We do have some favorable properties of physics. But, we really don't have the ability to examine the odds of there being a universe such as ours, as exploring the pre-big-bang "environment" is almost entirely beyond us at present. And, the fact that we exist in one of the success stories isn't a surprise - obviously, we wouldn't be present in one of the failures!
They can withstand space travel and absorb genes from their environment. Witness the extraterrestrials that may have seeded Terra. And they're multicellular too. Moi r > g
An ET who is somewhere nearby planet Earth won't be able to ascertain much more than what they already know without making direct contact with us. They won't just orbit Earth 'studying' us...whatever 'studying' might be? We'll know about them long before they arrive for a meet-and-greet. ET's and Earthlings won't have a common language so that will be interesting to overcome. IMO it's just a matter of time before our technology allows us to find a signal or marker of intelligent ET's...and I suspect all ET's have been doing the same. Assuming we're not scared of each other, we will make contact with 'them' or vice-versa, like knocking on the door, but once the door opens we won't be able to communicate other than sending our own relative intelligent non-random signals...and then waiting for long periods of time because of the vast distances involved. I wish they would just show up one day like in the movies but I don't see this happening...
I look at one data which is population growth and we're now at 7+ billion on the planet...there are lots of arguments about how many people Earth can sustain? Along with 7+ billion people are billions of animals, trillions of fossil fuel burning machines, endless human and factory waste, pollution of our rivers, lakes and oceans, less arable land to produce food, severe shortages of potable water, severe health conditions, challenging climate changes, water ways void of fish, etc. etc. etc. Assuming there is not some mechanism to check this population growth and the collateral issues, humans are not going to last much longer. We can't even stop all the wars and fighting long enough to have an intelligent conversation about these things much less dream about a 'golden age' scenario. So we'll just head down the current path and we'll see what happens...
We like to assume that ET's, who might be much older than us, have enormous capabilities for interstellar travel...but what if all of them have the same problems we have at our very young age? Perhaps interstellar travel, other than robotic over thousands of years, is just not in the cards? I agree that millions of ET's exist outside of Earth but my guess is none of them can crack the interstellar distance issues...
Maybe...maybe...maybe...we simply know nothing about ET's. And how much of what we speculate and banter about here on PF stem from our exposure to science fiction? The Universe is one big chemistry lab and lots of variations can stem from each potential...
During one of my alien abductions they said that they're already from around here, the reason we don't see them is because they're just hiding.
Uncle Ferd sees E.T.'s alla time... ... `specially when he gets into... ... a batch of Granny's special brownies.
I got a theory! Maybe they're trying to contact us telepathically because perhaps thought waves are not restricted by light speed, but are instantaneous? For example a bunch of aliens on the far side of the universe might sit down and concentrate on sending a thought message out into space, something like "We are aliens, is there anybody there?" Problem is that when the message is picked up by the human brain, it doesn't come across loud and clear but triggers hallucinations in the human mind, and he/she imagines they're having some kind of alien abduction experience or close encounter?
So you're thinking aliens just broadcast their thoughts out into the Universe, telepathically, for all other living things to receive? Or are you thinking an alien in a galaxy millions of light years away is sending a private telepathic message to a single person on Earth? Either way...there are definitely some hallucinations going on here...
Being a half ass optimist, I have some hope that those religions are right and man will evolve mentally, psychologically into rational, logical, reasonable beings driven by a basic moral center. IMO, we are not beings who are rational 80 percent of the time and emotional 20 percent of the, but the inverse of that. And this is what has created our historical reality. Which is a tale told by an idiot. This is what has actually created the perpetual problems of humanity and only by reversing the percentages can we ever solve these problems created by emotion driven irrationality. I think this is in effect the change that religion and myth have spoken about. Yet it could be nothing more than a pipe dream. I will not be around to see it, given we are so far away from that today. You see something similar with these supposed abductees who meet benevolent ETs who want to help man, who are evolved in consciousness to be rational beings, driven by a moral center, not that much different from the idea of angels. Who will serve as tutors, helpers, etc. Some will even stop us from self destructing using nuclear weapons. I read one account written by a past editor of the LA Times, a very credible guy. Very sensational stuff from people who would otherwise be credible. I don't know what to make of it, unless it is some kind of state of consciousness that happened past and present to particular people. Some kind of hallucination, and a very detailed one.
