Where we might find aliens in the next decade

[Social Media]

Exploring the Cosmos: A Realistic Approach to Finding Extraterrestrial Life

 

The fascination with the prospect of encountering alien life has captivated human imagination for centuries, permeating our culture through literature, movies, and even conspiracy theories. However, amidst the realm of science fiction lies a genuine and systematic quest for extraterrestrial life, spearheaded by scientists worldwide. This scientific pursuit, far from the realms of UFO sightings and alien abductions, is grounded in meticulous research and exploration, with tangible results anticipated within the next decade.

 

Diverse initiatives are currently underway to unravel the mysteries of alien life. From probing the Martian terrain to investigating distant exoplanets, scientists are employing multifaceted approaches to uncover potential habitats for life beyond Earth. One of the primary focal points of this endeavor is Mars, our neighboring planet. Equipped with cutting-edge technology, rovers like NASA's Perseverance are scouring the Martian surface, collecting samples that may hold clues to the planet's past habitability.

 

The Mars Sample Return mission, slated to retrieve these samples and bring them back to Earth for analysis, offers a promising avenue for unraveling Mars' enigmatic history. Despite facing funding challenges, the mission holds the potential to provide unprecedented insights into the existence of life on Mars, revolutionizing our understanding of the cosmos.

 

 

Moreover, icy moons within our solar system, such as Europa and Enceladus, beckon exploration as potential havens for life. Beneath their frozen exteriors, vast oceans teem with the possibility of hosting extraterrestrial organisms. While missions like NASA's Europa Clipper aim to survey these moons and assess their habitability, the quest for true second-genesis life forms remains a tantalizing prospect, indicative of life arising independently from Earth.

 

Venturing beyond our celestial neighborhood, astronomers are leveraging advanced telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to scrutinize distant exoplanets for signs of life. By analyzing the chemical composition of exoplanet atmospheres, scientists hope to identify biosignatures indicative of biological activity. This groundbreaking research, coupled with future missions like the Habitable Worlds Observatory, holds the potential to uncover Earth-analogous planets capable of harboring life.

 

Furthermore, the search for intelligent life extends beyond planetary exploration to radio observations and signal detection. Initiatives like Breakthrough Listen and upcoming projects such as the Square Kilometer Array aim to detect directed radio signals or unintentional communications emanating from distant civilizations. While the prospect of encountering intelligent extraterrestrial beings remains speculative, technological advancements offer unprecedented opportunities to explore this frontier.

 

In the event of discovering evidence of alien life, whether microbial organisms or intelligent civilizations, scientists emphasize the importance of cautious interpretation and gradual validation. Rather than a singular definitive moment, the journey towards confirming extraterrestrial life entails meticulous scrutiny and scientific rigor. Recent discoveries, such as phosphine detection on Venus and biosignature candidates on exoplanets, underscore the complex nature of this quest, requiring critical evaluation and peer review.

 

Ultimately, the pursuit of extraterrestrial life, whether yielding groundbreaking revelations or null results, enriches our understanding of the cosmos and our place within it. As humanity embarks on this extraordinary voyage of exploration, guided by scientific inquiry and technological innovation, we stand poised to unravel the age-old question: Are we alone in the universe?

 

13.03.24

Source

 

[quake]

Maybe a bit closer to home.

 

[Tropicalevo]

Judging by some of the comments posted on AN, they are already here.

[2baht]

I went to immigration last week, aliens everywhere!

[animalmagic]

It's obvious there is intelligent life out there..........they haven't made contact with us!

[tmd5855]

5 hours ago, 2baht said:

I went to immigration last week, aliens everywhere!

It's life Jim, but, not as we know it??

[spidermike007]

Well, at some point we might find some proof of alien life. No doubt the universe is chock full of intelligent civilization. Just not here on earth. Considering the vastness of the universe, I consider it sheer hubris, that so many insist we are the only intelligent species in the entire universe. It would not surprise me if there were countless highly evolved populations on distant planets.

