Did We Evolve From Aliens ?

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Candyman
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How Many Intelligent Aliens are Out There?Mark Thompson explores the famous Drake Equation and estimates how many communicating extraterrestrials could be out there.By Mark ThompsonThu May 5, 2011 01:53 PM ETpost-77-0-09822000-1318158252.jpgThe River Nile from space highlights the intelligent species that lives on Earth. But how many other civilizations are in our galaxy that we could communicate with? Click to enlarge this image.NASA/Earth ObservatoryOK, I've had enough. I've been looking up at the night sky for 20 years and not once have I ever seen anything that has aroused my suspicion that an alien visitor has popped by Earth to take a look.The thing is, I am contacted far too often by people saying they have seen an unidentified flying object, or UFO. Being terribly literal, they probably have seen something "unidentified," and it may look like it's flying; whatever it is, it certainly is an "object," but it doesn't mean it's aliens.I've never seen anything that makes me think UFOs are alien in origin. But ask me if I think aliens exist, somewhere, anywhere, and I answer with a loud and affirmative yes. Whether UFOs are alien or not will be a discussion that rages for decades, but the question about microbial life in the solar system or intelligent life in the Universe at large, is a different and fascinating one. If "they" are out there -- and for the purpose of this article let's assume they are -- then how many alien civilizations can we expect to come across?In the 1960's, U.S. astronomer Frank Drake started the first real search for alien radio signals being beamed across the Universe. Off the back of this work, he came up with an equation that is at best, an educated stab at the number of civilizations in our Galaxy with which we might actually be able to communicate right now.This is a fascinating possibility, and one that has an interesting relationship with the Fermi Paradox. This paradox explains that there seems to be a distinct lack of evidence of such communicating civilizations regardless of the final number that drops out of the bottom of the equation. Perhaps technologically advanced civilizations have a habit of blowing themselves up before getting the signal out?Let's get down to some mathematics. The equation, in its pure form, looks like this:N = R* × fp × ne × fl × fi × fc × LIt looks horrible, but it's really easy to understand. Its purpose is to take some numbers we can estimate from our existing knowledge rather than totally guess, plug them all together and come up with the magic number "N" -- an estimate on the number of contactable civilizations.We can start by taking the average rate of star formation (R*) in our Galaxy, the Milky Way. A strange factor to consider perhaps, but understanding how many stars form each year allows us to ultimately consider how many civilizations are born each year. Current theory suggests this number, in the Milky Way, is about 10 new stars per year.The second item fp defines the fraction of those stars which have planets and, according to current scientific values, is something like 50 percent.Of the remaining values, we can actually look closer to home and learn from our very own solar system. Taking ne and fl, which explain the number of planets that can support life and the fraction of those planets where life actually evolves, and applying to the Solar System, will suggest a couple of possible options.Obviously, Earth can support life (as we know it) and perhaps in the past so has Mars, this gives us an answer of 2 for the first point but we should also perhaps consider Europa and Titan as they, too, may harbor conditions where life, however primitive or weird, may be able to evolve, giving us an answer of 4 instead. The fraction where life evolves is at least 1 but it's thought that if the conditions are right, then life will evolve to some degree, at some time, leaving fl as 100 percent.We can then apply some decent and pretty reliable numbers to the final factors in Drake’s equation. fi is the fraction of those life bearing planets where intelligent life evolves. From our own Solar System we know of only one place where intelligent life has evolved (although sometimes I do wonder) leaving us with 25 percent.According to the SETI organization, fi refers to the "fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space" and comes in at a meager 1 percent.Finally comes "L," the length of time that the civilization releases detectable signals into space, which, using humans as an example, this technological advancement can be estimated at 10,000 years.So this is the exciting bit, plug those numbers all in to the equation and you come up with... (drum roll please) ...50!Is that really it?The number of contactable civilizations in our Galaxy, right now, that we might communicate with, is just 50... fifty? It's estimated that there is around 400 billion stars in our Galaxy and, according to my numbers (which, by their nature are educated guesses), there are just 50 alien civilizations that we could communicate with.You only have to think about the vast scale of the Galaxy spanning 100,000 light years diameter (that’s big) to realize the chances of us actually being within communicable distance seems pretty small. A depressing thought.But does it mean we should give up our attempts at finding ET? After all, with so few of them in our Galaxy, finding a needle in a haystack would be relatively easy by comparison. No, quite the opposite, I think we absolutely should, indeed must, continue our search for our alien cousins (and before you infer it, I'm not suggesting we are related).One of the great things about our species is the unswerving desire to explore and discover. Though the task is daunting, it is in our nature to try. If the alternative is to sit on our bums and mope, assuming we are alone (or worse, not even caring) then I know which direction I would choose.Full Article Here ; http://news.discover...ion-110505.html

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Jake
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Ahh yes, the famous Drake Formula. Like a leap of faith, by jumping off a cliff believing in somethingnot tangible (like spiritual beliefs), I stepped over the ledge a long time ago. I just can't imagine thatwe are the only ones in the neighborhood. Wait a minute, I may be wrong about that. We only started in the mid 1900's beaming "I Love Lucy" and other "who's out there" signals and so far,nobody else is home within our neighborhood. For the past 50 plus years, those weak signals havetraveled only 50 light years. And it will take another 50 plus years, assuming our neighbors are usingthe same RF technology to reply (around 2050). Astronomers of SETI probing for other intelligent lifeforms continue around the clock of disappointment. Perhaps alien civilizations sending out their own"hello" are probably frustrated as well. The probability to receive any replies is a bit gloomy. One canargue that distance so immense that even with advance alien technology, their signal or visit will notreach us during our time on earth. In spite of all this, that leap of faith still has me waiting for the next ET, especially if she happens to beSeven of Nine (Star Trek Voyager). I would then immediately invite her to be a forum member with goldstatus.....he, he.