I think it just might be possible, for I think that a materialistic based science may be the limiting factor. There may be more to this universe than we have ever dreamed of. We may just think we have a handle on reality, understanding it. There may be a whole field of science outside of the philosophical materialism upon which most modern science is based. There may be a field of science, unknown to us who's foundation is not that matter is the fundamental of reality, but consciousness is the fundamental. There may be a physics of materialism and a physics of consciousness. And we only went in one direction, the direction of mechanistic materialism.
Here's more: http://thefederalist.com/2016/12/01/aliens-dont-exist-tell-us-lot-atheists/ Aliens Don’t Exist, But They Tell Us A Lot About Atheists Lacking any evidence of an actual alien, Hollywood’s aliens speak more about the modern psyche fueling the imaginations of their designers. Peter Burfeind By Peter Burfeind DECEMBER 1, 2016 In his movie “Expelled,” Ben Stein challenged Richard Dawkins about the remarkable phenomenon of life on planet earth: how could life arise given the sheer magnitude of its improbability? Dawkins suggested aliens possibly deposited life on earth. Dawkins, we recall, is an atheist, a scientist directed only by provable facts. Yet he’s willing to posit the source of earthly life to a concept lacking any evidence. Of course, Dawkins is guilty of nothing more than a thought experiment, something great scientists do all the time. Accordingly, a galaxy without aliens would be like a valley producing no life decades after a massive volcano covered it with volcanic ash—eventually some seed will find its way into the hard crevices, and though difficult, life will find a way. There are 100 billion—billion—planets in the Milky Way. If life can pop up into existence here on earth, it would take a sort of medieval geo-centrism to say alien life couldn’t happen somewhere else. Life finds a way. So where are they? The Fermi Paradox Those were the conclusive words of physicist Enrico Fermi after quickly hashing out his own thought experiment one day at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Evidently, Area 51 was the hot topic of the day, and he and some colleagues were talking about aliens on their way to lunch. Fermi went silent for a time, until midway through lunch he proclaimed, “Where are they?” During the intervening silence, Fermi calculated the high probability that a vast number of alien species should exist. Also, statistically speaking, a high subset of them would have evolved millions of years ahead of earth’s schedule. That means there should be a considerable number of alien species with a head start on things like cross-galaxy travel. The galaxy should be teeming with aliens. Yet there is nothing. Where are they? Fermi’s thought experiment is dubbed “The Fermi Paradox,” a philosophically sterile phrase avoiding several very big and very pink elephants in the room. Answers to the riddle include everything from, “Maybe earthlings really are the first to evolve to an advanced state,” to “Higher-consciousness aliens haven’t made themselves known because we haven’t evolved enough yet.” As to the first answer, it’s just confirmation bias rooted in more geo-centrism, as if there must be something special about us humans because, well, I mean, look at us! As to the second answer, puke. Then after rinsing your mouth out, you realize it’s just more evidence of today’s neo-Gnosticism, that is, modern man’s yearning attempt to establish religion after science’s materialistic assumptions rendered faith, morality, and metaphysical questions impossible. The “Occam’s Razor” answer science excludes but that actually faces the evidence is “We have no evidence of aliens because they weren’t created.” Exclusion of even contemplating this answer betrays a huge epistemic blind spot in the premises of science, at least among its modern defenders.
Where are they? Million of people, including many in the military and intelligence community, claim direct observations of technology far beyond our means. But when one points to this in response to Fermi, the response is, it couldn't be ET because ET couldn't get here! So we play on both sides of the fence. If they existed we would know it. But any evidence that they are or have been here is dismissed because it can't be true. When it comes to the academic/intellectually-honest high ground, scientists fail miserably on this point. Beyond that, modern theories in physics, such as inflation theory, suggest that ET may not be so limited as we imagine. Full paper published by the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society - a highly respected journal - is linked below. http://www.ufoskeptic.org/JBIS.pdf JBIS, Vol. 58, pp. 43-50, 2005
You know that song? Would you like to swing on a star? Would you like to swing on a star, carry moonbeams home in a jar, and be better off than you are, or would you rather be a mule? Well, what the aliens have to say about that is: you can't swing on a star.
