Aliens

[Mark Bolton]

Add the two together and i think the odds of other intelligent life is very small.

I have somewhat come to a similar conclusion though its no different than any postulation. Earth is barely 1/3 as old as the observable universe, and our entire evolution encompasses about .05% of that time (thats from bacteria/single celled organisms). While thats true, there is always the remote possibility of success, or multiple iterations happening elsewhere in the mere time before we even came into being. At current predictions we have at least 2X the amount of time Earth has been formed that was happening before we were even in bacterial form.

The galaxies that we see in the hubble deep field likely dont even exist any longer. The have gone through numerous itteratons of Earth and we are merely seeing them at their infant stage. No different than looking at the baby pictures of my great great grandparents. I have no idea if they grew up to get married, had kids, went to college, grew old? They could have been killed in an accident the day after the photo, the plague, polio, black death, war, etc..

All good brain excercise

[Marshall Harrison]

The assumption isn't that aliens would want to occupy the entire galaxy, but that some of them would eventually do it. We're talking about millions of years here. What do you think are the odds that humans won't colonize some other solar system within the next million years? Let's just say it takes 1 million years for a star system with people in it to spread to another one -- that's 2 (earth + x) in 1 million years, 4 in 2 million years, 8 in 3 million years, 16 in 4 million years... see where I'm going with this? In 10 million years that's 1000 star systems, in 30 million years it a billion, more than there are in the galaxy.

I thnk in those time spans you are more likely to see extinction than galactic expansion/domination.

[Mark Bolton]

I thnk in those time spans you are more likely to see extinction than galactic expansion/domination.

Thats most definitely true if the majority of life forms follow the trajectory of ours. It doesnt bode well for generational durability

[Bob Bouis]

Admittedly extinction seems like a possibility at the current time, but what could cause it after humans are living on other planets, in space, and in other solar systems? Surely the threat of extinction begins to approach zero at that point.

People have argued, convincingly I think, that the most probable habitat for people in the distant future would be in large cylinders orbiting the sun, spinning to provide fake gravity. You could make tens of thousands of times the surface area of the earth worth of them out of raw materials easily available in asteroids. They'd be self-contained and self-sufficient, more or less. Disease is not an issue, nor sabotage, no natural catastrophes, war is unlikely to wipe them all out, etc. Very extinction resistant.

[Carlos Alvarez]

Does it matter if humans stop existing at all tomorrow? If so, why?

[Chase Mueller]

Admittedly extinction seems like a possibility at the current time, but what could cause it after humans are living on other planets, in space, and in other solar systems? Surely the threat of extinction begins to approach zero at that point.

People have argued, convincingly I think, that the most probable habitat for people in the distant future would be in large cylinders orbiting the sun, spinning to provide fake gravity. You could make tens of thousands of times the surface area of the earth worth of them out of raw materials easily available in asteroids. They'd be self-contained and self-sufficient, more or less. Disease is not an issue, nor sabotage, no natural catastrophes, war is unlikely to wipe them all out, etc. Very extinction resistant.

I have one question though, how do you solve the whole breathing thing?

[Chase Mueller]

Does it matter if humans stop existing at all tomorrow? If so, why?

Define matter

[Carlos Alvarez]

Define matter

Fair question. I don't know. You define it if it matters to you. Not being smart, but it's an open philosophical question.

I don't think it matters in any way at all. The universe doesn't care. If we're gone, we don't care. If you believe in some imaginary friend in the sky, then you believe you will be in a better place. I don't, and think we will simply stop existing. I think we only matter to each other via meaningful relationships, and not at all beyond that.

[Jon Wolfe]

The intelligent plant based lifeforms are going to be p.o. at us woodworkers... we kind of butcher and mummify their earth brethren and our farmers cultivate them as food.

[Mark Bolton]

that the most probable habitat for people in the distant future would be in large cylinders orbiting the sun

Unfortunately in our current state I think for that future to have any viability there would have to be an event or events that would bring humanity to point of modesty and humility that cohabitation is possible. Even as far as we've come we have people waging war against their neighbors in a sub-divison, road rage, heck.. its presently all over the news about the lynching memorial and a woman a mere 50 years ago being publicly lynched in a ceremonial execution for not calling a police officer "mister"(insert name here).

I dont doubt at this current point in our evolution there are those who have gone into space and cohabited, but Im not sure it will work on-mass. The bulk of the planet has yet to realize what our potential would have been had we all just worked as a team.

[Chase Mueller]

Fair question. I don't know. You define it if it matters to you. Not being smart, but it's an open philosophical question.

I don't think it matters in any way at all. The universe doesn't care. If we're gone, we don't care. If you believe in some imaginary friend in the sky, then you believe you will be in a better place. I don't, and think we will simply stop existing. I think we only matter to each other via meaningful relationships, and not at all beyond that.

Haha alright, just making sure you didn't have something in mind.
The grand scheme of things, I'm torn. Existence wise, nah, I doubt it. If anything, the world would be a much better place without mankind. And probably the universe as well.

[Carlos Alvarez]

The intelligent plant based lifeforms are going to be p.o. at us woodworkers... we kind of butcher and mummify their earth brethren and our farmers cultivate them as food.

Groot?
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[Chase Mueller]

groot?
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baby groot

[Bob Bouis]

Unfortunately in our current state I think for that future to have any viability there would have to be an event or events that would bring humanity to point of modesty and humility that cohabitation is possible. Even as far as we've come we have people waging war against their neighbors in a sub-divison, road rage, heck.. its presently all over the news about the lynching memorial and a woman a mere 50 years ago being publicly lynched in a ceremonial execution for not calling a police officer "mister"(insert name here).

I dont doubt at this current point in our evolution there are those who have gone into space and cohabited, but Im not sure it will work on-mass. The bulk of the planet has yet to realize what our potential would have been had we all just worked as a team.

That was just 50 years ago. Or think about it this way -- 50,000 years ago the human population was probably 100,000 or less. Unless it's total extinction humanity will continue to grow over geologic timescales.

Plus, not everyone getting along could be a good thing, as it motivates people to leave and settle new places.

I have one question though, how do you solve the whole breathing thing?

Do you mean, like, where do you get air? We can make oxygen from water already, and there's lots of water out there. Nitrogen I'm not so sure about, but since it's 79% of our atmosphere there's a pretty good chance it's abundant nearby. It's also not absolutely necessary, I don't think.

[Chase Mueller]

That was just 50 years ago. Or think about it this way -- 50,000 years ago the human population was probably 100,000 or less. Unless it's total extinction humanity will continue to grow over geologic timescales.

Plus, not everyone getting along could be a good thing, as it motivates people to leave and settle new places.



Do you mean, like, where do you get air? We can make oxygen from water already, and there's lots of water out there. Nitrogen I'm not so sure about, but since it's 79% of our atmosphere there's a pretty good chance it's abundant nearby. It's also not absolutely necessary, I don't think.

Ok fair enough, thanks for clarifying!