Are astronomers loosing their time searching for life on other planets?

I don't know if any of you taught about this before, but I have for quite some time.
It just popped back in my head reading a tread about a new telescope.

Ok so, we've been searching life trough telescope for how long now?
So long, that the only thing that doesn't make astronomers stop looking is faith.

Faith that intelligent alien life exists somewhere out there, because I have faith too.
I believe that there are other intelligent life forms in this gigantic universe because it just makes more sense then it just being us, lonely planet earth.
The center of life in the universe! ...not likely.

But why didn't we find anything yet?
Well I think might know why...

I guess a lot of people on this forum know about "The Prime Directive", it might come from a TV series but it's a smart deduction of what could happen if we got there.
Here's a part ; "As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Star Fleet personnel may interfere with the normal and healthy development of alien life and culture. "

Ok so, let's say there is a federation or some kind of "order" out there, extra-politics diplomacy.
Well this "federation" must protect it's planets, sectors, "lands", etc.
If Earth is within one of those sectors, then we are considered "wildlife" and what do we usually do with wildlife? ( other then kill everything for resources )
We protect them, we put fences around them, we identify the life there, make research, use it for tourism, etc.

Well those smart aliens fenced all "pre-warp" civilizations with...
Cloaking devices

The technology is possible indeed and it's a foul proof way to "protect" archaic intelligent life, much better compared to sending ships to guard it.

We are cloaked, they are cloaked, all planets with life could be cloaked...and who knows, maybe it's a double sided cloaked that also makes it impossible for us to see spaceships outside a certain range, even if we couldn't really see spaceships anyway because of their speed or ability to bend time and space.
So basically, astronomers might be loosing their time with telescopes.
Maybe what we need is to break the light speed barrier, that should bring some attention...

I know I know, that's just one thing we could research instead of using or scientists to figure out why the new Tide is better then the old one, why is "Erecton" better then Viagra...and to stop these stupid wars.
We should work together to advance technology in other directions then warfare.
I also think that capitalism is really not optimal for science advancement, but that could be another tread altogether.

I think my deduction makes sense, what do you guys think?

Trust me, I bet they have found many many many things outside of Earth. It's just that the gov't or someone like NASA are suppressing them from the public.

Astronomers hardly have anything to do with the advancement of space tech. Rather its institutions like NASA just messing about with pointless missions instead of focusing on actual space exploration.

Astronomers are not looking for life through the telescopes. They are looking for planets, nebulae and other interesting stuff to catalog.

Now while it is true that to find life, finding planets would be a good idea... that is not their main goal.

They have however in recent years found HUNDREDS of planets... and many of those are in the Goldilocks Zone... in other words a planet that is habitable by our standards.

The Gliese 581 System for example... only 22 light years away



We are sending messages there right now

Hello From Earth
www.hellofromearth.net...

The message will get there in 18 years (there is a counter at the site)

reply to post by User8911


The stumbling block is in the vastness of our universe.

Our observable universe has many billions of galaxies. Each of these can have upwards of a trillion suns, each with the potential of having a solar system. Some astronomers also speculate that our observable universe, due to cosmic inflation is as a grain of sand is to the diameter of the sun.

Do the math. Finding life is so beyond looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack its impossible to fathom. Our only hope i believe is that a lifeform with technology so far beyond our own find us.

And even that may not be a good idea. No reason at all why we should expect aliens to be friendly.

Originally posted by merka
Astronomers hardly have anything to do with the advancement of space tech.

Lol, oh I didn't knoooooooow...

Joking, who doesn't know this.

OP,

I like the way you think. I have thought the same things. I have a strong feeling that we are living in a certain frequency since our bodies are nothing more than energy and water. The vibration rate gives us our appearance.



Peace be with you.

I think the answer is time. The other advanced beings in the universe most likely can’t be discovered by us because they have stopped polluting the space around them with noise.
The more advance we become the more likely we are to improve our ability to study the universe around us and in doing so, our way of communicating becomes more directive thus not radiating noise.
Or communicate in some way we haven’t thought of.
We have been polluting our space with noise for a very short time, once we stop if another civilization a hundred years from now and let’s say 95 light years away, are looking for us the same way we are now looking, they won’t see us because our signature would have passed.
If another civilization much more advanced sees us, then perhaps like you said they would be cloaked and we wouldn’t know we are being studied. If we are within earshot of them and they don’t want us to know they are there and they don’t pollute their space, they would take action against accidental pollution and make sure we don’t find them so we don’t try to pester them and interfere with their quest for knowledge.

reply to post by zorgon


Hey that's pretty awesome!

But, I was also thinking about this supposed to be "light year"
I'm pretty sure light speed is a constant but the years are just a calculation and since more and more we can prove that gravity affect time and light.
So my guess is, if we did travel at light speed, I have a hunch that it takes less time then what we calculated...someone tell me if I'm way off, I know nothing about space compared to a professional.

