LoneWolf said:
They might be 'OLD AND DATED' to you Baz, but to us, they are absolutely brilliant.....
erfect: :clap:
My thoughts on Space, When I see images like that is...
"Man is pretty gullible if He thinks He is the only living 'thing' out there"....
MT, I think you have posted that pic before on PA... I can remember seeing it and commented to Mrs Wolf about it awhile ago... That was a cool shot too... :Y:
LW...
I also used to work at the Canberra Deep Space Communications Centre, (CDSCC) AKA Canberra Tracking Station. My background in science communication and my astronomy studies have me open to all or nothing. I now lean towards nothing and here's why:
Once, the numbers of planets in habitable zones to be calculated around all the stars of the universe, gave a number that was so huge, all were convinced there would have to be other life, microbial or advanced civilisation, in more forms than we would guess. It was a certainty.
Now that the calculations have been done again and again countless times, those numbers have reduced and reduced each time, back so far the other way, that there's a pretty good chance - almost certain -that we are it - and until there is empirical evidence to suggest otherwise, it is just wishful thinking.
Let me put it this way - permutations - combinations - alignments for ideal conditions for life.
Our planet is the right size, composition, distance from the sun, spin speed, tilt, orbit, lunar companion to govern tidal circulation of heat, magnetosphere to protect from solar particles, ozone to protect from UV sterilisation, stable main-sequence star that unlike the vast majority of stars, has not fried it's entire solar system many times over. We have liquid water, organic chemicals in the right concentrations and stable environment long enough for life to survive and propagate. We have gas giants sweeping our solar system, vacuuming up debris that would otherwise pulverise our planet. We have a heliosphere that is strong enough and stable enough to protect us from the interstellar winds and our solar system is placed perfectly in a quiet zone between the Sagittarius and Orion arms of our milky way galaxy. Elsewhere our entire solar system would be ripped apart by the tidal forces of the galaxy.
These are but just a few of the staggeringly many conditions required for life of any kind. Change any one of these things by the smallest integer, things go very bad, very quickly, turning our oasis into a barren, sterile wasteland.
The combinations to have all this right are laughably improbable, if not impossible, even given the afore-mentioned, countless billions of stars in the universe.
Look at your simple pin number. There are 10,000 possible 4 digit combinations from 0-9, not to mention a DNA sequence being thousands of characters long for a simple protein and if it's in the wrong sequence, it doesn't work. Period.
I for one, would love the idea of another civilisation contacting us. I wish for it. Just think what we could learn, share and develop. It would change everything.
Most of us have a rather romantic notion of alien civilisations and if we are honest, it is a frightening concept to admit we might be utterly alone.
The more data we acquire and add into our super-computer calculations, given new methods and formula, computer models and algorithms, the more bleak the possibilities look.
Tabloids and, "scientific documentaries" on TV are a waste of anyone's time. Schooling ourselves with multiple credible sources and authorities that are actually doing the work is the only information us common people have that is worth forming some kind of opinion upon.
I'll leave you with this: Either life is a one-off, unique, never to be repeated occurrence, (so far this looks most likely) - or - if it has happened a SECOND time somewhere, anywhere, any time, then it is NOT unique, IS repeatable and therefore in a universe this big, life is everywhere. Not just one or two, but EVERYWHERE.
This is why I feel it is all or nothing. Mathematically, there is no in-between.
Just my humble opinion of course.