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Gary
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To travel to the nearest star system, Alfa Centauri will take over4 years at the speed of light.and with todays technoligy it would be about 75000 years (give or take 5000 years)

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Candyman
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UFO Compilation 2011

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Mr Lee
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I read Chariot of the God many years ago and enjoyed it, and as a reasonable person, I feel it would be reasonable to believe that other life must exist somewhere out there, and it would seem that by all the UFO activity in recent years, that they are trying to show us that they exist. It is my opinion that govt's know things that they do not tell their citizens to prevent panic. I just hope they are friendly and can unit this planet, instead of deciding to destroy it because we all cannot get along. Of course some of the UFO can probably be explained by secret testing that govt's themselves are doing.

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Jake
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I read Chariot of the God many years ago and enjoyed it, and as a reasonable person, I feel it would be reasonable to believe that other life must exist somewhere out there, and it would seem that by all the UFO activity in recent years, that they are trying to show us that they exist. It is my opinion that govt's know things that they do not tell their citizens to prevent panic. I just hope they are friendly and can unit this planet, instead of deciding to destroy it because we all cannot get along. Of course some of the UFO can probably be explained by secret testing that govt's themselves are doing.
Another interesting thought......who will represent us as the greeting party. And what are they going to say?I vote for a nice looking GRO hostess that can sing and dance all night long......he, he.
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Candyman
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I was in the process of relocating to Lightning Ridge (NSW Opal capital), in late February of 1970. I had a 1964 Ford Falcon XM ute (pickup), at the time, and it was loaded to the hilt, or more correctly, overloaded, with all sorts of stuff for my new life as an opal miner. The load was very heavy, and I had left my hometown after dinner and was travelling fairly slowly because of the load. I got to about 9 or 10 miles north of Mendooran (NSW), and blew a tyre on the L/H back, of the ute. This was alright, I proceeded to get out the only jack I had which was a stock standard bumper bar style jack, which came with the ute, and to my dismay, the flat tyre stayed firmly on the ground, and only the body lifted up to the maximum. I even half unloaded the ute on the ground beside it, to try to get enough lift to change the tyre but it was still no use. The remaining stuff inside the ute was too heavy for one man to lift on my own, so I was stuck ! I waved down a passing motorist who was a farmer a couple of miles up the road, and asked him to phone my cousin, who was only about thirty miles away on a farm at Gilgandra, and ask him to bring me a heavier duty jack which would lift the ute high enough to change the wheel. Gilgandra, and my cousins' place, were going to be my first stop on the trip, and I was to continue to Lightning Ridge the next day. The motorist promised to phone him, and left me to wait. While waiting, I couldn't do much but to sit in the ute, and smoke. Maybe an hour or so after I had settled in, and waiting for my cousin to arrive, I noticed a strange, electric blue sphere, with a pulsing blue light, about half the size of the moon, suddenly appear to my left, and just above the hill range in the night sky. At first i thought it was Venus, but it was far too big for that. It remained stationary for a few minutes, then it started moving slowly, first to the left, then too the right, then it seemed to come towards me for a bit, and then stop. It repeated these movements, in what seemed to be completely random directions, for almost 2 hours. I was fascinated, and completely enthralled with this, and the light was a constant blue, which seemed to be flickering, or pulsing around the edges. I was still watching it, when it suddenly disappeared ! First it was there, then it was not ! It did not appear to just suddenly fly off, in a direction, it simply just disappeared ! My cousin showed up shortly after that, and I asked him if he'd seen it and he said no, he had been in the pub until late, and my Aunty had passed on the message to bring a decent jack out to me, and he had had a feed and a few coffees to sober up before coming out to me. To this day, I have no idea what it was. It was unlike anything I have ever seen before or since, and I have no idea whether there is a logical explanation to this, or if indeed it was a UFO !

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Jake
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Hey Candyman, As Spock would say -- "fascinating"! Is it safe to assume that for the rest of your life, you will belooking up with extreme desire to see your little blue friend again. I could imagine in that part ofthe territory, you could probably see the band of the Milky Way in all its wonderful glory. For some people, it's not easy to reveal what you have seen. Thank you for your eye witnessaccount of the story of your life. It's a lifetime experience that may never be repeated again. Thank you sir -- Jake

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Candyman
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Hey Candyman, As Spock would say -- "fascinating"! Is it safe to assume that for the rest of your life, you will belooking up with extreme desire to see your little blue friend again. I could imagine in that part ofthe territory, you could probably see the band of the Milky Way in all its wonderful glory. For some people, it's not easy to reveal what you have seen. Thank you for your eye witnessaccount of the story of your life. It's a lifetime experience that may never be repeated again. Thank you sir -- Jake
Hi Jake ! That is the first and only time I have seen anything like that ! I have seen a lot of other strange things over the years, but they could be explained by planes, helicopters, weather baloons and the Min Min lights, but I have never seen the exact same thing as that night ! There was another sighting similar to mine, with the spherical blue light, out on the Nullabor Plains, (about halfway between South Australia, and Western Australia), about 10 or 12 years ago, and this time there were a few independent witnesses. I just do not know what it is, or was ! There was a considerable time gap between these sightings. Yes, I believe there are many strange things in this world, and some we may never know the answer to, but it sure makes life interesting !
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