Space Post - Super Earths 'in the billions'

[Neil]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17532470


There could be many billions of planets not much bigger than Earth circling faint stars in our galaxy, says an international team of astronomers.

Which beggars the question - which I've asked over and over - where the hell is everyone then?

I unfortunately fear, although habital worlds are common place, and indeed even life is a frequent occurrence, that intelligent (enough) life is not as wide spread as we think, and worse still most/all invariably run themselves back into the ground by using up their resources - ie: Think Easter Island...

I wouldn't be surprised if towards then end of my lifetime, and/or my childrens we start to see the technological decline of the species. ie: Where we simply cannot be frivolous with resources. Space travel for example will become an unnecessary/impossible luxury.

[Knighty]

Maybe they don't want to visit us? Space is vast (I mean bigger than the M25 vast) and we can only see a fraction of what is out there . Chances are if there is life out there (which I believe there is and statistically is possible) that they may be so far away that we will never meet them.
And if we do they might be gross and have three arms and a nose for an eye or something.

[Mike70]

I unfortunately fear, although habital worlds are common place, and indeed even life is a frequent occurrence, that intelligent (enough) life is not as wide spread as we think, and worse still most/all invariably run themselves back into the ground by using up their resources - ie: Think Easter Island...


i think this is likely the case. life is probably relatively common in the galaxy. the elements necessary for it are found in huge abundance nearly everywhere we look in our own galaxy, esp. around younger stars, which have formed from nebular clouds that have become richer and richer in heavier elements as time goes along.

i also agree with you that intelligent life is most likely incredibly rare. it could be the case that for every planet with life on it, only 1 out of 100,000 of them has "intelligent" life.


i don't think space exploration can ever be allowed to become an unaffordable luxury. it is the future and the ONLY hope our species has for long term survival. the earth will not be inhabitable forever because of one inescapable factor: the sun will continue to get hotter and brighter as it ages. can you imagine what even a 1 or 2 % increase in solar radiation would do to life on earth. we wouldn't be going outside in the daylight anymore. that will happen. it may be several million years in the future but the sun will one day render this planet uninhabitable for humans long before the sun is off the main sequence.

i also think it unwise to assume that an intelligent species that survived a different evolutionary process would be anything like us or even be interested in the same things we are.

i think for the present time we should continue to look for planets but the search for life should focus on the solar system because there are several places where it is quite possible there is life. Enceladus, Europa, Titan, and Mars in that order. hell, even high up in the clouds on venus there are interesting and strange things going on.

oh by the way - Cassini flew within 46 miles of the surface of enceladus the other day and went right through the plumes of water coming from the surface. not only is there organic chemicals in the water - it's salt water. that little moon just keeps getting more and more interesting.

if there is life on another world in our own system, then that closes the deal for me.

[acealive1]

theres a reason we cant go even in the area of pluto besides the cold, im willing to bet theres people on the other side thinking the same thing and cannot get here. for good reason i guess lol

[Eyebiter]

We send Anthropologists to study remote tribes to learn their customs and behavior. If you presuppose the existence of other off world groups, then there is a good chance they are already here observing our society. The only question is are they beings from another world? Humans from another time? Or a combination of the two?

[Neil]

theres a reason we cant go even in the area of pluto besides the cold, im willing to bet theres people on the other side thinking the same thing and cannot get here. for good reason i guess lol
Exactly - Space travel is so costly/difficult, it's not done!

And/or, with my Easter Island scenary, technologically advanced societies simply burn up their resources, and then fall back to a lower level, unable to managed or justify space travel/communication...