To boldly go where no telescope has gone before.

[tinymhg]

:borg: Star Trek, :vader: Star Wars, and all the other unrealistic Sci-Fi (of which I am a fan) have given us a totally distorted view of what we as humans are capable of technologically. They have made us think we are ready to fly to the stars when we can’t even take the next step into space yet, a manned mission to Mars. Even if money was no object, and all the world worked toward this goal, it would take at the very least 5 years, if not 10 or 20, to pull it off. intoTheRain is right to say:

we could potentially start moving people onto the moon within 100 years, or mars. but definitely nothing beyond our solar system for hundreds.

So we are going to have to do a lot of boring hard work and take a lot small little steps before we can get out into the stars, and even then with light speed or FTL we will only be scratching the surface of what’s out there.

I hope this telescope leads to a list of potential life filled worlds, but I fear I shall never know if they are lifeless rocks or not.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

Guys guys guys....

....Don't you know?

The Prothean' will come visit us, lend us their relay technology and with that we will advance to such a high end technological level that we'll be able to travel to MULTIPLE galaxies, let alone distant planets in our own solar system.

God.

Don't you guys know ANYTHING?

There really aren't that many science fiction things where they go outside of their own galaxy. Cept for Hitchhikers, but that was a deconstruction and a comedy.

 

[CaptainPicard]

i wasnt meaning to find life, of course that we be sweet, but i mean that out there is all the resources we could ever shake a stick at. But instead we are stuck here choking ourselves to death and leveling whole countries.

im not sure if launching shit into space qualifies as wasting money, at least not compared to the kind of money we waste on laser guided bombs and occupying whole countries. Or maybe the billions put into a crooked foodstamp system.

Nick made a great point when he talked about the mindset. I think hes right. If we dont focus on that, then we are gonna have cellphones and telescopes that blow Star-Trek shit away...but yet we will be stuck here with the shitty ol' shuttle forever.

 

[intoTheRain]

life exists on other planets broski, don't worry, don't lose that magical feeling. to think there are other planets in our own solar system that could be capable of harboring life, and then look at the size of the galaxy.. you'd have to be retarded to believe life doesn't exist elsewhere.

This is a bold conclusion considering there is zero evidence to support it. Don't infer truth simply because you want it to be so.

if you're going by odds, with about 8 planets/moons in our own solar system with the potential to harbour life, and 1 septillion other solar systems out there, i'd say the odds are in the favor of life existing. while there is no hard evidence, i think it'd be far sillier to say there isn't life, than there is.

if you were a betting man you'd be pretty dumb not to take that bet. it may only be the lowest form of microbial life, who knows. but life is life.

 

[DocMoc]

You are correct that there are almost countless number of stars. Out of the ones that we have observed however, very few are Earth like. Most are objects with masses much greater than Earth. Only a small number have been considered Earth like. While we haven't observed every star in the sky, if the trend continues, very few would be Earth like. On top of that, a life beginning event is also rare. This greatly reduces the odds.

I'll never state that extrasolar life is impossible but the numbers are not as good as you believe.

 

[Longo_2_guns]

Life is able to grow in the most harsh conditions. A planet doesn't need to be earthlike to support it.

 

[intoTheRain]

Life is able to grow in the most harsh conditions. A planet doesn't need to be earthlike to support it.

You are correct that there are almost countless number of stars. Out of the ones that we have observed however, very few are Earth like. Most are objects with masses much greater than Earth. Only a small number have been considered Earth like. While we haven't observed every star in the sky, if the trend continues, very few would be Earth like. On top of that, a life beginning event is also rare. This greatly reduces the odds.

I'll never state that extrasolar life is impossible but the numbers are not as good as you believe.

a small number but that's within range of what we can see, which is pretty much 0 considering the size of our universe.

and like longo said, a planet/moon does not have to be just like earth to harbor life.. certain life forms can live in extremely harsh conditions..

the odds are a lot greater than you try and make it out to be.

 

[De-Ting]

I just want to point out the typo in the title.

 

[NickKmet]

You are correct that there are almost countless number of stars. Out of the ones that we have observed however, very few are Earth like. Most are objects with masses much greater than Earth. Only a small number have been considered Earth like. While we haven't observed every star in the sky, if the trend continues, very few would be Earth like. On top of that, a life beginning event is also rare. This greatly reduces the odds.

While you are correct, you have to remember that we don't actually have telescopes powerful enough to see objects as small as earth orbiting other stars. We've been able to detect larger objects, but anything as small as earth is pretty much impossible right now. They are getting better and better at detecting smaller and smaller objects though.

