Pre veteran thread (2011)

[whiskey]

I think along those lines too Mind

 

[TomCatt]

Well, OK PI. Good points. OTOH... there's cancellation of the Higg's field...............

OK, now you're just going over my head. I just wanna blast some alien hell-spawn!

 

[TomCatt]

...which in turn led to the cancellation of Star Trek.

Actually, lest I give the impression I have any idea of what you're talking about, I passed out shortly after reading this sentence, had to be revived with oxygen:

In particle physics, the Higgs mechanism is the process in which gauge bosons in a gauge theory can acquire non-vanishing masses through absorption of Nambu-Goldstone bosons arising in spontaneous symmetry breaking.

Something similar happened to me PI when I read that....I forget exact what it was...but must have been similar

 

[TomCatt]

Nah, a mere four light years. Even if we can only ever get to 0.5C we'll be there in 8 years. Of course, there's the fact that there are probably no Earthlike planets orbiting Alpha Centauri despite theories suggesting it's more likely there, so really it'll just be a sightseeing tour. But still, it's nice to get out once in a while.

Also, given the number of stars and number of galaxies and theorized number of planets orbiting their stars in the Goldilocks zone, the odds that there isn't life out there as next to nothing as makes no odds.

'nuff said.

 

[PoliticallyIncorrect]

...Also, given the number of stars and number of galaxies and theorized number of planets orbiting their stars in the Goldilocks zone, the odds that there isn't life out there as next to nothing as makes no odds.

There's a problem with that one, though: if you start examining all those stars, then throw out all the ones that for one reason or another couldn't support life—like it's a Super Nova, for instance—the number of likely candidates gets a whole lot shorter. And the nearest of those are very, very, very far away.

 

[whiskey]

'nuff said.

 

[classwife]

....wiping screen off .....

 

[CES]

The question is whether any of those planets support life as we know it...here just on earth we have bacteria that live under extremely high pressure and heat...and horseshoe crabs with copper based blood. So..life out there isn't that much of a stretch....whether or not it will find us or we can communicate it a whole nother story....

( it is fun to play with the crabs though)

 

[classwife]

...probably the best person to intelligently answer this !

 

[Mindfield]

'nuff said.

Look, Frank was an idiot. He spent way too much time grooming himself down there. I'm nothing like him. I have people who do that for me.

There's a problem with that one, though: if you start examining all those stars, then throw out all the ones that for one reason or another couldn't support life—like it's a Super Nova, for instance—the number of likely candidates gets a whole lot shorter. And the nearest of those are very, very, very far away.

White dwarfs and sun-like stars are the most common types and longest lived though, so even if you eliminate the really big stars you're still left with a mind-bogglingly ridiculous number of candidates for planetary systems with the possibility of Earth-like planets orbiting within the Goldilocks zone orbiting a main sequence star long enough to have probably developed life of some sort.

We may never reach those planets or even be able to communicate with them, and even if we could see them and confirm life they'd probably be so far away that the light reaching us from them is probably reflecting things that happened so long ago that we can't even be sure that what we're looking at even exists anymore.

 

[Dusty_D]

**** afk ****

 

[CES]

My only real answer is that I haven't got a clue
(actually that answer describes much of my life)

 

[TomCatt]

My only real answer is that I haven't got a clue
(actually that answer describes much of my life)

That sound quite familiar........


.....oh! That's me!

 

[TomCatt]

Dang, now I killed the thread

I'm sorry Whiskey, I didn't mean too, It was an accident!! I swear!

 

[PoliticallyIncorrect]

...even if you eliminate the really big stars you're still left with a mind-bogglingly ridiculous number of candidates for planetary systems with the possibility of Earth-like planets orbiting within the Goldilocks zone...

It's a large number, but not mind-boggling: SETI estimated in their HabCat that there's a little over 17,000 habitable stars.

We may never reach those planets or even be able to communicate with them, and even if we could see them and confirm life they'd probably be so far away that the light reaching us from them is probably reflecting things that happened so long ago that we can't even be sure that what we're looking at even exists anymore.

Absent wormholes or their practical use, there's no arguing that. It's a fascinating question, but almost certainly moot.

 

[classwife]

dun dun duuuuuunnnnnn

 

[Mickirette]

My only real answer is that I haven't got a clue
(actually that answer describes much of my life)

Duh! I thought you were talking about me.

 

[classwife]

...wiping screen again !....


Morning Micki !

 

[Mickirette]

Good Morning, I like that avitar.

 

[classwife]

thanks....I still love that shoe !