Space Travel and the Search for Alien Life - Yes, let's talk about aliens.

[The Lizard Queen]

SPACE... the final frontier.

Humans really want to find alien life. Most of us think it's out there somewhere, and we seem determined to find it, even though it's something that's speculative at best.

Yet, we go on searching for something out there, spending billions on it. We'll probably be going to Mars in the next 20 years or so. Who knows where we'll go after that... But is it worth it? As my old college roommate liked to say, "We've been to the moon, but there's still people starving in Africa."

Every year the first-world nations of this planet spend billions to explore parts of our universe that we will likely never see in person, and the bottom line is, sending things into space is super expensive. But are they even out there? Is it worth all of this to continue?

 

[Ntwadumela]

Scientists may have discovered life in outer space, but they are microbial organisms and not the Little Green Men popularized in Hollywood.
http://time.com/3946292/comet-philae-life-microbial-67p-astronomers-alien/
Though honestly, if I had the opportunity to travel to outer space I would take it. Seeing other planets, moons, stars, comets and asteroids would be a great experience, not to mention the high velocity of the shuttle and low gravity on board.

 

[Unseemly and Feral]

If we can find a way to nail down continuous acceleration in spaceflight, we could get around the galaxy in a matter of decades. Problem is, the closer you get to light speed, the more time gets messed with from relativity. So if you go on a trip to the other side of the galaxy, the Sun will go red giant and Earth might be gone by the time you get back, even though you've only aged a few decades at most.

 

[Lurkman]

How coincidental that this thread is made just as I am reading up on what its like to be an astronaut.

To answer your question however, I do believe there are other life forms out there, we cannot be the ONLY place in the universe have life. We've discovered planets that are sustainable for life before, so theres a good chance.

Think of it like this, are other universe species wondering if theres a life form other than their own? I think that is the most interesting question of all when it comes to this topic.

 

[Shokew]

As lovely as it sounds to find other planets to live on, other species on our level to interact with... That ain't gonna happen fast enough, nor should it be encouraged with the way things are now - there's a lot of problems with the world we have now that need serious fixing and I'd hate to see the human race mess up other planets like we seem to have this one so far.

 

[Heimdallr]

Apart from little amoebas on mars, no it does not exist.

Even if they do, they probably don't have much going for them. Why wouldn't they have visited us, invaded us, or made some contact.

The fact that they haven't proves they probably aren't real (or all that advanceD)

 

[Orson Welles]

"We've been to the moon, but there's still people starving in Africa."

Should we put some arbitrary 'luxury cap' based on the lowest common demoninator so the low IQ folk in african shitholes don't get their feelings hurt? Or should we put a halt on progress in developed nations and wait for developing and 3rd world countries to catch up? Innovation is fueled by strife, competition and fear; the fear of losing your dominance. Poverty in this dynamic is both par for the course and a neccessity.

Is it worth all of this to continue?

Whether it's worth the expense or not is subjective as I'm sure the people standing in the welfare line every month wish those expenses were allocated "elsewhere". But as someone who believes that both regression and an idle state is not possible in human societies on a global scale then I will argue that space exploration (a precursor to space settlement and eventually expansion) is neccessary to avoid the utter doom that is the lack of progress.


----

More in line with the subject of this thread I will say that given the size of the universe and the vast pockets of energy and star formation still present within it, it is an almost certainty that, at the very least, in the 13 billion years this universe has existed primitive microbial systems that resemble early earth life have formed somewhere out there and still do. And I wouldn't bet against a small fraction of that life to have evolved into something more complex and perhaps something more... sentient.

What truly worries me is the lack of evidence of any highly-advanced alien civilizations or structures. We have looked at countless galaxies and even more countless stars and nothing that resembles anything artificial. No dyson spheres, no forced arrangement of celestial masses, no huge stuctures floating around distant suns. The fact that the entire observable universe is so pristine makes me wonder if space travel is at all feasible or if we are actually a rarity.

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

Imagine if aliens contact us and it turns out they are like Sjw. Check your human privilege you oppressive meatbag! Alien costumes and movies are racist!
Someone make a funny movie like this pls.

 

[keksz]

sending things into space is super expensive

It's basically free when you compare it to waging war. The "war on drugs" alone spent around $30 billion this year. NASA's budget is just under $20 billion. The war on Iraq cost the US over $2 trillion (enough to fund NASA for 150 years). If you're going to waste money anyway I'd rather see it wasted in cool space stuff than killing other people or arresting people for smoking a blunt.

Spoiler: As for aliens...

 

[Robot Holocaust]

Statistically, there's definitely senient life out there, but it's either too primitive for interstellar travel or too advanced to care much about our world.

Now, on the subject of interstellar travel...I really don't know. Maybe I'll see it in my lifetime but I have my doubts.

 

[ICametoLurk]

The real question is:


Can we fuck them?

 

[doubledigitgendergap]

The real question is:


Will we fuck them?

Fixed it for you

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

The real question is:


Can we fuck them?

What if they want to rape humanity?

 

[Maiden-TieJuan]

I am kind of with Carl Sagan on this one. With all those planets, stars, and galaxys out there, if we are the only intelligent race in all of the infinite reaches of the universe? What a waste of space.

Kind of a form of hubris, to think we are it for intelligence. And I weep for this universe if we are it.

 

[Marvin]

It's not that alien life doesn't exist, but it's more that there's no way for it to affect humanity, if it does exist. We're not going to leave the solar system. Terraforming Mars might not even be feasible.

Since it can't affect us, it might as well not exist. If a tree falls in the woods...

 

[ICametoLurk]

What if they want to rape humanity?

Your implying they already haven't been.

 

[AnOminous]

I am kind of with Carl Sagan on this one. With all those planets, stars, and galaxys out there, if we are the only intelligent race in all of the infinite reaches of the universe? What a waste of space.

Kind of a form of hubris, to think we are it for intelligence. And I weep for this universe if we are it.

It may be rare enough, though, that there's nothing within light speed distance for us to hear anything from them, as in any time in the next few thousands of years.

 

[ICametoLurk]

It's basically free when you compare it to waging war. The "war on drugs" alone spent around $30 billion this year.If you're going to waste money anyway I'd rather see it wasted in cool space stuff than arresting people for smoking a blunt.

We wouldn't be spending that much if we just shot them instead of arresting them.

 

[Maiden-TieJuan]

It may be rare enough, though, that there's nothing within light speed distance for us to hear anything from them, as in any time in the next few thousands of years.

True. Nothing near by, but I honestly don't think that we are alone in this universe.

 

[Positron]

Statistically, there's definitely senient life out there

There is no such thing as "definitely" in statistics.

I am kind of with Carl Sagan on this one. With all those planets, stars, and galaxys out there, if we are the only intelligent race in all of the infinite reaches of the universe? What a waste of space.

That's teleological thinking, to propose that space, star systems, etc are destined for intelligent life.

The real question is:
Can we fuck them?

Given humans have already fucked all sorts of things imaginable and unimaginable, the best course for an intelligent extraterrestrial is to play invisible.