"We Are Not Alone," Astronaut Says

I'm suddenly reminded of Xenocide...Orson Scott Card did a fabulous job of framing this whole argument with his discussions of Varelse and Ramen.

The whole theme behind the book (and continued in Children of the Mind) centers around defining what exactly constitutes intelligent life, what is alien, and if we can co-exist with them. Long book, but worth the read.

Emperor7 wrote:

Crimson Jester wrote:

Emperor7 wrote:

FTL is possible. Let me explain it to you.

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What? You couldn't read it? Your obviously stuck in earth time. *sigh* primitive species...

Yes well some of us still....

...exactly...

However others of us.......

Sometimes......

Yes, but not always. Sigh

Heathansson wrote:

Crimson Jester wrote:

Sorry didnt mean to post it so seriously.

That's cool; I'm sleep deprived and don't know what I sound like.

Yeah I am at work and can only post between calls, aslo i forget my humor doesn't translate well to posting on threads, which is why I rarely do so. well anymore. I think I annoyed Sebastian for about a week. That was fun. Didnt get me on any enemy list though. Sigh

CJ, would you like me to write up an Enemies list and put you on the top that way you are on SOMEONE's list? Granted, you are not my enemy, but we do what we can for our friends!

P.S. - Besides, I have always liked your sense of humor!

oui, a un problème avec lui?

"Il n'y a pas d'infection ici!"

E-cookie for anyone who gets the reference; most of mine are lost in the void.

Crimson Jester wrote:

oui, a un problème avec lui?

"Il n'y a pas d'infection ici!"

E-cookie for anyone who gets the reference; most of mine are lost in the void.

Alex, who is Stephen King.

Alex, who is Stephen King.

Thanks, Andy, I already feel less alone in this universe! (Nice alias, BTW!)

He doesn't need one. He's got me.

Alex, who is Stephen King.

Thanks, Andy, I already feel less alone in this universe! (Nice alias, BTW!)

Chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin? The next question is, how long before Heathansson takes "$&!t Weasel" as an alias?

I like oatmeal raisin, personally.

Here I have no leg to Stand on.

Crimson Jester wrote:

Heathansson wrote:

Crimson Jester wrote:

Sorry didnt mean to post it so seriously.

That's cool; I'm sleep deprived and don't know what I sound like.

Yeah I am at work and can only post between calls, aslo i forget my humor doesn't translate well to posting on threads, which is why I rarely do so. well anymore. I think I annoyed Sebastian for about a week. That was fun. Didnt get me on any enemy list though. Sigh

CJ, would you like me to write up an Enemies list and put you on the top that way you are on SOMEONE's list? Granted, you are not my enemy, but we do what we can for our friends!

P.S. - Besides, I have always liked your sense of humor!

Naw thats ok, thanks though :)

If you want to get into semantics, the scientific method was devised relatively recently, and we were flying in hot air balloons not that long thereafter. Da Vinci was trying to design "ornithopters" for manned flight before that.

A cave man looking at birds is not a "scientist."

I wasn't trying to get into somantics, just to point out that until the invention of the hot air balloon, it was not unreasonable to believe that manned flight was impossible, there was certainly no evidence that it *was* possible, lots of evidence that it might not be. Until someone invented the balloon.

That also doesn't preclude men like Da Vinci theorising that it is possible for men to fly, and his insight was amazing for his time, that is after all how we advance.

Apply the same to FTL, there is no evidence it's possible, and plenty of indicators that it will not be. That doesn't make modern day "Da Vinci's" wrong to theorise ways that it could be. After all, that's how we will advance.

(the argument about what a scientist is, and how long people have been practising the scientific method could go on for hours.....The ancient greeks and almost all generations of Muslim have been doing the scientific method for centuries before Europe got into it, or America was created......Even if they didn't call it that....)

One would think that any alien civilization with technological advances allowing them to traverse the incredible distances between habitable planets would take one look at transmitions from our planet and turn their spaceships around.

Either that or destroy the planet to make sure we never escape it....

Most people expect there to be intelligent aliens.

And, yes the government does care, in fact, they help fund the science that enables us to search for it (them).

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A new >planet hunting, space telescope named Kepler< recently went online:

"Are we alone? Is ours a unique planet or are there many other Earths orbiting other stars? Launched successfully on March 6, 2009, Kepler, a NASA Discovery mission will help scientists determine just how many Earthlike planets may exist in our galactic neighborhood. "

Edit: I'm sure this will all be shown to be a hoax on Mythbusters.. telescopes in space.. No way!

Edit: I'm sure this will all be shown to be a hoax on Mythbusters.. telescopes in space.. No way!

Well, they are Mythbusters, after all!

If four dudes and a hot chick can't do it with a man made of gelatin and a generous helping of explosives, then it *clearly* can't be done!