33 Replies to “They’re Night Fishing”

  1. The first ever long lived civilization in the universe just died, actually, billions of years ago. How’s that for a theory?
    The vast distances of space matter, but time is of the essence when looking for intelligent civilizations capable of at least radio communication.
    They come and go at the blink of an eye in cosmic terms. They would be easy to miss, like we would be; if we don’t kill ourselves, the Sun will.
    Maybe there’s a lot of really smart whales in the universe, but we won’t hear from them.

  2. Final comment in the link – Scientists estimate that the odds of humanity being the only civilization in the universe are less than one chance in about “10 billion trillion.”
    ——————————————————-
    We always knew other planets would be there but ever since they’ve found actual planets orbiting other stars, scientists have gotten all excited and started talking about life on other planets and other advanced intelligences, completely forgetting previous research. The universe, for the most part, is so hostile to life that chances of intelligent alien life is essentially zero. It’s all wishful thinking.

  5. Yeah, I can’t believe our species keeps sending them invitations, without first knowing what they eat.

  6. While I’d like to believe that this could be an indication of extraterrestrial life, I’m sure that the source might be something different but equally as exotic and mysterious.
    In 1967, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was a graduate student when she became the first person to discover some strange radio signals. The source of those signals was jokingly named LGM (for “little green men”) because they consisted of regular pulses. The source turned out to be not a cosmic civilization but from the first known pulsar.
    It’s quite likely that the fast radio bursts might originate from a type of star that hadn’t been known before.

  7. I picked up those signals last night on my old rabbit ears b/w TV.
    It was God.
    T.E.L.L–N.I.M.M.Y–I–L.O.V.E–H.I.M.

  8. We’ve been sending radio signals into space for more than 100 years since the days of Guglielmo Marconi, Reginald Fessenden, and Edwin Armstrong.
    Back then, nobody had any ideas that other galaxies existed. It wasn’t until Edwin Hubble made his observations that what had been known as island universes or spiral nebulae were, indeed, independent astronomical objects outside of the Milky Way.
    The idea that there might be other civilizations besides our own was more in the realm of authors and storytellers. Nobody a century ago would have thought that any being out there might actually be listening to our radio signals.
    If someone or something out there has malicious intentions towards us, our goose has already been cooked.

  9. Maybe PM Zoolander can recite his time and space lines to help solve the mystery.

  10. Just a little something to occupy their minds.
    Don’t think there is anything in the Bible about other planets being occupied, and can’t remember anything about it in Revelations, or any other of the prophetic books. Altho’ someone with a better memory might.
    Hal Lindsay today:
    Folks, I know I keep saying this to you, but each time I do, it’s even more true: Get ready! Jesus is coming soon! You see, the ‘man of lawlessness’ that will lead the one-world government cannot be revealed until the One who restrains him has been removed from the earth. ‘The restrainer’ is the Holy Spirit. And since the Holy Spirit dwells in all true believers, to remove Him from the earth means we must be removed, also. That’s what we call the ‘Rapture.’
    Because we see the Antichrist’s government now being created by the nations of the world; because we see the world plunged into financial chaos and desperately searching for a solution (which is precisely how the Antichrist will achieve worldwide control); and because we have a blow by blow blueprint of these final days provided us by the ancient prophets, I can say with authority that time is short. Make sure you’ve accepted the pardon that Jesus died to purchase for you. And make sure your friends and family have the opportunity to accept this pardon, too.

  11. Kate >
    “Yeah, I can’t believe our species keeps sending them invitations, without first knowing what they eat.”
    Heh, if evolution and natural selection apply everywhere, we’re definitely at the bottom of the interstellar food chain.

  12. No, it’s not zero. It’s one. It’s virtually guaranteed. The universe is a really, really, really big place, and no matter what tiny probabilities you choose, they’re overpowered by the “number of solar systems” term.
    Now, the Drake Equation makes it pretty clear that we’ll never find out about them, but that’s not the same as saying they don’t or can’t exist.

