Do you believe we can communicate with life outside our planet, if it exists..?
355868
This is an interesting issue for astronomers and exo-biologists. There is no way of knowing how an extra-terrestrial species will communicate with each other. We may find some clues on our own planet by studying birds, dolphins, chimpanzees, etc.\n\nSteven Speilberg proposed the possibility of music being used as mode of communication in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."\n\nRead the book "The Cosmic Connection" by Carl Sagan, in which Sagan discusses this topic in great detail. He talks about all the problems we may face, and he even writes about the possible problems with the Gold plaque he designed for Pioneer 10. It's a very well designed plaque featuring a man, a woman, a hydrogen molecule, the location of planet within the solar system, and the location of our system in relation to several other stars. \n\nAmong the possible problems: Will an alien understand that the little circles represent planets? Will an alien understand that the star-map on the plaque represents a three-dimensional space? What if, like bats, the aliens communicate by sound alone - will the aliens even have necessary biology to be able to SEE the drawings on the plaque?
1052164
Ask those living in other planets!
17615
A better question might be has there been, is there now or will there be intelligent life somewhere in the universe (other than humans)?\n\nThe earth is about five billion years old with perhaps another five billions years to go and human life has existed here perhaps a million years.  That is a tiny fraction of time and other life forms may arise here that are intelligent sometime in the future.\n\nFor outer space the prospects seem even better since there are perhaps millions of gallaxies with billions of stars each that have existed at some time in the past ten billion years with perhaps as much time left to go.  In fact there exists the possibility that life much as we know it, including DNA (a chemical compound though highly complex) may have existed millions or billions of years ago before us and are now extinct.  It takes so many light years to communicate with any other star within our own galaxie (except the very nearest) but it is impossible to reach anyone from the past.  And if we send signals into the future, we may be gone before we receive a friendly reply.
143137
I think so!\nIf life exists on the top of the large mountain where there is only snow and no oxygen in the air, then life should exist on other planets!\n\nDo you know that, life exists in deep sea where there is no sunlight! If life sunlight to live, how do you explain?\n\nLife also exist in caves very down in earth where no light is present. They are bacteria! They absorbe heat from boiling water, thats how they obtain their energy!\n\nThat may be quite enough to explain how life may exist in extreme conditions and thus beyond planet earth
1144936
Within 1000 LY? Our Milky Way has (as Carl Sagan use to say) Billion and Billions of stars. If only 1% of those stars could support life and of those if only1% of those had intelligent life there would still be hundreds of millions of intelligent life forms. \n\nAs for advanced life forms I'd like to think we are about average, meaning that there are those who are more advanced and conversely those that are less advanced. \n\nHaving said that, communication is a different matter. We know that Dolphins have a large brain and we can hardly understand them (and we're on the same planet). Distance comes into play when communicating with interstellar beings. We have been sending radio waves into space for ... what... 75... 100 years. But only since 1936 have we had the capability to send strong detectable signals. Assume the same for our closest neighbour. Let us assume that since we have not heard from them that they are at least 70 LY away. Their signal might be on its way but how long have we actually been looking for that signal (20 years?) They are getting our signal from 1936, now. In 70 years we might get a message from them and then another 70 years for them to receive our response. The problem with communication like that is it takes 140 years to get an answer from your first question. By that time you may have solved it yourself, or things may have changed so much that the answer you receive is entirely irrelevant.\n\nAs for Immortality... that is more philosophical. If you believe that we turn to dust and become food for the worms and there is nothing else to it then... no they have not achieved immortality. The most advanced beings may have found ways to increase the life span to the point of verging on immortality. But for even them death would be an eventuality. \nOf course if you believe that the soul (or spirit) that gives us "life" is immortal then we have achieved it already and so would other beings.\n\nWhat they look like... wow... the imagination is the limit. Let say that they followed our evolutionary path but there was no giant rock to smash into their world and wipe out the dinosaurs. They may have evolved as an intelligent lizard. They would need warm climates and would have to warm up before becoming active.  They might be strict carnivores or vegetarian. They could possess chameleon like properties both as a protective measure and as a hunting tool.\nMaybe they are insectoids with many arms and legs and with exoskeletons and natural body armour. And they might be fast! Really fast!! (Ever seen a spider scamper across the floor think of how small it is and how much ground it covers in a short span of time). \nWe have even discovered some silicoid creatures in the deepest parts of our own oceans near "smokers" (volcanic vents on the sea floor). What if they were to rise to an intelligent life form they wouldn't need sunlight or plants or animals for food as they eat minerals. They could be very long lived and move very slowly (a message from them might come as a very slow transmission and go undetected for years because the modulation of the frequency might take hours [if not weeks or years] to change).\n\nIf there really is no other life out there what a waste of space!\n\nLive long and prosper. (and may the force be with you.)