How can anyone comprehend the vastness of this universe, and say it is likely we are the only form of intelligent life within it? No. We are alone is infinitely more terrifying. If earthlings are the best this universe has, that would be terrifying. We are an exceedingly unimpressive civilization. There are likely millions of advanced civilizations out there. It would be a most astonishing waste of space, to think otherwise! It is a near impossibility, to a truly open mind.

We are a speck of galactic dust. There are thousands of galaxies within our local supercluster, spanning 100 million light years, just in this relatively small part of the universe. Our supercluster is but one part of a larger cluster, called Laniakea, consisting of 100,000 large galaxies, spanning 400 million light years. Each galaxy has how many solar systems? How many planets and stars? And many somehow use their intellects to presume it is nothing but empty space. Why? Because it cannot be proven? That is a weak argument. We are the chosen ones? That is sheer hubris, and a statistical near impossibility.
 

Just look around. Are we really that amazing? I should say no. Not impressive. We have not even figured out nuclear fusion yet, and world peace is a distant dream. We are just now figuring out less invasive surgery. No cures for cancer, tinnitus, and so many other diseases. Advanced? Barely. And only by very modest standards. We have no idea how truly advanced telecommunication or teleportation works, and we have barely figured out the relationship between the health of our soil, and the way we treat it. We foul our environment to no end, we use a primitive oil product to power our vehicles, and we treat our great oceans like dumping grounds, and we abuse animals and people to no end. We are arrogant yes. Truly advanced? No. And if an alien group could contact us, why would they want to get in touch with us? For an advanced alien civilization, it would be like taking a dip into the universal sewer. Not only are we not alone, it is likely we are one of the least evolved civilizations even within our own galaxy, much less the vastness of the universe! Think about our history. Khan, Attila the Hun, Queen Mary I, Ivan the Terrible, Vlad the Impaler, Qin Shi Huang, Wu Zetian, Leopold II, Lenin, Mussolini, Amin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot, Pinochet, Kim Jung II, Hideki Tojo, Tsar Vladimir Putin, Than Shwe, King Abdullah, Trump, Bieber, Kardashian. Come on. Really?

 

Why contact us?

Why would an advanced alien race have any interest in lowly earthlings? What could we possibly teach them? Perhaps:
1. How to destroy your home (and only) planet, and how to behave as if we had multiple alternative planets to re-locate to, just in case!
2. How to hate each other.
3. How to create war.
4. How to generate electricity with spent uranium, that lasts tens of thousands of years.
5. How to create social media platforms which encourage self destruction, hatred, self loathing among the youth, envy and move culture backwards.
6. How to create reality TV, which tears at the very fabric of civilization, and appeals only to our lower nature.

What else have I missed?

Edited March 13 by spidermike007

[jippytum]

As senate members in Thailand

[mfd101]

26 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Well, at some point we might find some proof of alien life. No doubt the universe is chock full of intelligent civilization. Just not here on earth. Considering the vastness of the universe, I consider it sheer hubris, that so many insist we are the only intelligent species in the entire universe. It would not surprise me if there were countless highly evolved populations on distant planets.

How can anyone comprehend the vastness of this universe, and say it is likely we are the only form of intelligent life within it? No. We are alone is infinitely more terrifying. If earthlings are the best this universe has, that would be terrifying. We are an exceedingly unimpressive civilization. There are likely millions of advanced civilizations out there. It would be a most astonishing waste of space, to think otherwise! It is a near impossibility, to a truly open mind.
 

Yes, I agree with all you say. In the history of the earth (3.8 billion years) it took a relatively few million years for life to appear, and then much longer for complex & then intelligent life to appear.  On the basis that many many planets throughout our galaxy and the couple of trillion other galaxies we are aware of have existed for billions of years longer than earth, then the likelihood that there is life and complex life and intelligent life on millions or billions of planets throughout the cosmos is quite high.

 

With one proviso: The development of life and complex and intelligent life does require great stability over billions of years in each case. That stability is not always available.

