[Breaking] One Third of Sun-Like Stars have Earth-Sized Planets in Habitable Zone based on Kepler Da - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;32527565]I uhh.. wouldn't say that. Obviously I don't have a lot to support it, just that inside the 14 billion years, which is the Universe's estimated age, our planet was formed in the 10th billion year, or something like that. Then another 4 billion years for life to develop. And the last ~200 years for complex technology. So that leaves 10 billion years worth of possible planets... and they seem kinda scarcely spread out.[/QUOTE] So? They can be as scarcely spread out as they want, distance has no effect on whether or not life forms on them. Just because our particular form of life took 4 billion years to develop doesn't mean that other forms require 4 billion years as well. There's no way to say. Some species may have developed technology as complex as ours in a matter of days. Naturally were are opposed to this viewpoint as some may perceive it as frightening, but in all honesty I'm sure there's plenty we don't and never will understand. [editline]28th September 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Bat-shit;32527565]I uhh.. wouldn't say that. Obviously I don't have a lot to support it, just that inside the 14 billion years, which is the Universe's estimated age, our planet was formed in the 10th billion year, or something like that. Then another 4 billion years for life to develop. And the last ~200 years for complex technology. So that leaves 10 billion years worth of possible planets with life on it, even technologies beyond imagination... But they are "kinda" scarcely spread out, and requires some good conditions.[/QUOTE] I'm replying to your edit... and those "good" conditions only apply to us, other forms of life may find inhospitable conditions favorable to their life.

[QUOTE=Aetna;32527606]So? They can be as scarcely spread out as they want, distance has no effect on whether or not life forms on them. Just because our particular form of life took 4 billion years to develop doesn't mean that other forms require 4 billion years as well. There's no way to say. Some species may have developed technology as complex as ours in a matter of days. Naturally were are opposed to this viewpoint as some may perceive it as frightening, but in all honesty I'm sure there's plenty we don't and never will understand. [editline]28th September 2011[/editline] I'm replying to your edit... and those "good" conditions only apply to us, other forms of life may find inhospitable conditions favorable to their life.[/QUOTE] Nah you probably don't have life forms developing in 4 days to as great as humans have become. And I also don't think you can have animals living in too extreme conditions. But still organisms can take a hell of a lot of beating so there's definitely some wiggle room when it comes down to the conditions of a habitable planet. A little change could be quite drastic too there's no doubt about it.

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The concept of a weapon could be completely alien (pun somewhat intended) to them. A device used to inflict harm or destruction? Or maybe their understand of life and death could transcend ours greatly.

[QUOTE=Bat-shit;32528389]Nah you probably don't have life forms developing in 4 days to as great as humans have become. And I also don't think you can have animals living in too extreme conditions. But still organisms can take a hell of a lot of beating so there's definitely some wiggle room when it comes down to the conditions of a habitable planet. A little change could be quite drastic too there's no doubt about it.[/QUOTE] You're still assuming that the laws that we know to be in place with OUR form of life apply everywhere, when there's absolutely no evidence to back it. In a completely different galaxy thousands of lightyears away, there could be life that's so different from ours that organisms could grow in 4 earth days, 4 earth days could be a millenia to different forms of life. You need to think outside the box.

Even if / when we find aliens, we will have no way to communicate with them as their biology is likely to be completely different to ours. Natural selection gave us ears and eyes but may have come up with a completely different solution for other species. They are likely to have a completely different representation of mathematics and physics. Even "universal" concepts such as Pi and C rely on our own system of mathematics to define.

[QUOTE=AaRoNg11;32538937]Even if / when we find aliens, we will have no way to communicate with them as their biology is likely to be completely different to ours. Natural selection gave us ears and eyes but may have come up with a completely different solution for other species. They are likely to have a completely different representation of mathematics and physics. Even "universal" concepts such as Pi and C rely on our own system of mathematics to define.[/QUOTE] Hearing and sight (or analogues of them) are pretty big no brainers in terms of evolution. Any creature that develops those senses is likely going to have a great advantage over other creatures in its environment and will probably thrive and spread those mutations. People like to spout the whole, "they might be so different from us that we can't even comprehend them!" bullshit, but realistically, most life is probably going to have the same general structure. If you live on land you're more than likely going to house your primary sensory organs as near to your brain as possible in order to cut down reaction times, so there's probably the natural development of 'heads' straight away. You're probably going to keep the brain far away from other organs (infection would spread too easily if they were all squished up next to one another and an organ like the liver got infected); also, sensory organs are better when they're directional and the neck provides the ability to direct your sight/hearing so they're both points for the distinction between head and torso. Unless you have something like gas bladders and float around you're gonna have legs or something similar. The ability to detect radiation (whether visible, infrared, or something else) is a pretty good characteristic, likewise so is the ability to pick up sound waves/vibration because thy allow you to sense danger prior to it arriving. It's unlikely that any life in the universe is going to be so radically different from us that we physically can't communicate.

[QUOTE=Upgrade123;32533363]The concept of a weapon could be completely alien (pun somewhat intended) to them. A device used to inflict harm or destruction? Or maybe their understand of life and death could transcend ours greatly.[/QUOTE]Or, more likely, they have the exact same approach to it as we do: "Avoid it when it makes us look good and kill everything when it benefits us and no one will notice or care."