Another interesting factoid.
There are approximately - on average - something like 100 billion stars in a galaxy. And about 100 billion galaxies. That makes for an awful lot of stars. On that basis alone, it seems to make a reasonable guess that life has evolved elsewhere in the universe. (and thats excluding the mult-universe theories postulated under string theory and others). And its also conceivable that such life doesn't necessarily have to follow "our" pattern of carbon-based life, or even oxygen breathers. Research into aquatic fumaroles prove that life can exist and develop without sunlight or breathable oxygen.
So it would be unreasonable to doubt other life in this universe - odds seem to favour it. I wouldn't even rule out FTL flight - scientists have calculated that wormhole travel is feasible, although it'd take the power of several galaxies' stars to make the sums work! But who knows what they'll come up with in the future?
Have they been here though? Certainly there's no hard and fast evidence to support it - even assuming that other intelligences have FTL. consider the basic facts -for example, how would they even know we are here? We've only been pushing out electronic signals for 100 years or so, and more than 99.99999999% of all star systems are a lot further out than 100 light years!
As far as eye-witness evidence goes, it is massively unreliable, however keen juries are on it. Although not a policeman, I've investigated hundreds of frauds over the last 30-odd years, taking a number to court. And I'd never rely purely on a single eye-witness. There have been a number of studies of eye-witness evidence, including a famous case during a lecture to law students. A particular "crime" was performed in front of them (the students were given no advance warning of this), and their recollections were all over the place. Most amazingly, no-one spotted the man in a gorilla suit that made an appearance during the furore, all subsequently denying this had even occurred when told until shown a video of the event!
Actually, I've managed to merge two different tests in the above - one of people failing to notice a "gorilla" on campus, and another staged "crime" in front of students who all managed to contradict each other on what exactly happened. Apologies - but it does go to show how memory plays tricks!
There are approximately - on average - something like 100 billion stars in a galaxy. And about 100 billion galaxies. That makes for an awful lot of stars. On that basis alone, it seems to make a reasonable guess that life has evolved elsewhere in the universe. (and thats excluding the mult-universe theories postulated under string theory and others). And its also conceivable that such life doesn't necessarily have to follow "our" pattern of carbon-based life, or even oxygen breathers. Research into aquatic fumaroles prove that life can exist and develop without sunlight or breathable oxygen.
So it would be unreasonable to doubt other life in this universe - odds seem to favour it. I wouldn't even rule out FTL flight - scientists have calculated that wormhole travel is feasible, although it'd take the power of several galaxies' stars to make the sums work! But who knows what they'll come up with in the future?
Have they been here though? Certainly there's no hard and fast evidence to support it - even assuming that other intelligences have FTL. consider the basic facts -for example, how would they even know we are here? We've only been pushing out electronic signals for 100 years or so, and more than 99.99999999% of all star systems are a lot further out than 100 light years!
As far as eye-witness evidence goes, it is massively unreliable, however keen juries are on it. Although not a policeman, I've investigated hundreds of frauds over the last 30-odd years, taking a number to court. And I'd never rely purely on a single eye-witness. There have been a number of studies of eye-witness evidence, including a famous case during a lecture to law students. A particular "crime" was performed in front of them (the students were given no advance warning of this), and their recollections were all over the place. Most amazingly, no-one spotted the man in a gorilla suit that made an appearance during the furore, all subsequently denying this had even occurred when told until shown a video of the event!
Actually, I've managed to merge two different tests in the above - one of people failing to notice a "gorilla" on campus, and another staged "crime" in front of students who all managed to contradict each other on what exactly happened. Apologies - but it does go to show how memory plays tricks!
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