Imagine that intelligent alien life exists, that its discovered humanity, and that it has the technology to reach us. What would first contact between humanity and aliens be like?
In the first post in this series I looked at the idea that advanced alien civilisations might be totally indifferent to our existence and would simply choose to ignore us.
In the other scenarios in this series I’ll assume that they are interested in us, and in this post, that they arrive on Earth, but in a rather covert fashion.
In this series of posts I’ve looked at planetary bodies in our Solar System that could support life, from the moons of Saturn and Jupiter, to the cloud layers of Jupiter itself, to the ephemeral-once-jungles of Venus, I’ve even looked at Earth itself.
In previous posts I’ve looked at some likely, and some less likely, candidates for planets or moons in our solar system that could harbour life, including Jupiter, three of it’s moons, two of Saturn’s moons, and Mars and Venus.
Now its time for Earth. Yep, you read right.
In 1990 NASA used the Galileo spacecraft to look for life on Earth. Why bother you scream, whilst hurling your cup of tea violently against the wall? Well, NASA did it to test how well spacecraft like Galileo can find life on planets and moons from space. Call it a proof of concept, if NASA can find life on Earth, then at least they know the tech works, and hopefully won’t miss signs of life on other planets.
I’ve previously mentioned concepts like the Solar System, galaxies and the Universe, but I’ve never properly explained what each of them actually is. I’m sure most people have a vague idea, but probably aren’t 100% sure.
Read on and I’ll explain what a solar system is. Pretty sure you already know? You may be surprised.
Then in future posts I’ll tackle what a galaxy and the Milky Way actually is, and then what the Universe is.
Actually, for the Universe I’ll try my best, but it turns out the Universe is probably a much weirder place than people previously thought.
I’ve written quite a few posts about 2012, as I’m a fan of science and the truth, and I hate bullshit, particularly anti-science bullshit.
Lots of people are spreading rumours and non-science rubbish about 2012, some of them to make money. One of the worst lies is that NASA knows that something will happen in 2012 and they’re keeping quiet about it. It’s not true.
A NASA scientist called David Morrison has been bombarded by questions about 2012 on the ‘Ask an Astrobiologist’ section of the NASA website. It’s heart-breaking that this guy has spared time to answer scientific questions from the public, but has received over 5000 questions about this 2012 nonsense, including threats for denying its existence.
Here’s his response to all this bullshit.
Now stop it! And go and ask him some real scientific questions
Want to see some more David Morisson? He gave a long, but very entertaining lecture about 2012 that can be watched here.
The Fermi Paradox is an idea that complements the Drake Equation. Enrico Fermi asked the question, if there are so many stars in our Galaxy, and therefore probably many Earth-like planets, then there should be lots of alien civilizations in the Milky Way, but why haven’t we found evidence of them? Why not?
Nick Bostrom talks about the Fermi paradox, and some possible solutions, in the video below. It’s not as smooth as the Carl Sagan clip I just posted, but he has some interesting ideas. Nick Bostrom is a philosopher from Oxford University, and has some interesting ideas on human enhancement, the survivability of advanced civilizations and the nature of reality by the way, his website is full of interesting stuff.
What do you think is the answer? Are we alone? Is there alien life in our Galaxy, but just simple life? Or are advanced alien civilizations doomed to wipe themselves out as they become more technologically advanced?
If you like to read more about the Fermi Paradox, I’ve written a short post here, and a couple of posts on possible solutions here and here.
Carl Sagan was awesome, he was an American scientist, his interests were pretty broad, he was an astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist and astrobiologist, and he was also passionate about teaching science to the general public; he wrote a number of science books and had an award winning TV series called Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Sadly he died in 1996 aged only 62.
In this video he’s talking about the Drake Equation, the equation used to estimate the number of advanced civilizations in our Galaxy. It’s an awesome concept, and Carl explains it beautifully.
We don’t know the values of most of the variables in the equation yet, particularly the ones towards the end, as Carl demonstrates by calculating an answer between 10 and millions of advanced civilizations, but the Drake Equation is a great way to help us organise our thinking about astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial life (SETI).
It’s also fun to work out your own answer to the equation based on what you belief the value for each variable should be.
If you want to read more about the Drake Equation I’ve written a short post here.
Astrobioloblog 