Why it makes sense that aliens are visiting us...

If you assume its inevitable that life exists elsewhere, and you also assume that given the whole universe there is probably intelligent life out there with capabilities far exceeding our own, then you ask yourself the question;

Would it be possible to travel in a small ship across vast distances of space in a single lifetime?

(This idea is from a thread in another topic)

Theoretically, if you could travel very near the speed of light in a spaceship, the effects of time dilation would make it possible to travel huge distances, and i mean HUGE distances.

Lets say that there is intelligent life on Gliese 581g which is 20 light years away. Obviously, the trip would take about 20 years at the speed of light, which is manageable anyways.

But what if you could travel from there to here at 99.9999% the speed of light. From an observer on earth the trip would still take about 20 years.

But to someone on the ship, the trip would only take about 10 days!!!

This is fantastic... and while the universe around you would definately age - time dilation clearly allows for interstellar travel in a single lifetime.

The closer you got to c, the more extreme it would be.
At 99.99999999% c (thats ten 9's), the dilation factor would be over 70 thousand!

That would mean that it would be possible to travel across the entire milky way galaxy (~ 100,000 light years across) in about 1.5 years!!!!!

It only makes sense then to think that, if there is intelligent life out there, and it has advanced propulsions systems that could perform the task above, that they could travel from EXTREMELY far distances in relatively short amounts of time.

That would mean that it would be possible to travel across the entire milky way galaxy (~ 100,000 light years across) in about 1.5 years!!!!!

Please expand on this and the 10 days vs. 20 years....

I want to pick up what you're throwing down but I don't get it.

reply to post by docpoco


That's an AWFULLY big IF....since in doing the math, you'd need almost infinite energy to go that fast.

Not to mention, the technology to do so is hardly trivial...we'd be talking about something that nearly defies the laws of physics as we know them (i.e. our "ideas" of physics...)

However, I do agree that it's likely some other folks have been around longer than us, and have developed better means of travel. I mean, look at our own exponential growth in speed.... In the early 20th century, pretty much the train was the fastest thing around...then we're orbiting the planet at thousands of miles per hour.

reply to post by docpoco


Those are a lot of big ifs...you can't say something "makes sense" when it is based on "ifs".

The Sun is both younger and older than other stars both near and far.
I think most people with a basic grasp of the scale of the Universe come to the conclusion that life in other star sytems is highly likeley - It is not beyound the realms of possibility that other more advanced technogies exist that we have yet to even dream of.
Yet the physical reality we perceive through theory and observation is but a very small fraction of what Reality is.
By reality I mean awareness of all that is.
Though I believe there are aliens what good does it do us if we grasp at straws hoping aliens can solve all our own man made problems.

Of course if you have the technology to build a Dyson sphere then your power problems are pretty much solved .
The theory exists so it must be possible

Originally posted by Signals

That would mean that it would be possible to travel across the entire milky way galaxy (~ 100,000 light years across) in about 1.5 years!!!!!

Please expand on this and the 10 days vs. 20 years....

I want to pick up what you're throwing down but I don't get it.

Its an effect of time dilation.

The closer you get to travelling the speed of light, the slower time with pass for you "relatively" compared to someone that is not moving.

This is why it said that time travel into the future is not only possible, its proven.

You could leave earth in a spaceship travelling extremely fast and then come back after a while, and depending on how fast you go and for how long, much more time would have passed on earth than you would have experienced on the spaceship.

Google Einstein's "Twin Paradox" for an easy to understand application of the theory

Originally posted by DoomsdayRex
reply to post by docpoco

 

Those are a lot of big ifs...you can't say something "makes sense" when it is based on "ifs".

It is an if, but its a probable "if". And its just an opinion. Lots of things are justified based on hypotheticals.

Is it likely that we are alone in the universe if you believe that life just "happened" here? I think the answer is no (again, so long as you believe life spontaneously arose here)

Is it also likely that if life happens where possible, that there are both less advanced and more advanced civilizations out there? I think the answer is also yes.

So think about how much more advanced we are than the medieval period.

If another civilization has a million years on us, do we honestly not think its likely that they would have access to vastly superior technology?