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Ancient Aliens
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01-12-2011 12:07pm#1
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Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 91,754 Mod ✭✭✭✭
Join Date:Posts: 89992
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradoxIn an informal discussion in 1950, the physicist Enrico Fermi questioned why, if a multitude of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations exists in the Milky Way galaxy, evidence such as spacecraft or probes is not seen.
http://xkcd.com/718/
"Statistics suggest that there should be tons of alien encounter stories, and in practice there are tons of alien encounter stories. This is known as Fermi's Lack-of-a-Paradox."
The universe is billions of years old. Without any breakthroughs in technology we could if we were single minded enough and didn't count the cost colonise the galaxy in a time measured in millions of years.0 -
I can't watch that program because I don't really want to end up destroying a perfectly good telly by punching the screen or throwing a brick through it
That said Cap'n Midnights last point and convergent evolution make me think that rather than Star Treks Galaxy full of human looking aliens that for the most part are differentiated by the locations of the lumps on their heads being a silly notion and simply a function of the cost of prosthetics and makeup, its actually the most likely scenario to my mind. The humanoid insectoid and reptilian species etc would be down to convergent evolution where they are genetically unrelated to humans but a sentient technological species can only come to be if they dedicate at least one set of limbs as analogues of arms and hands and at least one large set of eyes for binocular vision. As for all the other human looking species with funny nodules on their forheads or noses? Well 2 million years of divergent evolution will do that for a species after it slowly colonises the galaxy like Cap'n Midnight describes. 2 Million years ago were more like CHimpanzees than human.
ie. I think Klingons are much more likely than 'The Thing' 0 -
I like this a lot, I watch it regularly. I read Von Daniken's books back in the late 80's/early 90's and found them fascinating.
The series, and Ancient Alien hypothesists in general, tend to keep doing the same thing over and over - they find some fascinating mysteries that exist because our understanding of early history and civilisation is very limited, and then they jump to the conclusion that aliens did it. I think a lot of the questions they ask are very valid, but their answers leave a lot to be desired.
There are lots of things we don't understand about the earliest human civilisations and the development of early technology. There are lots of things that are not easily explained. But there is no real evidence of extraterrestrial involvement.
It makes a great story, these guys are creating a modern mythos for our time. But the series as a whole would benefit from more skeptical input too.
Great entertainment though 0 -
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Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 91,754 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 89992
consider how few bipeds there areie. I think Klingons are much more likely than 'The Thing'
humans,kangaroos and kangaroo rats
birds and their ancestors (some dinosaurs)
and all are warm blooded vertebrates, whose number of limbs was determined by the numbers of fins on fish 500 million years ago
on our own planet some of the most intelligent organisms include dolphins and the octopus. If you look at the stuff that was around in the cambian explosion you'll see that diverse body plans were common place here
on a practical note water bears make excellent space travellers ,http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artjun00/mmbearp.htmlJust try and ask your neighbour whether he or she knows or believes in an animal which:
— lives nearby, including cities
— moves smoothly like a bear, has legs, claws, eyes, skin and muscles
— has the colour and surface texture of one of those sweet bear gums loved by children
— doesn't need to carry along a knife and fork as it has two in-built knives
— can revert to an "instant coffee"-dry state which resists storage in liquid nitrogen, contact with mineral acids, organic solvents, radioactive radiation and boiling water. After this kind of brute "scientific" scrutiny the miraculous creature is still able to return to normal life—it needs only a small droplet of water!
http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artmay99/dwbear.htmlTardigrades are a fascinating group, and have an ability to withstand extreme conditions in a desiccated barrel-like form called a 'tun'. In this form they are one of the most resilient types of animal known. Temperatures as low -272ºC (i.e. almost absolute zero) or as high as 151ºC; X-ray radiation 1000x times the human lethal dose; high vacuum - conditions all taken in the stride of the not so humble water bear. When a piece of dried-up moss which had been kept in a museum for 120 years was moistened, tardigrades successfully recovered from the 'tuns' in the moss.
Recent research has notched up another feat of endurability, apparently they can withstand 6000 atmospheres pressure,0 -
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Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 91,754 Mod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 89992
Only works if you ignore crows, dolphins, cats, dogs, pigsNot all the intelligent species are primate, but all of the primates are intelligent....Which would suggest at least a corelation between this basic body form and the ability to expand to sentience.
birds use tools even though they don't have hands
under UK law the octopus is an honoury vertebrateYet all of the higher ones are tetrapods....0 -
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0
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