Do you believe in the existence of extra-terrestrials?

[CommonSense]

I assume you meant "Do you believe in the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligent life?

Non intelligent life = Most definitely
Intelligent life = Very likely indeed.

When one considers the distances of space/time and that it has been proven to be expanding, then us getting in contact with any intelligent species are unlikely.

Given enough time and provided the human species does not destroy itself, then one day in the far future we might even get evidence in the form of some signal or radio source from a long dead civilization in a far away place in our own galaxy. Getting signals from civilizations in other galaxies is unlikely.

Remember, that we have only been sending out signals for a little over a hundred years, so that signal, even traveling at the speed of light reached a very small portion of our local space. The milky way is HUGE. So an intelligent species, alive at the same time as us with a means to communicate with us, I doubt it.

If you meant were ET's visiting us. Hell NO!

No intelligent species which has the power to travel huge distances will come to a planet with 'intelligent' life like Earth and NOT try to open a 'trading post' or something similar. They would be the dominant force, and we would be inferior. So why would they not want to come out in the open? Or why would they 'crash' on Earth if they have technology enabling them to travel vast distances safely through space, avoiding comets, asteroids and radiation, just to miscalculate the height of of a Karoo koppie? Does not make sense.

 

[waynegohl]

What about faster than light travel and wormholes?

What about them, maybe some ET's use them maybe some ET's don't there is not just 1 kind of ET there are plenty others and each one might use different forms of transport or come from different parts of the earth or universe.

 

[CommonSense]

What about faster than light travel and wormholes?

Yes, it is a valid theory. But you would need more energy than the output our Sun would produce in it's entire lifespan of +- 10Billion years to create a singularity to be able to bend space.

Then you have the problem of creating a craft which would be able to withstand the forces that singularity (a.k.a. black hole) would exert on that vehicle. And how do you get free on the other side from the gravitational forces of such a construct again?

 

[RiaX]

Also the warping of space-time doesnt only pertain to distances it also theroetically warps time as they are interlaced so jumping through space via a wormhole would not leave you in the right timeline.

The later theory on warp drive requires to much energy.... imagine the energy requires to compress space-time for a 100 light years ?

Finally I dont think all our physics is wrong perhaps the later models are incomplete not wrong. To assume that aliens have made so superior science that negates our science is not likely. Our physics might be primative in the eyes of science fiction but they are fairly accurate as they have been proven in the lab and with mathematics. I think we give our knowledge of the working world too little credit when it comes to questions like this.

the higgs boson has more or lessed confirmed that our current model of physics is on the right track or maybe everything we understand is wrong (though I highly doubt it that things like the laws of thermodynamics are incorrect)

 

[ponder]

 

[zippy]

We might be more advanced than some ET, but we won't know because we can't travel there. Hence, our best chance of meeting ET would be someone that is much more advanced than us and have found some way passed the limitations of time/space travel that is currently preventing us from exploring the universe.

And we have been advertising our presence, but nobody has bothered to respond. Not even a "howzit, do you wanna swap women"

Either:
1. They can't hear
2. They don't give a s###t
3. It's takes a while to assemble a large enough invasion force and they don't want give advance notice if their "arrival"
4. They don't exist

In leaning to 1 and 4, but 2 is close

 

[SaiyanZ]

And we have been advertising our presence, but nobody has bothered to respond. Not even a "howzit, do you wanna swap women"

Either:
1. They can't hear
2. They don't give a s###t
3. It's takes a while to assemble a large enough invasion force and they don't want give advance notice if their "arrival"
4. They don't exist

In leaning to 1 and 4, but 2 is close

Our radio waves travelling at the speed of light has reached only a few thousand stars in our own galaxy. Those early signals are weak and are not pointed intentionally at stars that could harbor life. It takes about 100000 years to travel across our galaxy at the speed of light. Our nearest galaxy, Andromeda will only receive our radio signals in 2.5 million years. So although the universe is massive with billions of galaxies and stars, the percentage of stars that we have "touched" is almost negligible.

 

[waynegohl]

I have never been contacted by an ant or cockroach.

Either:
1. They can't hear
2. They don't give a s###t
3. It's takes a while to assemble a large enough invasion force and they don't want give advance notice if their "arrival"
4. They don't exist

I'm leaning more towards they don't understand english.

 

[CommonSense]

And we have been advertising our presence, but nobody has bothered to respond. Not even a "howzit, do you wanna swap women"

Either:
1. They can't hear
2. They don't give a s###t
3. It's takes a while to assemble a large enough invasion force and they don't want give advance notice if their "arrival"
4. They don't exist

In leaning to 1 and 4, but 2 is close

Point 1 - They could hear, but they haven't heard yet becasue space is so big, our signals would not have reached them.
Point 2 - Life is so scarce in the universe, I think that finding another intelligent species would be too much of a temptation not to establish communication.
Point 3 - Only if we are to be their food
Point 4 - Keeping in mind the vastness of the universe, I think it is more than likely that life does exist on other planets. We exist.
But if they are intelligent is the next question. And then did they happen to develop radio technology exactly at the same time as us? Remember the universe is 13.7 Billion Years old. The earth is only 4.5 Billion years old. Homo Sapience Sapiece have only eveolved recently (100 to 200 million years ago). And we have only been sending (weird) messages out into space for a 100 Years.

Imagine what those aliens might think if they hear our multitude of languages all at the same time. And then they hear about World War I, then World War II and then Ninja Turtles, then Barney and Justin Bieber! (Overlord to all ships: Stay clear of Zone 12!)

 

[zippy]

I believe there is a very high probability that life exists on another planets/moons.

All the science points to this.

However, until we can observe it, measure it, try to have sex with it, sell stuff to it, kill it, we can't be sure

 

[zizo911]

Maybe ET does not have to travel vast distances and is here on our earth already.

ANC politicians.

 

[SaiyanZ]

Something people should note. If the speed of light is the limit for observation or space travel, to aliens more than 4.6 billion light years away from us, the earth doesn't even exist yet. Since most of the visible universe is further away from us than 4.6 billion light years, the earth cannot be seen at all from the majority of the other billions of galaxies. Similarly, from our side, we can look at a galaxy 5 billion light years away and see no livable planets or signs of life. However at this very moment in time, life may be thriving there and everywhere else, just like here on earth.