It's a waste of time and resources to be looking for alien life at all. What are we gonna do if we find out for a fact that they exist?

Nothing.

Nothing we can do except say "well...yep there they are". Most of us, at least on this site, know they exist so I guess having some confirmation would be nice but there's nothing tangible to gain.

I'm sure NASA or the Defense Department will scream for more money to do who knows what but really the proof that aliens exist will not mean anything.

Religions will adjust almost instantly to this news, people will ask questions of the government and get the usual dodges from them as always, but at the end people will go back to their normal routines.

Originally posted by Buford2
OP,

I like the way you think. I have thought the same things. I have a strong feeling that we are living in a certain frequency since our bodies are nothing more than energy and water. The vibration rate gives us our appearance.

Peace be with you.

I believe the same
Frequency is the base of dimensions...

Originally posted by kro32
It's a waste of time and resources to be looking for alien life at all. What are we gonna do if we find out for a fact that they exist?

Nothing.

Nothing we can do except say "well...yep there they are". Most of us, at least on this site, know they exist so I guess having some confirmation would be nice but there's nothing tangible to gain.

Yes, I know! I taught about the same conclusion a couple times.
That it won't change anything because we can't communicate, can't get there and it's only a confirmation.

But what if we could communicate?
We never know what they could send us, maybe new technologies, arts, philosophy...we could do the same!

...of course once we get a message from 30 light years away, it will be 30 years too late! Too bad.

reply to post by Paul47


Yes time...

Another thing I have taught about is that,

Till now the Big bang + Big Crush is the best theory we have about the universe.
So the only way to be infinite, is to stop time. Or escape time, move on to the next dimension.
Yeah craaazy stuff

To survive, to procreate, to be infinite...another reason why we should pursue space exploration!
This planet isn't the safest one in the universe I bet, we should get the hell outta here

Originally posted by kro32
It's a waste of time and resources to be looking for alien life at all.

So who other than SETI is wasting time looking for Alien life And they are privately funded

Originally posted by User8911
This planet isn't the safest one in the universe I bet, we should get the hell outta here

Actually we are in a pretty safe area... the Sun is young so is our Galaxy... we are way out on the rim, in fact 50 light years above the plane of the Galaxy at the moment. Its pretty lonely out here and quiet. We should be fine for a few billion years

You are here...

You seem to have the wrong perception here. Although the vast majority of astronomers entertain the idea of intelligent life somewhere out there, they do not waste their time looking for alien civilizations. We have observed all start systems within a 20 light year radius of Earth and have concluded they are not hosts of intelligent life. Anything beyond that is, quite frankly, irrelevant. Based on our current understanding of the physical world, it is just not possible to ever traverse such great distances, and even if we ever do manage to solve the engineering roadblocks to accomplish safe interstellar travel, I truly doubt long term human colonization will ever occur on planets of other solar system.

reply to post by HazyChestNutz


And why would they want to "suppress" such information? I always see people trot out this lame excuse but they never have good reasons as to why NASA would want to cover up evidence of extraterrestrial life.

reply to post by MathematicalPhysicist


Exactly.

Our universe is simply MUCH too vast to realistically search beyond our immediate vicinity. An alien race sending out a signal in the very next galaxy to us would take approximately 1 MILLION light years to get to us! Even if we somehow discovered how to use wormholes to "warp" to them, their entire civilization may no longer even exist anymore!

I personally believe Stephen Hawking when he says we should not be so eager to find alien races. We might not like what we find. I honestly have no idea why people expect them to "come in peace".

reply to post by Turiddu


Tell me why there isn't a official disclosure. Tell me why theres a Alien & Ufos section in abovetopsecret. Tell me why this topic is not hugely discussed on around the world. Tell my why there are cover ups for the events like the UFO Roswell Crash and the Battle of L.A?

Originally posted by HazyChestNutz

Tell me why there isn't a official disclosure.

You cant disclose what has never been found.

Originally posted by HazyChestNutz
Tell me why theres a Alien & Ufos section in abovetopsecret.

Why shoudnt there be? There is a religion section here too, and many of us do not believe in a god.

Originally posted by HazyChestNutz
Tell me why this topic is not hugely discussed on around the world.

What the hell are you talking about? I cant turn on a TV set or look at the internet without seeing UFO conspiracy theories.

Originally posted by HazyChestNutz
Tell my why there are cover ups for the events like the UFO Roswell Crash and the Battle of L.A?

You see a coverup, i see usual government secrecy. If area 51 is a test site for new military equiptment, then of course people are not allowed there.

And what is the coverup on the Battle of LA? No idea what your talking about there unless you mean that terrible movie ill never get back my 2 hours from.