  13. All probability is conditional. 1 and 0 can both be correct (though not at the same time with the same premises) depending on whose premises/priors you accept.

  14. According to H.G. Wells we’re destined to be eaten by the Morlocks anyway.

  15. Here is my take on the statement: “Scientists estimate that the odds of humanity being the only civilization in the universe are less than one chance in about “10 billion trillion.”
    1. “Scientists”, unnamed, unknown. Much like those references to “Experts” who are also generally anonymous and also speak to things unknown.
    2. “Scientist”, appeal to authority. It’s almost like a cult….. you can believe me because I never lie and am always right… I’m Bill Nye, the science guy.
    3. Predictions have now moved upward from “life” to “civilizations”. Just as vague however if you stop to think about it.
    All in all, an article to gin up some interest in the Star Trek and SETI crowd.
    Oh, and Daniel, here is the poetic form of your statement: Stars in the sky like grains of sand on the beach.

  16. They used to say the Earth was flat, today we know otherwise because someone bothered to investigate a little.
    That’s a good thing because I wouldn’t want to live in Europe, then or now.

  17. Fermi Paradox.
    Isaac Arthur has some neat videos on youtube about it.
    Chances are they’re natural in origin, though, Occam’s razor, and all that.

  18. “According to H.G. Wells we’re destined to be eaten by the Morlocks anyway.”
    You might be destined beget Eloi, but I am destined to beget Morelocks.

  20. “Heh, if evolution and natural selection apply everywhere, we’re definitely at the bottom of the interstellar food chain.”
    I would be kinda hoping they are the “Surf and Turf” aliens that carry a lot of fuel … the fuel, of course, being cold beer.

  21. “Hey that’s far out, so you heard him too,
    Switch on the TV, we may pick him up on Channel 2”

  22. Let us see now.
    There is more probability that there is intelligence and much of it in the immediate neighborhood and exponentially more in the Milky Way and more so in the rest of the universe, than there is probability that the life on this planed started from an amoeba.
    It could have been planted over the eons by gradually advancing civilizations, checked up and improved and so on and so on.
    Of course there is much and much and much …. more to the story, it is impossible to polemicize here.
    This is the thinking of this here guy.

  23. These lizard like aliens used this signal to steal one of my socks from dryer. We’ll find out later if they used it to make sure I didn’t win the lottery.

  24. Here is a bombastic equation by Drake, an astronomer:
    The Drake equation is a probabilistic argument used to arrive at an estimate of the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation
    Here is an explanation by Michael Crichton why it is bombastic:
    Michael Crichton tears up the Drake Equation (and SETI) pretty thoroughly in his speech entitled Aliens Cause Global Warming.
    http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/Publications/PDF_Papers…
    “…the Drake equation can have any value from “billions and billions” to zero. An expression that can mean anything means nothing. Speaking precisely, the Drake equation is literally meaningless, and has nothing to do with science. I take the hard view that science involves the creation of testable hypotheses. The Drake equation cannot be tested…”
    -Crichton

  26. Hmmmmm I hope they don’t discover any planets with life on them
    Juth-tin will immediately send them money

  27. JT will never have to worry about the Spock problem – aliens stealing his brain.

  28. Very doubtful that the radio bursts are artificial. Think about the vehicle that they would be pushing, unless it’s destination is unbelievably accurately calculated to meet it at the right time and place, it’s not going to arrive. Also, how will it decelerate?
    The bursts are from a natural phenomenon.

  29. Just because you can’t figure out how someone can juggle 3 kittens and 2 chainsaws … doesn’t mean it’s impossible or even improvable.

  32. Like the old saying,
    “I know there is intelligent life out there because they haven’t tried contacting us…”

  33. The Drake equation cannot be tested.
    Except that within the last few years alone, we’ve filled in several terms in the Drake Equation that were once thought to be unknowable.
    Here’s a quote from another SF author:
    “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.”
    ~ Arthur C. Clarke

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation