Morning decaf: Aliens will be found soon

Barb, I was merely pointing out that not finding human capabilities in other animals is not a good measure of intelligence because the only referent we use is humans. Acartia_bogart

Acartia writes,

But we are looking at this from a very biased perspective. Maybe the other intelligent animals on earth have these capabilities but have never seen the need, or have never had the desire, to do any of this.

Are you truly suggesting that a pod of dolphins can build a 747 or, better yet, fly to the moon? Because that is weapons-grade stupid. Barb

Morning decaf: Aliens will be found soon

Will they be coming for our coffee? Mung

AB:

But we are looking at this from a very biased perspective. Maybe the other intelligent animals on earth have these capabilities but have never seen the need, or have never had the desire, to do any of this.

Probably the silliest thing I have ever read. I think the motive is very much there for a heard of savannah wilderbeest to develop some technology to protect themselves from maurading lions. They don't do this of course because they do not have the powers of reflection and abstraction because if they did, they most certainly would want to protect themselves. Of course you will respond with yet more absurdity along the lines that the wilderbeast are living on a higher plane of existance and do not regard their own lives as sacred and above the "natural order" and choose not to do anything. Are you being serious? aqeels

@oldarmy: "Oh, we may not be the only “intelligent” species on the planet, but we are the only ones to have fabricated 747s, flown to the moon, and written great works. I won’t hold my breath waiting for this near-certain discovery." But we are looking at this from a very biased perspective. Maybe the other intelligent animals on earth have these capabilities but have never seen the need, or have never had the desire, to do any of this. One of the tests that we use to conclude whether or not an animal is self-aware is to see if they can recognize themselves in a mirror. Maybe the reason that my cat never reacts to his image in the mirror is that cats have never evolved vanity. TJGUY, my belief that there is other recognizable life in the universe is simply based on probability. If we discovered that earth like planets were extremely rare, I would think that the probability of life would be lower. But we now know that earth like planets are fairly common. In my mind, this increases the likelihood of life existing elsewhere. But, admittedly, this presupposes that life can develop naturally, without the interference of a mythical god. Acartia_bogart

tjguy:

I personally highly doubt there is life anywhere else in the universe.(And this belief flows from my worldview as well.) It is not impossible, but if there is, I would view it the same as life here – a product of divine creation. It is just that God does not give us any information about this idea, so one cannot be dogmatic about it..

I don't think we can say much about the subject of other intelligent beings and whether they exist or not. I think it is reasonable to think that a universe so vast would not be full of other living beings whether we have information pertaining to it or not. Personally, I have often thought that maybe the reason why our universe is so vast is because of some divine imperative that does not wish for us to communicate with those other worlds. aqeels

I agree with Dionisio, stop wasting money on a fantasy. humbled

We can use all the resources we can have for serious research in order to understand the complex biological systems that are still poorly understood. As far as I know, SETI does not help much in finding treatments for cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, cystic fibrosis, and other diseases that remain incurable today. That's why tax dollars shouldn't go to SETI. Let ET find us instead. Actually, they know where we are, but don't want to contact us. Perhaps we are not too interesting to them. Dionisio

AB says: Whether or not SETI should receive any tax funds is definitely a valid point. Exactly! This “science” has no subject to study, nor do we even know if such a thing exists anywhere in the universe. It’s funny. These guys have no trouble conceiving of unknown little green men, but God? No way! Personally, I think it highly unlikely that life does not exist anywhere else in the universe. The identification of earth-like planets seems to be growing exponentially. I also think that it is highly unlikely that we are the only intelligent species in the universe. We are not even the only intelligent species on Earth. Well AB, it is natural for you to hold these beliefs. They are a direct deduction from your worldview, but that doesn’t have anything to do with their validity. It is simply what most atheists believe. I think most atheists are 100% behind SETI research and hope that life will one day be found. Why? I think they feel this would give them more ammunition to attack the arguments of theists, especially in the realm of abiogenesis, their Achilles heel. I personally highly doubt there is life anywhere else in the universe.(And this belief flows from my worldview as well.) It is not impossible, but if there is, I would view it the same as life here - a product of divine creation. It is just that God does not give us any information about this idea, so one cannot be dogmatic about it.. tjguy

If you read the press releases closely, the purpose of NASA is to find extraterrestrial life. So some of the SETI folks are privately funded (since Congress found out how much was being spent on this fantasy), but the reason that NASA launches satellites (as opposed to NOAA and several other agencies who use satellites to look at Earth) is to find those sneaky Aliens. And the purpose of the Space Station is to train astronauts to "boldly go where no man has gone before". Alien life MUST exist, therefore it DOES exist. Please send more tax money. mahuna

Oh, we may not be the only "intelligent" species on the planet, but we are the only ones to have fabricated 747s, flown to the moon, and written great works. I won't hold my breath waiting for this near-certain discovery. OldArmy94

...it is highly unlikely that we are the only intelligent species in the universe. We are not even the only intelligent species on Earth.

intelligent species? what's that? Dionisio

It may take a lot of luck to find aliens. Barb

Wasn't ET found in the early 1980s by a guy named Steven Spielberg? ET didn't like it here, so he called his parents, who took him far away. Why are these SETI folks looking for ET again? Leave him alone. We didn't make a good impression on them. Too late now. Dionisio

Whether or not SETI should receive any tax funds is definitely a valid point. Personally, I think it highly unlikely that life does not exist anywhere else in the universe. The identification of earth-like planets seems to be growing exponentially. I also think that it is highly unlikely that we are the only intelligent species in the universe. We are not even the only intelligent species on Earth. Acartia_bogart

humbled writes,

f ET was found, or even bacteria etc, how would you folks react to that? How would that knowledge affect you?

I've pondered that myself. If you define extraterrestrial as anything not found on Earth, then by that (narrow) definition, God is an extraterrestrial, as is Jesus and all the angels and demons. The question that believers sometimes ask themselves, or at least one that I've asked, "if aliens exist, where are they and why did God put them there?" Also, "if aliens exist, did they require a ransom like humanity did [referring to the death of Jesus Christ]?"

“If” they were, do you think they’d be little green space men, or do you think they’ll look similar to us? Prometheus style perhaps?

Prometheus sucked on toast. Very rarely do movies induce anger in me, and Prometheus did. Some of my favorite sci-fi aliens include the malignant black oil of The X-Files, the titular alien/xenomorph of Alien, the Vulcans of Star Trek, and the shapeshifting alien of The Thing. Barb

If ET's were discovered they would probably look like the two men that the women saw at the empty tomb almost two thousand years ago. Isn't this funding request in support of one particular religious belief since there is no scientific evidence that there is life anywhere else, and relatively little evidence that there could even possibly be life anywhere else other than earth? awstar

Joe, what you getting at :)? If ET was found, or even bacteria etc, how would you folks react to that? How would that knowledge affect you? "If" they were, do you think they'd be little green space men, or do you think they'll look similar to us? Prometheus style perhaps? humbled

What if they have already been found? Joe

Trying to reassure the powers that be so as to not lose more funding is more like it Barb, I want a red one ;) humbled

Great. When do I get my own lightsaber? Barb

Does SETI get taxpayers' funds? If private funds support that experiment, that's fine. But then why do they have to testify in the US Congress? What they do with their own money is solely their business. Is there something missing in this picture, besides the ETI? Dionisio

I will say this, you are the pinnacle of engineering in the universe, there is nothing like you..... Andre