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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 5:43 pm
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 6:17 pm
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 8:14 am
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:18 pm
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 12:34 pm
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Life on other planets? Sure.
It wouldn't surprise me if they found life on Mars.
Not sentient life, mind you, but I'd stack bets that there are or were life forms on Mars at some point in its history. Mars was initially as warm as the Earth, and microorganisms can grow in a profound number of inhospitable climates, ranging from the polar caps to the depths of the ocean to the blistering Sahara. I expect there was life on Mars in the past, if there isn't still now.
Spaceships ... the jury's still out on that. There are things that we Do Not Know about how the universe works. It is certainly possible, though if it is, we will probably not have the technology to do so for ... eh ... *thinks* .... what, another couple-five hundred years, given the way our science has exploded? Think about it -- millions of years in human evolution, and we went from the Renaissance to space travel in 500 years.
We live in a freaking golden age.
So I don't see why intelligent life could not have gone that far, if it is possible .... why they'd be hanging out in our neck of the woods is a different question.
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 2:11 pm
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When someone steers the conversation in the direction of UFOs, I generally lose interest fairly quickly. Sure, it's possible that there are other life forms out there somewhere, but I don't really see it as our most pressing concern right now. Let's assume, for the moment, that we knew for sure that there were other races out there- so what? We still need to work on our own problems first, right? We need to get our own affairs in order before we start thinking about contacting other races- we really don't need to be complicating things for ourselves right now, and if we can't handle our own technology just imagine what we'd do with someone else's.^_^'
Besides, maybe aliens exist and maybe they don't. What good does it do us to specualte about something which we can't prove right now and couldn't really do anything about it if we could?^_^
I did read one book, though, which posited an interesting theory that so-called "UFO" sightings are actually fey, and that people's minds are configuring the experience in a way which fits what they think they're more likely to see. Old accounts of "fairy kidnapping" are supposedly similar in several respects, but nowadays people aren't as familiar with such creatures nor are they expecting to see them. "Aliens" seem more logical to a culture which has already ventured into space, and so that is what people talk about.
Still, I think it's pure speculation at this point, and not a topic which is likely to produce any helpful ideas for our society. We'd do better to focus on more practical maters- like homelessness, overpopulation, hunger, war, oppression, and pollution. There are many other matters to keep us occupied, ne?^_~
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 2:37 pm
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Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2005 5:41 pm
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Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2005 8:42 am
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