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Science and the Universe Science, scientific theories, and how they impact our view of the world and existence.

View Poll Results: Are we alone? (please watch clip before polling)
Completely: God created this world alone for us 0 0%
Completely: We are a freak accident of chemistry 1 9.09%
Life is very rare but each time is the work of God for His purpose 0 0%
Life is very rare. The chance chemistry to get it started happens once in a billion years 1 9.09%
Quite common: God loves to create life 0 0%
Quite common: Life is resilliant and finds a ways to persist 2 18.18%
Life is abundant: God infused all creation with life 3 27.27%
Life is abundant: Life exists in some form everywhere 4 36.36%
Voters: 11. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 07-25-2007, 08:41 PM   #16 (permalink)
Tao_Equus
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Re: Poll: Are we alone in the Universe?

Quote:
Originally Posted by spiderbaby View Post
Our solar system is around 5 billion years old. The universe could be as much as 20 billion. Intelligent life, us, has existed on this planet for an upper window of around 100,000 years. If intelligent life is common in the universe it should have popped by to say hello by now. This leaves us with only a few alternatives.

1) Life is not common.

2) Intelligent life is not common.

3) Travel between solar systems is effectively impossible in any humanly achievable time scale.


So I voted for life is rare because it seems like the lesser evil.
Hi Spiderbaby and welcome to Cr!! Always nice to have another ...erm...mammal on board

Analysis using spectrography shows us that the universe is abundant in both water and the basic building blocks of carbon based life. Looking at life on Earth we see how tenacious it is, life exists from high in the atmosphere to deep within the continental crust. I think it common everywhere. But to have the stability to create the right conditions for evolution to proceed long enough for a space faring civilisation to emerge is another matter. On Earth for example we not only enjoy being in the goldilocks zone around the sun where water can exist as a liquid. We have a moon of just the right size and distance to drive plate tectonics/volcanism that sustain the availability of the essential minerals over time. Without this alone life on Earth may still exist but it would be sparse indeed compared to what we see. Additionally our solar system is sufficiently uncluttered by debris left over from its creation that we are not continually facing meteorite impacts that knock evolution to the floor every few 1000 years.
A planet much bigger than ours would present huge problems in achieving the velocity required to escape its gravity. One much smaller than ours could not support the kind of rain bearing clouds we are absolutely dependent on. The balance required for all the conditions we find here must be pretty rare but not impossibly rare. And of course it would be naive to assume all intelligent life is anything remotely like us.
We have been sending a beacon of our existence for a very short time. And in truth even our most powerful radio signals once they leave the solar system and hit the interstellar radiation become just noise. If nothing has been to visit it is no surprise. The universe is pretty big after all.
As you pertinently mention interstellar travel presents huge technological problems. We have difficulty providing effective shielding for our current toe dip into the vast ocean of space. Aside from the constraints of relativity the hostility of interstellar space presents us with problems we do not yet have the ability to meet. Leaving our atmosphere for orbit is small change compared to leaving the balmy comfort of the Heliosphere protecting us from radiation found in the interstellar void. Thank god we have star trek!!

Tao
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Old 07-25-2007, 08:52 PM   #17 (permalink)
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Re: Poll: Are we alone in the Universe?

yeh, what he said.
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Old 07-25-2007, 09:57 PM   #18 (permalink)
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Re: Poll: Are we alone in the Universe?

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Originally Posted by wil View Post
yeh, what he said.
lol... well at least its not just c&p's, and i'm here to practice talking c**p anyway
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Old 07-25-2007, 11:23 PM   #19 (permalink)
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Re: Poll: Are we alone in the Universe?

As someone who distinctly believes that my ancestry was originally "off world", I opted for the life is everywhere choice.

A six eyed mouse ? Spiderbaby, you are sure welcome here at CR even if your avatar is a bit misleading. If you find two more like you...pass them by. Who knows where THAT might lead. Are you a genetic engineer perchance ? Some of my ancestry's best friends were genetic engineers.

Tao...I could have sworn that you really talked, and not just practice talked, c**p here...and if you don't, where do you really do it pray tell ? Really nice post however !

flow....
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Old 07-26-2007, 01:19 AM   #20 (permalink)
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Re: Poll: Are we alone in the Universe?

Quote:
Originally Posted by flowperson View Post
As someone who distinctly believes that my ancestry was originally "off world", I opted for the life is everywhere choice.

A six eyed mouse ? Spiderbaby, you are sure welcome here at CR even if your avatar is a bit misleading. If you find two more like you...pass them by. Who knows where THAT might lead. Are you a genetic engineer perchance ? Some of my ancestry's best friends were genetic engineers.

Tao...I could have sworn that you really talked, and not just practice talked, c**p here...and if you don't, where do you really do it pray tell ? Really nice post however !

flow....
Ty Flow!! Nice to know that folks don't confuse my ramblings for anything meaningful
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Old 08-12-2007, 04:32 AM   #21 (permalink)
Muslimwoman
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Re: Poll: Are we alone in the Universe?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Snoopy View Post
I went to the Hubble site after, to have my mind blown...


HubbleSite - Gallery

s.
OMG WOW. That went straight into favourites, thanks Snoop.

Tao, I think it would be very arrogant to assume we are the be all and end all of life. I don't believe that for a moment.
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Old 08-12-2007, 02:50 PM   #22 (permalink)
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Re: Poll: Are we alone in the Universe?

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Originally Posted by Muslimwoman View Post
OMG WOW. That went straight into favourites, thanks Snoop.
I've changed my wallpaper again (in the lounge ). I've downloaded a bit of software that creates ever changing fractal patterns......groovy

s.
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Old 08-13-2007, 01:16 AM   #23 (permalink)
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Re: Poll: Are we alone in the Universe?

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Originally Posted by Snoopy View Post
I've changed my wallpaper again (in the lounge ). I've downloaded a bit of software that creates ever changing fractal patterns......groovy

s.

Giz a hint, I can't find it.
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Old 08-13-2007, 05:01 PM   #24 (permalink)
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Re: Poll: Are we alone in the Universe?

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Originally Posted by Muslimwoman View Post
Giz a hint, I can't find it.
There's loads if you Google (or whatever) but this is the one I used:

Fractal Wallpaper - Reviews and free downloads at Download.com

...and now I'm wondering about this!...

Overhead Fractal Music Generator - Reviews and free downloads at Download.com



s.
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