359340
definitely, I mean so many people are so wrapped up in our lives that although we know there's outer space - we never think about it. It would be gr8 to know there are other things going on than what we can just see. Aliens (cos that's what they'll be even if they have two feet and two pairs of eyes etc) mark a whole new "time" for us - the potential to discover new things there may be things that could help us have a better quality of life that others have discovered that we haven't, to udnerstand more of what is going on around us. We think that knowing my stuff works is not important, but it definitly is... too many people live in ignorance and take things for granted.
884066
I wouldnt say there isnt any life outsdide our solar system. there can be a very high possibility that there is inteligent life out there.
473205
ahhhh the holy grail of questions... do extra-terrestrials exist.  Well, I would have to say yes.\n\nKeep in mind Earth is like a grain of sand on the beach. It would be extremely hard to find anything.  Here is a cool link to check out...\n\nwww.seti.org\n\nthere is actually an equation to figure out if there is life elsewhere. click 'center for study of life in the universe' then scroll down to where it says 'drake equation.'\n\nFun stuff!
1109522
We could, but the only ones with the kind of technology needed to accomplish this ARE the aliens.  Asking them for help would kind of defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?
596996
Out of 10,000 Billion Galaxies out there. No Doubt there is something out there.\n\nEarth will contact something...but not in our lifetimes.\nI even believe there is another planet like ours out there somewhere.\n\nWe would be very naive to think we are the only intelligent planet in the entire Universe.
409898
Hey there dragonberry..\nYes, I do believe it's possible. ;)
593865
I don't think a credible claim for seeing aliens exists.  Plenty of stories - zero real evidence.  \nDo they exist?  Well, I think the answer is probably.  There are so many zillions of planets in the universe, I would bet that there are others with life.  However, unless the time scale on which that life lives in FAR longer than ours, the laws of physics do not allow them to live nearly long enough to visit us.  It would take many millions of years to go out and visit these other planets - improve rocket technology even 1000x and it would still be thousands of years.  \nHowever - the possibility of us picking up some sort of radio signal from an alien world seems to be real.  No real hits yet - but it may happen.  We have conducted transmissions that have been sent to star clusters (containing millions of planets) which, if any have the same level of technology as us, should be able to pick it up.  Who knows.
429749
With the nearly infinite number of stars out there, it is reasonable to expect that life has developed on another planet. However, we won't know for sure until we actually encounter that lifeform, and that may be a long way off.
610320
Come to think of it... we all know that our planet is an insignificant speck circling an ordinary star, far out on a spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is an ordinary congress of a few HUNDRED BILLION stars among at least a HUNDRED BILLION GALAXIES!!!\nWe are still the only intilligent life we know of anywhere. But now humankind has taken a dramatic leap towards a possible demotion. Planet-hunting scientists and astronomers world wide are refining their technique in detecting other planets in far off stars & galaxies. who knows that one day, we may be able to find a world that is much like ours?\nFor now, humanity can bask in its special status as the only life known to be contemplating such questions. Many scientists predicts that this distinction, too, will crumble. But the search for other worlds is not only a quest for kindred intelligenc. it is also about the destiny of human species. Where are we going to be a hundred million years from now? Where will we go, and how will we get there? And how will it change who we are? _end
13800
The problem with your question is that assumes that there are only to possibilities; we're alone, or there are little green men walking around.  \n\nChances are that there is some form of life other than ours in the universe, but it more than likely will be much more different than just having different skin and being a different size.  Think about how weird all the animals at the bottom of the ocean.  Then think about how similar their need for water, oxygen, food, how similar their DNA is to ours.\n\nNow try to imagine life evolving on world rich in totally different elements, exposed to total different frequencies and concentrations of energy.  The thing about life on other planets isn't really whether or not it's out there, but whether or not we'd even be able to recognize it when we see it.  \n\nThat and the fact that it takes years just to move from one solar system to the next.  Just getting to another planet capable of supporting life would more than likely take decades, even centuries with any conceivable technology(though an alien lifespan could make that less significant).  Any alien capable of travelling that distance, whether by nature or technology, would once again likely be so different from us that we would never recognize one another as living beings.  So there you go, little green men, probably not, alone in the universe, who can say.
381174
I'm not after the points as much as I'm want to give my views on the matter.\nAliens... I believe there must be life somewhere in the Universe other than Earth, given that it is so big. However I don't believe for a moment we are going to have visitors from other planets. The green men thing is all bullsh*t to me. If there is some other form of life somewhere in the Universe (very far, I expect), I expect it must be microbiotic or something of that sort. And I don't believe the "end of the world" will come from the space either, that's plain stupidity. \nThere you go.\n\nET phone home!
48082
Maybe we should start a little closer to home...if we can conquer the moon...then maybe we can move on to others like mars and yes there is extraterrestrial life..but I have doubts they are there on Mars..We certainly are not the only Intelligence in the universe..but then ...Humans on a daily basis make it very obvious that we are far from intelligent.