 

I hope (at age 74) to be alive when the first open & publicised visit from the neighbours takes place. The chances are they will be friendly & peaceable (not nasty & colonizing as it likely would be if we were doing the visiting). The effects on religious belief here on earth will be fascinating, in particular the notion of an earth-centered God will appear laughable given the size (probably infinite) and duration (probably eternal) of the cosmos.

 

 

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, Social Media said:

The fascination with the prospect of encountering alien life has captivated human imagination for centuries,

Thailand has thousands, apparently.

[RobU]

There's thousands of us aliens in Thailand we are from the planet Expat

[Tropicalevo]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

What else have I missed?

We invented beer.

[candide]

1 hour ago, mfd101 said:

Yes, I agree with all you say. In the history of the earth (3.8 billion years) it took a relatively few million years for life to appear, and then much longer for complex & then intelligent life to appear.  On the basis that many many planets throughout our galaxy and the couple of trillion other galaxies we are aware of have existed for billions of years longer than earth, then the likelihood that there is life and complex life and intelligent life on millions or billions of planets throughout the cosmos is quite high.

 

With one proviso: The development of life and complex and intelligent life does require great stability over billions of years in each case. That stability is not always available.

 

I hope (at age 74) to be alive when the first open & publicised visit from the neighbours takes place. The chances are they will be friendly & peaceable (not nasty & colonizing as it likely would be if we were doing the visiting). The effects on religious belief here on earth will be fascinating, in particular the notion of an earth-centered God will appear laughable given the size (probably infinite) and duration (probably eternal) of the cosmos.

 

 

Statistically, it's very likely there are intelligent beings somewhere in the quasi-infinite universe.

 

However, not in our solar system, which means too far fir them to be able to travel to our planet. It's not like in science fiction books, there's no jumping through the hyperspace.

[Thingamabob]

I suspect not in the Universe, but maybe in the Multiverse.

[mfd101]

5 minutes ago, candide said:

However, not in our solar system,

Why not? given some 100-400 billion stars in the Milky Way with at least that number of planets, at least some of which are likely to have properties required for life to develop (primarily water).

[spidermike007]

8 minutes ago, candide said:

Statistically, it's very likely there are intelligent beings somewhere in the quasi-infinite universe.

 

However, not in our solar system, which means too far fir them to be able to travel to our planet. It's not like in science fiction books, there's no jumping through the hyperspace.

Well, as far as we know. We are still quite primitive. If space travel was possible, it would have to be done at a speed faster than the 17,000 mph we have been limited to, by our basic technology. People insisted gravity did not exist prior to Newton. There is so much to discover, and it is likely we have not found 99% of what science has to offer yet.

[VocalNeal]

2 hours ago, animalmagic said:

It's obvious there is intelligent life out there..........they haven't made contact with us!

 

The distances are vast and the resources/technology required are astronomic (sic).

 

According to what I have gleaned, viewed from afar our sun is the wrong kind of star to be thought to promote life. So not worth any advanced civilization dropping by to have a look. 

 

Add to this we have only been broadcasting radio waves for about 100 years. If another civilization wishes to listen and form an opinion it could take them a hundred years to get here. Assuming they are advanced enough to do it right away and at the speed or light. Which we haven't mastered yet.

Edited March 13 by VocalNeal

[James105]

2 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Yes, I agree with all you say. In the history of the earth (3.8 billion years) it took a relatively few million years for life to appear, and then much longer for complex & then intelligent life to appear.  On the basis that many many planets throughout our galaxy and the couple of trillion other galaxies we are aware of have existed for billions of years longer than earth, then the likelihood that there is life and complex life and intelligent life on millions or billions of planets throughout the cosmos is quite high.

 

With one proviso: The development of life and complex and intelligent life does require great stability over billions of years in each case. That stability is not always available.

 

I hope (at age 74) to be alive when the first open & publicised visit from the neighbours takes place. The chances are they will be friendly & peaceable (not nasty & colonizing as it likely would be if we were doing the visiting). The effects on religious belief here on earth will be fascinating, in particular the notion of an earth-centered God will appear laughable given the size (probably infinite) and duration (probably eternal) of the cosmos.