The other key to that statement is that we can't actually see any of those objects. We only really know planets exist around other stars through inferences, the two most important being shadows across the surface of star (measured by very, very small changes in the brightness of a star - this is why only large objects have been detected so far, only a large object could really affect the brightness of a star far away enough for us to measure it) and slight changes in what is lovingly referred to as a star's "wobble" - basically inferring the existence of an orbiting object based on detectable gravitational movement of the star.

 

[Wes]

To everyone who is saying what we CAN'T do, well, nothing is impossible guys.

Look at our world as it is today, and look at our world as it was 100 years ago in 1911. If you were to go back to 1911 and tell the people how our world is today they would think you're mad! Think about it, you would have to explain to them...

-hundreds of air planes in the sky everyday
-a pill created to help control reproduction
-man walking on the moon
-the internet
-the cell phone which has now adapted to the internet era
-a black man is president of the United States
-how films have advanced into the CGI era
-Hep-B vaccine, post it notes, disposable cameras, Prozac, Segways, ATM's, contact lenses, canned Beer, inter-racial marriage, same-sex marriage, helicopters, the atomic bomb, microwaves, vaccums, plastic, solar power, the microchip, Japanese robots etc...

Nobody knows what the future holds!!!! If someone from 2111 says that humans are able to travel to different planets with ease we would say that's crazy. But for all we know it could be possible! Just like those from 1911 who are unable to comprehend our technology today, we are unable to comprehend the technology of the future. Who's to say there isn't a breakthrough between now and then that leads to space travel to different galaxies by 2111. Who's to say we don't discover something in our universe that gives us a brand new theory and deeper insight on how it all began???

 

[tinymhg]

@Wes: I never said can’t do. I said can’t do right now. Big difference. I also think that is what intoTheRain was saying too.

Two of your “modern wondersâ€

 

[De-Ting]

I'd also like to point out the other typo in the title.

 

[tinymhg]

I'd also like to point out the other typo in the title.

Grammarian

 

[Wes]

Hey I think I made a pretty good thread for someone who was high at the time.


*fixes typo*
>.>
<.<

Two of your “modern wondersâ€

 

[tinymhg]

Take out those two I got wrong and you can replace them with a million other things,.

Like Video Games. :wink:

 

[Eyebrowsbv31]

They had pills that controlled the population during roman times. Made of pure lead. Or rollercoasters in the early 19's.

Wasn't exactly, uh, healthy, but it worked.

 

[WickedLiquid]

The 20th century was a HUGE leap forward in terms of technology and science. And I have no doubt the 21st century will shape up to be another astonishing 100 years that will take us even further than we can possible imagine right now. I mean, we're only 11 years into this century and already the world is a different place than it was in 2000 (for the better AND for the worst).

Sometimes it's hard to fully grasp just how fucking big our solar system alone is. But to travel to our closest star and explore that solar system is just beyond ridiculous. But i'm not saying it can't be done. I also believe in 100 years time we'll not only be able to travel to our closest solar system, but to other stars as well. We just need to figure out how to bend space and time.

Like Rain pointed out, a worm hole will take you from A to B instantly. It's like you're on one edge of a piece of paper and want to get to the other edge. If you fold the paper in half you'll be taken instantly to your destination. It's a damn cool theory, we just need to figure out how it's possible. I'll save that for the nerds, lousy nerds getting rich off of being lousy nerds..

 

[CaptainPicard]

Hey I think I made a pretty good thread for someone who was high at the time.

Yeah you're right, this turned out to be some great discussion And being pretty high myself all the time, i love talking about the universe lol

 

[CaptainPicard]

:borg: Star Trek, :vader: Star Wars, and all the other unrealistic Sci-Fi (of which I am a fan) have given us a totally distorted view of what we as humans are capable of technologically. They have made us think we are ready to fly to the stars when we can’t even take the next step into space yet, a manned mission to Mars.

Cmon Tiny! You know that if your a fan of sci-fi, then its gotta break your heart to see the decline of manned space-flights. Does it not make you sad to know that we havent been back to the moon since like 1972? (or3 or 4 or somthing lol)
---
No matter how much it might seem like a waste of money its not! If we arent gonna launch shit up there anymore, then the least we could do would be to dump the exact same horrendous amount of money into researching cheaper, and more powerful ways to get up to and around in space.

Whatever happened to taking steps and leaps for all mankind?

 

[CaptainPicard]

lol in my head right now its as simple as researching "heavy airstrip" in whatever random RTS you might fancy :bigup: