Where are the 'Aliens'?

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
18,105
Our EM transmissions are flowing out into a pathetically small sphere of only about 100 light years in radius. That's really small compared to even the Milky Way, let alone the local speck of sand that is our niche in the universe. The signal to noise ratio of our transmissions probably renders the signals undetectable at a far lesser distance. We will never be heard beyond just a few tens of light years away.

The transmissions of any advanced race are subject to the same rules. If they're more than a few hundred light years away, we'll never know it and they'll never know about us either. Why would they stop by? Only if they're actively out looking around in a dedicated, extremely long-term mission and happen to stumble upon us.
 

Thread Starter

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,328

AlbertHall

Joined Jun 4, 2014
12,625
They are seeking intelligent life forms and have found any yet.
To quote Eric Idle:
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!
 

402DF855

Joined Feb 9, 2013
271
I enjoy watching Ancient Aliens on History channel, mostly for the interesting places they visit and the artifacts they examine. Despite not believing any of the "Ancient Astronaut Theory", I still am fascinated by all the building of monuments made in ancient times. But eventually the BS meter goes off the rails, and a face palm is insufficient, so I flip the channel.

But I've considered that, IF aliens visited Earth millennia ago and then left, and if they are able to travel at relativistic speeds, it would be conceivable that those aliens have only been gone for a few days or months, due to time dilation, by their reckoning.
 

ericgibbs

Joined Jan 29, 2010
21,442
If the galaxy is billions of years old and it took humans just a few decades to visit the moon and launch space stations, why hasn’t single alien spaceship landed on the White House lawn?
hi nsa,
'They' are possibly asking themselves the same question.o_O
E
 

bogosort

Joined Sep 24, 2011
696
If the galaxy is billions of years old and it took humans just a few decades to visit the moon and launch space stations, why hasn’t single alien spaceship landed on the White House lawn?
A few decades? It took 4 billion years for us to land on the moon!
 

Thread Starter

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
16,328
A few decades? It took 4 billion years for us to land on the moon!
That might be the end point of most civilizations. The science and technology needed for near planet space exploration happens at the same time we have the science and technology needed to destroy the entire planets civilization.
 
Top