 

 

 

Well (they say) the universe is 13 billion years old so depending on how long it took their intelligent life to appear on whatever planets out there sustain life, and whether they had any extinction level events (like earth has experienced) would all factor in to how advanced they are.   Humans are still so primitive really, only being around for 200,000 years and only really becoming civilised 6000 years ago which allowed for collaboration and technical advancement.  Any advanced species would dismiss the notion of an all powerful sky wizard I would think, and the fact that humans still do is a testament to just how primitive a species we still are.  

 

If we as a species survive for another million years I expect we will find ways and means to travel the vast distances of space to be able to encounter other life but is highly unrealistic that we will see aliens in the next decade, or even tens of Millenia.

[eisfeld]

31 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

Why not? given some 100-400 billion stars in the Milky Way with at least that number of planets, at least some of which are likely to have properties required for life to develop (primarily water).

 

The Milky Way is not our solar system. It's our galaxy which the solar system is a very small part of.

[impulse]

Carbon based life on earth sprung up and evolved in an environment where there's liquid water as a universal solvent.

 

I suspect we'll find that life also sprung up where liquid methane is the universal solvent, maybe based on silicon instead of carbon.  Too cold for "life as we know it", but perfectly conducive to other chemical processes.

 

But we won't see it if all we're looking for is carbon based life.

 

[parallelman]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Well, at some point we might find some proof of alien life. No doubt the universe is chock full of intelligent civilization. Just not here on earth. Considering the vastness of the universe, I consider it sheer hubris, that so many insist we are the only intelligent species in the entire universe. It would not surprise me if there were countless highly evolved populations on distant planets.

How can anyone comprehend the vastness of this universe, and say it is likely we are the only form of intelligent life within it? No. We are alone is infinitely more terrifying. If earthlings are the best this universe has, that would be terrifying. We are an exceedingly unimpressive civilization. There are likely millions of advanced civilizations out there. It would be a most astonishing waste of space, to think otherwise! It is a near impossibility, to a truly open mind.

We are a speck of galactic dust. There are thousands of galaxies within our local supercluster, spanning 100 million light years, just in this relatively small part of the universe. Our supercluster is but one part of a larger cluster, called Laniakea, consisting of 100,000 large galaxies, spanning 400 million light years. Each galaxy has how many solar systems? How many planets and stars? And many somehow use their intellects to presume it is nothing but empty space. Why? Because it cannot be proven? That is a weak argument. We are the chosen ones? That is sheer hubris, and a statistical near impossibility.
 

Just look around. Are we really that amazing? I should say no. Not impressive. We have not even figured out nuclear fusion yet, and world peace is a distant dream. We are just now figuring out less invasive surgery. No cures for cancer, tinnitus, and so many other diseases. Advanced? Barely. And only by very modest standards. We have no idea how truly advanced telecommunication or teleportation works, and we have barely figured out the relationship between the health of our soil, and the way we treat it. We foul our environment to no end, we use a primitive oil product to power our vehicles, and we treat our great oceans like dumping grounds, and we abuse animals and people to no end. We are arrogant yes. Truly advanced? No. And if an alien group could contact us, why would they want to get in touch with us? For an advanced alien civilization, it would be like taking a dip into the universal sewer. Not only are we not alone, it is likely we are one of the least evolved civilizations even within our own galaxy, much less the vastness of the universe! Think about our history. Khan, Attila the Hun, Queen Mary I, Ivan the Terrible, Vlad the Impaler, Qin Shi Huang, Wu Zetian, Leopold II, Lenin, Mussolini, Amin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot, Pinochet, Kim Jung II, Hideki Tojo, Tsar Vladimir Putin, Than Shwe, King Abdullah, Trump, Bieber, Kardashian. Come on. Really?

 

Why contact us?

Why would an advanced alien race have any interest in lowly earthlings? What could we possibly teach them? Perhaps:
1. How to destroy your home (and only) planet, and how to behave as if we had multiple alternative planets to re-locate to, just in case!
2. How to hate each other.
3. How to create war.
4. How to generate electricity with spent uranium, that lasts tens of thousands of years.
5. How to create social media platforms which encourage self destruction, hatred, self loathing among the youth, envy and move culture backwards.
6. How to create reality TV, which tears at the very fabric of civilization, and appeals only to our lower nature.

What else have I missed?

Well, I do hope that there isn't someone reading your post that suffers from depression (joke). I like to think that we human beings are capable of surviving and proving ourselves worthy of note.

There are some considerations to take into account...not all galaxies are the same. For example, there is a debate going on at present about Elliptical galaxies. On one side it is thought that Eg's are more stable, contain more stars and metals than Spiral galaxies like our own. Star production is slower in Eg's. However, more star production could mean a higher chance of Supernova bombarding any planets with radiation preventing life (as we known it) from forming. Galaxies with very AGN are more likely to douse the galaxy with high energy radiation again preventing life from starting. Like Solar Systems, do galaxies have a 'habitable zone'? We don't know. The current theory suggests that it won't really matter anyway and that DE will eventually pull the universe apart and some say there is evidence that our super cluster of galaxies are moving apart. Of course, one can then argue that there might be clusters of universes (not to mention other dimensions, Ha!)

[eisfeld]

People understimate the sheer vastness of the universe. Just going by statistics it's likely that:

 

1. There are aliens *somewhere* in the universe

2. That they are not anywhere close to us in location

3. That we wont make contact with them anytime soon because travel would take forever

4. Due to the accelerating expansion of the universe the time is ticking for there to even be any physical way to even know about their existance before they drift away faster than light

[Purdey]

I don't see how we can communicate with alien civilizations as the maximum speed attainable is that of light.

 

If we have enough money to put colonies in other planets, we should have enough to save this planet first. 

[RichardColeman]

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Well, at some point we might find some proof of alien life. No doubt the universe is chock full of intelligent civilization. Just not here on earth. Considering the vastness of the universe, I consider it sheer hubris, that so many insist we are the only intelligent species in the entire universe. It would not surprise me if there were countless highly evolved populations on distant planets.

Whilst I may like the idea of intelligent life out there, I am somewhat of the opinion that we may actually be the most intelligent species out there. My reasoning would be that the only life out there that could be seen as ultra intelligent would be one that would have had to have survived any initial 'big bang' (my own opinion is the big bang being and exploding black hole). 

 

If we assume that ALL life starts the same with water, heat , etc and it all follows the same live of amoeba, fish, reptile, dinosaur/mammal, etc then there may well be many many planets out there that have huge amounts of wildlife but no intelligent species.

 

Humans evolved supposedly to the most intelligent life mainly I suspect due to the deaths of the dinosaurs via meteorite hit , etc. So unless an event like this happed that mirrored our own planet..................

 

If, there is life out there that we could communicate with it would probably be reptile in origin and we may well find ourselves at war with them as they  would view us as food, in the same way that KFC would accidentally start an intersteller war if the intelligent life out their is chicken descended 

 

 

 

[eisfeld]

20 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Whilst I may like the idea of intelligent life out there, I am somewhat of the opinion that we may actually be the most intelligent species out there. My reasoning would be that the only life out there that could be seen as ultra intelligent would be one that would have had to have survived any initial 'big bang' (my own opinion is the big bang being and exploding black hole). 

 

If we assume that ALL life starts the same with water, heat , etc and it all follows the same live of amoeba, fish, reptile, dinosaur/mammal, etc then there may well be many many planets out there that have huge amounts of wildlife but no intelligent species.

 

Humans evolved supposedly to the most intelligent life mainly I suspect due to the deaths of the dinosaurs via meteorite hit , etc. So unless an event like this happed that mirrored our own planet..................

 

If, there is life out there that we could communicate with it would probably be reptile in origin and we may well find ourselves at war with them as they  would view us as food, in the same way that KFC would accidentally start an intersteller war if the intelligent life out their is chicken descended 

 

 

 

 

That's a bit narrow minded. The fact that it happened this way on earth does not mean it has to always happen this way. There's an infinite amount of alternative ways by which it's physically possible to establish intelligent life without going through these exact steps. So all these priors are imho not reasonable.

