In your lifetime, find life on other planets?

I plan to live forever, so of course!

 

I honestly can't answer this question, and here's why:

I think the discovery is contingent upon technology.

Citing Moore's Law, it's pretty arbitrary to assign just what level of technology is needed.

So, the best I can answer, "maybe".

h34r:

 

Sentient life, no. Life, yes.

 

I voted No. I believe there is intelligent life somewhere in the universe (maybe not here on Earth!) but the distances involved are so great, and the size so large, and the speed of light a limiting factor (sorry Star Trek fans!) that the chances of our picking up clear signs of life are very small, and the chances of our being found by space travellers vanishingly small.

So, in my lifetime I do not expect we'll find life.

P.S. Outside our solar system it seems very unlikely we could ever find clear signs of life, other than the radio signals that might be generated by technological civilizations. And even there, it's possible that after a short period of openness, civilizations would go to great lengths to hide themselves, making them even harder to find.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 25 2007, 02:23 PM) [snapback]430018[/snapback]</div>

I largely agree, but I voted Yes. There's the possibility of finding microbial life on Mars (perhaps only fossilized now), but also we'll be able to detect the percentage of oxygen and other components in a planet's atmosphere, and from that deduce that life is likely widespread on the surface. We won't find actual species or communicate with aliens however. We might get lucky with the radio-based SETI, but I'm not holding out great hopes (or fears) there.

Ack Ack! (We come in peace) Ack! (Not!) <and country music saves the world...>

 

Why, of course! Why do you think I drive a Prius?
I include my photo.

Best wishes to all Earthlings.

 

I think we will find intelligent, peaceful life on another planet, and then President Jenna Bush will immediately launch an invasion on it.

 

I'm 100% with Daniel on this one. It's crazy to think there's no life in the rest of the universe. It's also crazy to think that our technology will break through any of the limiting factors soon enough. And even then, the scale of time in the universe is so large that it's likely that many civilaztions could come and go within relatively small distances but without overlapping in time, and so would have no chance of finding each other.

p.s. that "earth-like" planet that was found orbits its star in a matter of days. We're spotting planets right now by looking at the wobble of their stars and inferring the planet's existence, and we'll only spot very massive or very fast-moving planets that way. Tidal forces on a planet like that might be intolerable. At any rate, we're not going to find a truly earth-like planet with the current methods.

 

I agree with the over-lapping problem for finding sentinent life. In cosmological time we are less then a blink and at the rate we're going we might not become much more... The odds for another civilization that we can observe is less then remote.

It will be interesting to see if we find life on Mars, the moon Europa or elsewhere in our solar system. Would be interesting to see how religion dealt with it.

 

If they found us and looked around for a while, they would probably leave and not come back.

 

Do I believe life is out there in some form, if even a fungus or amoeba? Yes.

Do I believe it will be found? Yes.

Do I believe it will happen in my lifetime? No.

Because to find it we'd have to either go there or send something very good there to detect it. And I'm afraid our government is both too cheap-a$$ and will be too busy paying down the Bush War Debt for the upcoming DECADES and then paying for inaction regarding GLOBAL WARMING to be able to go look for life on any other planet. We're gonna be lucky to just keep life on this planet going beyond the fungus/amoeba stage.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nerfer @ Apr 25 2007, 12:44 PM) [snapback]430036[/snapback]</div>

That was a fun movie!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tideland Prius @ Apr 25 2007, 03:56 PM) [snapback]430047[/snapback]</div>

20 light years away; not 20 million light years.

Not that that makes it any easier for us to get to...but still, it's only a 20-year trip one way at warp factor 1! B)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ichabod @ Apr 25 2007, 04:48 PM) [snapback]430127[/snapback]</div>

Actually, without knowing more about the planet there's no way to say what the tidal forces may be... If it doesn't have a moon, part of the equation is gone. Further, the tidal forces would heavily depend on it's specific path of rotation and the difference between it's closest and furthest points from the star - it's possible that the tidal forces would actually be less than we experience here.

i do agree that current methods are wholly inadequate to find true Earth like planets.

 

I voted yes. We will find evidence of life on Mars or Europa, and in our lifetimes (well, the next 40 years, anyway).

As to advance, higher forms of life, not in this lifetime. We already have been through the neighborhood, and there's nothing out there. Now, perhaps on one of those planets way out there ... well, maybe. But it very well could be that our Earth is the only planet with advanced life forms that we will ever know about.

The so-called "earth like" planet just discovered is 20.5 light years away ... about 120 TRILLION miles, folks. Unless our understanding of physics changes drastically, we aren't ever going to get there to find out.

 

I threw in my yes vote as well.

The planet you guys are talking about is called Gliese 581c. So far it would seem to be the best candidate outside our home system for life. And we don't need to travel the 20 or so LY to find out; over the next couple decades there will be several spacecraft launched to look for extrasolar planets, the later ones will be able to look for suspected signs of biological activity (water, methane, free O2 being among the top candidates). I think over the next several decades we will probably either discover life in our own system or find a strong indication of it from one or more planets beyond Sol, which is why my Yes vote...

One of the first dedicated missions to look for extrasolar planets is the Kepler spacecraft, due to launch next year. It will be interesting to see what it finds!

cc B)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Apr 25 2007, 02:23 PM) [snapback]430018[/snapback]</div>

That is an amusing, and very earth egotistical choice. You really don't think, that perhaps there is some race out there advanced from us, that might visit us first?

I have hope that I see aliens in my lifetime; why not have some hope in that? Could be cool.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TJandGENESIS @ Apr 27 2007, 12:26 AM) [snapback]431050[/snapback]</div>

I don't think that's what he is saying. I agree with him. I think there is life out there. I just think the speed of light limitation will keep us from making contact anytime in the next 100 years ( I am only 50... teee heee).

I too feel the excitement of finding out / meeting another intelligent species - but what if they turn out not to be too friendly - yikes!!!

By the way, if we find a nice uninhabited planet we can move in to... that would be great. Our company is ready to go anywhere to exploit any resources that may be there.... we are sort of running out here.... kind of depressing .... B)