Are we alone?

[SIN]

http://archive.seti.org/pdfs/Shostak-spring2009-EnS.pdf

Very interesting read.

If there are more than a million civilizations in the Galaxy, we should make contact with one by 2015.
If there are around 500,000 civilizations, we should make contact with one by 2023.
If there are only 10,000 civilizations, we should make contat with one by 2027.

SETI says that by the 2027 date, we will have looked at more than one million nearby star systems. So if we don't find anything at that time, we might possibly quite lonely as an intelligent specie.

EDIT:

THE END IS FRIGHTENING.

"I think that if there’s a conscious intelligence out there, it’s synthetic."

"In 30 years, our computers have gone from one megahertz to more than 1 gigahertz. That's a factor of 1,000 improvement in 30 years. It just blows Darwin and evolution away. Once we get Artificial Intelligence evolving, I think we can just forget about biology. We'll try to put chips in our brains to try and keep up, but that is like putting a four cylinder engine in a horse, after a certain point you just say, let's get rid of the horse and build a Maserati.

We should assume that when we find a signal, it won't be coming from a soft, squishy guy behind a microphone, but from one of the true, deep intellect of the universe."

Holy **** this is scary,

[Keanu]

its stupid to think we are alone.we are in the outer - mid rim. I hope to meet or see the aliens make first contact in 2015 then

[Words]

Hubble ultra deep field (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Hubble_ultra_deep_field.jpg)

I'm not worried. Even if we are relatively alone in this galaxy and the recipe for life is extremely rare, the chances that it didn't occur randomly somewhere else are slim to none. 10,000 civilizations is a fairly generous estimate, I think. Even if there were that many, I doubt they would all be capable (or willing to) of contacting us back. Personally, I think that intelligent life might be fairly uncommon, but the building blocks probably aren't.

The possibility of a liquid ocean beneath Europa's surface (and thus, though unlikely, the possibility of hydrothermal vents at its floor) makes me wonder. Also, didn't they discover microbial organisms in the geysers on Neptune or something?

I will now read the article. <.<

[SIN]

I just updated my post.

The end is frightening imo.

[Xenomorph]

I feel like I just stumbled upon a Trekkie blog.

[Enishi]

I just hope that when we come into contact with an Alien species, it isn't looking for a planet to feed off of.

[Will]

I hope we make contact with an alien race. It would be pretty cool, but, to be fair, they would probably want to leave us alone.

[Lt. Beardsly]

I hope we stumble upon part of an intergalactic government. Not a totalitarian one, preferably one that found a way to do it right without being evil and shit.

That'd be awwwwwwwwwwwweesome.

[Yorick]

"I think that if there’s a conscious intelligence out there, it’s synthetic."

"In 30 years, our computers have gone from one megahertz to more than 1 gigahertz. That's a factor of 1,000 improvement in 30 years. It just blows Darwin and evolution away. Once we get Artificial Intelligence evolving, I think we can just forget about biology. We'll try to put chips in our brains to try and keep up, but that is like putting a four cylinder engine in a horse, after a certain point you just say, let's get rid of the horse and build a Maserati.

We should assume that when we find a signal, it won't be coming from a soft, squishy guy behind a microphone, but from one of the true, deep intellect of the universe."

Holy **** this is scary,This makes no sense. At least, the reasoning doesn't. We're going to keep enhancing ourselves with new technology, not build an entirely new race apart from ours from it.

[Santoro]

its stupid to think we are alone.we are in the outer - mid rim. I hope to meet or see the aliens make first contact in 2015 then

Yeah, right next to Tatooine. :rolleyes:

This makes no sense. At least, the reasoning doesn't. We're going to keep enhancing ourselves with new technology, not build an entirely new race apart from ours from it.

If we make an AI, then that could be considered a race that we've created. Considering tons of people are trying to make an AI, I'm pretty sure you're wrong on that one.

[Yorick]

If we make an AI, then that could be considered a race that we've created. Considering tons of people are trying to make an AI, I'm pretty sure you're wrong on that one.You don't understand what I'm saying. The reasoning the guy gave, with the horse and the Maserati, is basically saying that we'll run into a synthetic race because once a species develops far enough, it builds a synthetic race to replace it instead of continuing to advance themselves. I seriously doubt mankind is going to out-date itself with artificial intelligence.

[Brandon Rhea]

This makes no sense. At least, the reasoning doesn't. We're going to keep enhancing ourselves with new technology, not build an entirely new race apart from ours from it.

****ing Cylons.

[SIN]

You don't understand what I'm saying. The reasoning the guy gave, with the horse and the Maserati, is basically saying that we'll run into a synthetic race because once a species develops far enough, it builds a synthetic race to replace it instead of continuing to advance themselves. I seriously doubt mankind is going to out-date itself with artificial intelligence.

You didn't read the article.

[Hunter]

All we have to decide now is if we want first contact with alien life forms to be like Star Trek: First Contact or The Day The Earth Stood Still.