Surely SETI will find something now...

[Neil]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7041183.stm I suspect they won't I 'm concerned there is something fundamentaly wrong in our belief there are thousands upon thousands of race all alive out there beaming out radio transmissions...

[Danny]

wouldnt it be cazy if we were the most advanced race in the universe, i eman statistically some further out areas would have held life for longer but what if we land on a planet adn find a caveman or medeival society, would we help with there advancement, or invade adn wipe out a defenseless enemy for recourses?

[DeadJonas190]

wouldnt it be cazy if we were the most advanced race in the universe, i eman statistically some further out areas would have held life for longer but what if we land on a planet adn find a caveman or medeival society, would we help with there advancement, or invade adn wipe out a defenseless enemy for recourses? That would make an interesting story, man being the invading evil force on an alien planet. You should write it. By the way, your new avatar is trippy. I'm glad I don't do drugs or it would make me freak out.

[Marie]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7041183.stm I suspect they won't I 'm concerned there is something fundamentaly wrong in our belief there are thousands upon thousands of race all alive out there beaming out radio transmissions... Of course there is. They're being quiet (or using something besides radio) to HIDE FROM US! Yep, that's right, were the "Slow" kid in the class. Did they ever assume they use something other than radio? It IS awful slow over intersteller distances. Have our transmissions even reached Alpha Centauri? And in what condition if they did? M_

[Tricky]

Its possible we are the most advanced!perhaps other habitable planets dont have the minerals or atmosphere to create gunpowder & fire which is what really kicked off our advancement..

[Chakobsa]

Of course there is. They're being quiet (or using something besides radio) to HIDE FROM US! Yep, that's right, were the "Slow" kid in the class. Did they ever assume they use something other than radio? It IS awful slow over intersteller distances. Have our transmissions even reached Alpha Centauri? And in what condition if they did? M_ Radio waves travel at around the same rate as light. A. Centauri is about 4.2 light years distant from us, the most distant naked eye subject is M31, the Andromeda galaxy at 2.5 million light years.(just to add some idea of scale) radio waves obey the inverse square law, so probably would degrade somewhat by the time they reached A.Centauri. Here's an interesting link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox

[Marie]

Here's an interesting link; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_paradox Interesting indeed, especially: Communication is impossible for technical reasons Human beings are not listening properly There are some assumptions that underlie the SETI search programs that may cause searchers to miss signals that are present. For example, the radio searches to date would completely miss highly compressed data streams (which would be almost indistinguishable from "white noise" to anyone who did not understand the compression algorithm). Extraterrestrials might also use frequencies that scientists have decided are unlikely to carry signals, or do not penetrate our atmosphere, or use modulation strategies that are not being looked for. The signals might be at a datarate that is too fast for our electronics to handle. "Simple" broadcast techniques might be employed, but sent from non-main sequence stars which are searched with lower priority; current programs assume that most alien life will be orbiting Sun-like stars. I think the answer is we are looking for a finite and rare number of "needles" in an extremely large and complex "haystack". We are also making a lot of assumptions and limited in our ability to understand. As always, YMMV. M_

[mista_mo]

Well, to take a cue from the Imperium of man in the warhammer 40,000: if it ain't human, it's as good as dead, and even if it's human, they gotta worship the immortal God Emperor of man otherwise they are heretics. hehehehe, i've always loved the random genocide in that game. i dunno much about seti anymore, i kinda lost interest in it, but i liek what marie is saying here.

[Danny]

ive allways felt the empire in warhammer 40k were the bad guys, you either follow there rules and religion and whatnot or your as good as dead. -nerd alert.

[CornishCorpse]

Some call me..Mickey Nine, find him in a bush! Nice avatar Hell, its blatantly stolen now. If we were the most developed? I think we would bring them upto speed or attempt to. I think thats what we would be told but what if they rejected us? we tried to give them all our technologies and would it do any good in a medieval society? aswell as being evil and demonic we would be sparking a downward spiral for them. Look at us now, at least in the past wars were fought by men with armour and tactics rather than flicking a switch and whiping out 10,000 lives. If they rejected us would we just accept them and diseppear like we had never met? I think we would hound them, study them. In an ideal world we would give them the technology and teach them to avoid the mistakes we have made in our own society but then it brings the question of the rich. The rich from our planet could shape a whole world in their image with the right kind of money, no laws on this new planet and if there were a 50.Cal could quieten even the most righteous. As for the 40k reference, very noice. The empire were the bad guys, we were supposed to side with em because we are the same race but bleh. Theres some very good stories highlighting this in the short stories collections. A memorable one which has a marine stuck on a planet where settlers had crashed and essentially grown spider legs, they worshipped the emporer and waited for him to come release them while fighting off the various dangers of the planet. Generations went on and they mutated more and worshipped the emporer, the marine landed and eventually was picked up and soon as he submitted his report on the mutant halflings the planet was obliterated. PURGE THE MUTANT!

[mista_mo]

Hey you two, don't make me get into a big nerd rage and post why the Imperium aren't the worst in 40k (no such thing as good guys in 40k, just lesser degrees of bad, in which the Imperium is certainly not that high up compared to the other races) i haven't read that one cornish...do you have a link? I am currently reading the Ciaphas cain novels..dunno if ya heard of em, but heres a link about the cahracter and books. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciaphas_Cain For the Emperor and such...

[Danny]

Some call me..Mickey Nine, find him in a bush! Nice avatar Hell, its blatantly stolen now. oh im keeping this one for a while "Some call me shatoon - bringer of corn Others call me mickey nine, the dream weaver Some call me photoshop Others call me trenu, the boiler Some call the marjory keek Others call me captain massiah Others call me Rrrrrr-Rubbady-Pubbady Some call me Haribo Fantasy Mix some call me...cillit bang, And some call me ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhaaahahah SMITH But, My Real Name Is Rudy Van Disarzio, jazz fusion guitarist"

[Geophyrd]

I had Seti@Home running on my computers at home, but I don't think they're necessarily listening for radio signals as in alien DJs. I believe they are seeking non-random patterning in the radio spectrum, which is a very different thing. The radio spectrum gets disturbed by many things, all a natural part of a civilization and would be an easy tell-tale. Use of the radio spectrum for transmissions aren't all they're looking for...or so I remember. As to whether they're out there, I know about as much as anyone (which is to say nothing) but don't you think it would be irresponsible of us not to look?

[Danny]

why irresponsible?

[Geophyrd]

But I say irresponsible because sooner or later, you have to knock on your neighbor's door, say hello and see if they're going to be friends or not.