[Hummin]

4 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Yes, I agree with all you say. In the history of the earth (3.8 billion years) it took a relatively few million years for life to appear, and then much longer for complex & then intelligent life to appear.  On the basis that many many planets throughout our galaxy and the couple of trillion other galaxies we are aware of have existed for billions of years longer than earth, then the likelihood that there is life and complex life and intelligent life on millions or billions of planets throughout the cosmos is quite high.

 

With one proviso: The development of life and complex and intelligent life does require great stability over billions of years in each case. That stability is not always available.

 

I hope (at age 74) to be alive when the first open & publicised visit from the neighbours takes place. The chances are they will be friendly & peaceable (not nasty & colonizing as it likely would be if we were doing the visiting). The effects on religious belief here on earth will be fascinating, in particular the notion of an earth-centered God will appear laughable given the size (probably infinite) and duration (probably eternal) of the cosmos.

 

 

If intelligent life is alike us, something we must asume, there is no way they will survive long enough to make intergalactic travels. We have only managed visiting one planet in humanity history the last 50 years out of 4,5 billion years since earth was created. Now we are capable to self destructiv ourself in hours, as well super volcany and other natural disasters is awaiting.

[thrilled]

Life in another planet don’t want nothing to do with earth. At least I wouldn’t. I would stay away from this place. 

[daveAustin]

I dunno, Mike, despite all that--2-4 trillion galaxies in the Observable etc--we could actually still be it. The universe is very young, though granted is immense and now loaded with the right ingredients to produce anything it wants. But the fact that we came about is chance encounter upon chance encounter X gawd knows how many thousands of chance encounters.

 

Without Theia crashing into us to rake out our moon and lend us a massive iron core and slow us down we would not exist, without the late heavy bombardment, the ingredients would not be there for us to exist, without Jupiter hoovering out the trash and capturing comets and asteroids we would not exist, and despite that without the comet extinction event that took out the dinosaurs for mammalian life to gain a proper foothold we would not exist... + very stable sun with no neighbour to chuck stuff at us and an abnormally stable solar system etc. It goes on and on and on. All of this is fantastically abnormal.

 

I understand the Drake equation and the probability going by the vastness and massive numbers -- probably summat like 20-40 billion potential planets like ours in our own galaxy in a potential habitat zone alone. But, bearing in mind, much of the galaxy is uninhabitable. You've got to be right out in the boring suburbs where we are or will get trashed by big radiation. Most of the planets of the billions upon billions of stars will be utterly sterilised, though granted worlds with thick ice could potentially harbour activity, but good luck in putting together electronics and launching rockets. 

 

But despite my diatribe, there's every chance we are the ancients and have been 'built' and are being watched. I mean, look at us... weak as piss, always sick, struggle with most environments on earth. Contrast that with how well most animals on our planet thrive, naked, and are properly in tune with their environment.

 

But, yes, most of these extra terrestrial projects are focused on finding the tiny; microbes and such... and it is likely they will.

 

[Hummin]

3 hours ago, eisfeld said:

 

That's a bit narrow minded. The fact that it happened this way on earth does not mean it has to always happen this way. There's an infinite amount of alternative ways by which it's physically possible to establish intelligent life without going through these exact steps. So all these priors are imho not reasonable.

Life most likely travel space, and fertilize planets. The theory of panspermia is one of them. We do not know whats outside our reach of view, and most likely a system of multiversea, where life have been flourishing for billions of years already, and comets we know travel interstellar and crashes in to planets, bringing elements and maybe frozen lifeforms. Galaxies crashes with each other, but so far we just do not have any proofs. Still interesting

 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/130905-mars-origin-of-life-earth-panspermia-astrobiology

 

 

[NickyLouie]

When you roll thru the hood, do you say to yourself 'hey let's get out and mingle with these savages' ?

 

Nope.

 

Here is another point, there have been millions of planet Earths in the universe where the existing life forms fizzled out in due time before attaining the technology to explore the 9th level and thus joining in on the understanding . It's probable humans (savages) will meet the same fate as well.