Seeding the Universe

What if we are the first. What if after billions of year of random events humans are the first life to reach this level of inteligence and ability to visit other worlds. We have started combing our solar system for life, but at best, may have only found microbial life on Mars.

Even if other life did form and become intelligent, maybe its too far away to matter.

So now what?

Seed the Universe

We spend so much time looking for other life and other worlds to live on but we haven't yet made any. Thats what humans do, manipulate thier enviroment, from irrigation to planting flags on the moon. So isn't the next step making other planets.

And we don't have to look far, Venus and Mars are right here.

We could start now, just throwing tons of organics and microorganism onto mars and let them start evolving. Venus would take some chemical alteration of vast measures before biological systems could take over, but its at least within the scope of humans.

Even more, as we discover more and more extra-solar planets, I propose bombarding them with organisms.

What if earth is the first... maybe we should be the aliens spreading life across the galaxy.

Evolution is a slow process, why wait any longer, load up those slow moving vehicles and start shipping off life to let it take hold where ever it can.

Interesting idea, but shouldn't we first determine if life exists or existed at one time before we contaminate it? Take Europa, it may be possible life exists under the ice. If we send a probe to investigate and it contaminates the area, we would never know that a life form was indigenous or not.

Now if a planet was found to be lifeless, it would be for a reason. It might take some genetic engineering to create a life form that would survive. I don't think we are there yet, but in the future, who knows.

It is my belief that we will find life in abundance if it is possible for it to exist. I think Mars probably had life at some point, but due to changes became what it is today. We will probably find it, but in order for it to survive again, the atmosphere would have to be changed.

If mars, is lifless, its pretty safe to say you need VERY specific things for life to come into being and flourish. Mars is really a last hope senerio. While people talk of life on Europa a lot, in the end its a very cold, isolated place, with probably few dynamic systems, and possibly no liquid water.

All this hope goes into finding other life, but so far we seem to be surounded with moons and planets of simple chemical systems devoid of life.

Once we do a few serious life searching missions on Mars, I would hope we just start sending random packet of organics at it... better than leaving dead worlds as out legacy.

Earth was created 8 billions (roughly; a million or two is unsignificant there, and more unsignificant even to meet my point here) of years after the Big Bang. That is, by then, some things out there for about double the time that our earth exists.

Life exists on earth for 600 millions of years. That is actually Big Bang + 13 billions (yes, I said that a few millions were insignificant, and I'll stick to that). That is 20 times the time life exists on earth (roughly).

What now, will you tell me... Well, planet formation is now know to be far more common than previously believed and also far more ancient. A few months ago, a planet 13 billions (yes, billions)) of years old was found around a star that was still in its main sequence. 13 billions is actually between 8 and 9 billions of years older that us. That being said, planet formation has happened as soon as there were stars, and that is precisely just after the big bang...

Given the immense number of galaxies (infinite maybe), the amazing number of stars in each of those galaxies, and the fact that planet formation is now believed to be far more than a scarcely happening event, we are left with a likely several millions (billions maybe?) of planets being way older than ours (I'm talking about here about dozens of millions of years older), and a likely (my view) several thousands of them harboring evolved life. Evolved for far more than here...

Honestly, I would be extremely surprised if we were the most advanced... Would it only be the oldest and I'm fainting... In my views, we are likely (in "their views", then) largely primitive, extremely unevolved, on the eve of an early form of civilization, or things like that...

On the other hand, we ourselves in that particular position could well be finding (here or in other systems) some life forms that we would just qualify with the same words...

[Edit]
No links for now... Too lazy. Anyone requesting back up info is likely to see something but not now... Anyone interested anyway can find links about the things I say. I don't think I went wrong anywhere with this. If so anyway, apologies!

[edit on 9-5-2005 by SpookyVince]

that reminds me of the book Out of the Silent Planet. how weston and the other guy wanted to take over mars but ransom and the hnau kind of out smarted them and made them go back to earth. Its the crazy thinking that the human race must expand and take over that will probably lead to our own deaths.

The problem is, that in the galatic cores, the backgound radiation levels are much higher then they are out here in the sticks.

Also the mechanisms for planet formation around core stars is likely to be significanly different due to the gravitational disruptions cause by nearby stars.

Pellegrino mentions this in his book "Ghosts of Vesuvius."

Originally posted by HowardRoark
The problem is, that in the galatic cores, the backgound radiation levels are much higher then they are out here in the sticks.

Also the mechanisms for planet formation around core stars is likely to be significanly different due to the gravitational disruptions cause by nearby stars.

Pellegrino mentions this in his book "Ghosts of Vesuvius."

Of course, but what I mean (he, sorry if I sometimes go through other paths...) is that I don't think that our solar system is the oldest example of a complex planetary system around a main sequence star, and I thus believe that there are much likely older comparable systems out there.

Now, since talking at that scale doesn't make it 5 or 50 years older, but more likely several millions or maybe even billions, we would be dealing with life that has had an enormous amount of time in advance of us to develop themselves...

Hope it is clearer...

Bombarding another planet with organisms is known as terra-forming. It will be cool when we are able to terraform planets and then inhabit them without needing spacesuits. When the sun absorbs the Earth in the distant future we could move to Europa or Titan or somewhere.
www.users.globalnet.co.uk...
And the age of Earth is 4.5 billion years old, not 8 billion.
www.talkorigins.org...


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Sorry I see 8 billiom after big bang, not age.





[edit on 11-5-2005 by Charlie Murphy]

Originally posted by Quest
We spend so much time looking for other life and other worlds to live on but we haven't yet made any. Thats what humans do, manipulate thier enviroment, from irrigation to planting flags on the moon. So isn't the next step making other planets.

I am Slartibartfast, but you can call me Wendell...

yes if there was such a perpelent capable seeding a planet would be easy. corraling materials into a stew of hyper components would make for a ripe harvest. perhaps particle accelerating ionospheric directing ray.