they'd just see us as terribly inefficient

[QUOTE=Death_God;44882237]i found the aliens [img]http://x2.fjcdn.com/thumbnails/comments/isn+_fe0adb0824bdfdb631c1e5481d5e8b9b.jpg[/img] first to discover them copyright 2014[/QUOTE] Our defenses can't fight that We're all doomed

I honestly don't think we are ready to meet and greet with aliens, it will take alot of time to discipline our self to accept alien life existence, otherwise people will be scared shitless and do some stupid shit that could get us in big trouble. We are not yet prepared mentally and sociably yet to meet them.

And that's probably another barrier-to-entry for the GalCom. Not just that we aren't ready tech-wise, but also that we are not ready psychologically, that there are too many under-enlightened and in some cases outright DANGEROUS individuals in human society to ensure peaceful integration into the GalCom. Maybe when we develop the appropriate technologies we'll have matured enough, though considering human nature that's not likely. If anything we'd probably end up entering the galactic having not been approached by a GalCom diplomat and set up our own Orion Federation independent of GalCom, incorporating other races into our own volatile imperfect melting pot of cultures and species, as opposed to the careful and calculated "elite members club" trying to keep the peace. It'd be quite the tale to write, if anything else.

Very likely that there is life else where. The question is how advanced is it. We already suspect that life may have come to earth via a meteor/comet(though it doesn't have too) and that would mean life existed somewhere else before. It would be foolish to think we are the only one in the universe.