View Poll Results: do you believe in aliens(extra terrestrials)?

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  • yes

    32 76.19%
  • no

    7 16.67%
  • undecided

    3 7.14%

Thread: Do you believe in aliens(extra terrestrials)?

  1. #61
    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by anon View Post
    We could have been knocked out before evolving intelligence (and it can still happen). What would the estimates look like if we didn't have us and our planet to rely on as an example that definitely has intelligence?
    Don't be discouraged, anon. We are too close now to give up. Our computers can and will evolve into the alien machine children of the future, who, acting in unison with other such beings similarly developed by other civilizations gigadistances away, invented time and maybe even three dimensions as well so that we could be here in the present working on the problem.
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

  2. #62
    Banned ಠ_ಠ's Avatar
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    four dimensions

    spacetime, length, width, and height
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  3. #63
    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ಠ_ಠ View Post
    four dimensions

    spacetime, length, width, and height
    Would it be best to use floats or double for this?
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

  4. #64
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    A complex.

  5. #65
    In my head happyclown's Avatar
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    Who believes that the universe is infinite?

    If the universe is infinite, that would require an infinite amount of matter, right?

    And who, or what could be the sourc e of infinite matter?
    OS: Linux Mint 13(Maya) LTS 64 bit.

  6. #66
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    Quote Originally Posted by happyclown View Post

    If the universe is infinite, that would require an infinite amount of matter, right?
    nope
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  7. #67
    In my head happyclown's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ಠ_ಠ View Post
    nope
    I can't see how they could be mutually exclusive.
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  8. #68
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    empty space
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  9. #69
    Devil's Advocate SlyMaelstrom's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snafuist View Post
    - there are a lot of preconditions for a planet to be able to develop life:
    * needs proper distance from its star
    * needs rotation (not too fast (life needs recovery or lots of energy), not too slow (weather...))
    * needs to be far away from areas with lots of mass (supernovae...)
    * needs a moon to stabilize its axis
    * needs a magnetic field to keep away bad things of all sorts
    * needs to have an atmosphere
    * which is not toxic
    * but the planet may not entirely consist out of gas
    * needs to feature many different elements (and not too much of the heavier ones)
    * its star may not be too large (burns too fast) or too small (doesn't emit enough energy)
    * must feature water (or some substitute) and carbon (or some substitute)
    * and must feature temperatures which keeps these things fluid and solid respectively
    * all of the time
    Life, as we know it, that is. It it so hard to believe that some form of intelligence can be derived from something that we cannot even comprehend as a species? One could consider the possibility that there are other beings on the very planet that we cannot see, feel, or understand simply because it's beyond our capacity of understanding.
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  10. #70
    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
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    @happyclown: roolling his own again
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

  11. #71
    In my head happyclown's Avatar
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    If the universe is infinite, why is matter finite? Why does matter stop at some point, and empty space extends to infinity?

    Or does the universe end at the point where matter stops?

    I don't get it.
    OS: Linux Mint 13(Maya) LTS 64 bit.

  12. #72
    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
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    Mass is a property of matter, and space is a function of mass. "Height" is a property of vertical space and BREADTH is a property of horizontal space. Put it out now before you choke.

    It's all so self-oriented.
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

  13. #73
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    Quote Originally Posted by happyclown View Post
    If the universe is infinite, why is matter finite? Why does matter stop at some point, and empty space extends to infinity?

    Or does the universe end at the point where matter stops?

    I don't get it.
    The universe isn't infinite. At the moment of the Big Bang, the universe was infinitesmally small, then space began exploding outward in all directions and it's still expanding now.

    Think of space as the ocean and matter as boats floating on the ocean. Now imagine that the ocean is expanding in every direction. That's the universe.
    "I am probably the laziest programmer on the planet, a fact with which anyone who has ever seen my code will agree." - esbo, 11/15/2008

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  14. #74
    Malum in se abachler's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Snafuist View Post
    - there are a lot of preconditions for a planet to be able to develop life:
    * needs proper distance from its star
    * its star may not be too large (burns too fast) or too small (doesn't emit enough energy)
    This isnt really a condition, as any planetary system is likely to have at least 1 orbital body at the correct distance, sol has 3 (venus earth mars). also, the condition that the star not be too large or small isnt really relevant, since that just changes where the habitability zone is. In fact small red swarf stars may be more optimal for the formation of life than yellow dwarfs (sol). There are orders of magnitude more of them as well. Larger stars will burn out faster, which will reduce the probability that intelligent life will form around them, but that doesnt preclude it from forming.
    * needs rotation (not too fast (life needs recovery or lots of energy), not too slow (weather...))
    There is no evidence that rotation is necessary, only that it may speed the evolution of simple life by mixing the primordial seas.

    * needs a moon to stabilize its axis
    No it doesn't, again this may encourage evolution but it is not a requirement. It's perfectly feasable to assume that given literally billions of years of evolution around a red dwarf that life could adapt to unpredicatable weather patterns. Remember that red dwarves burn for so long, trillions of years, that many of the original ones from the creation of the universe are still around.
    [quote]
    * needs to have an atmosphere
    * which is not toxic
    * but the planet may not entirely consist out of gas
    [/qoute]
    These are not requirements. Toxic is a relative term at best. Life exists in the deep ocean that requires the 'toxic' gases emitted by smokers. There is no reason that intelligent life could not form on a hot jupiter planet. Most of the things we make out of metal etc. can be made out of organic compounds.

    * must feature water (or some substitute) and carbon (or some substitute)
    * and must feature temperatures which keeps these things fluid and solid respectively
    * all of the time
    No. It only needs liquid water part of the time to form life. And given trillions of years of evolution, versus the mere hundreds of millions earth has had, There is no reason to assume that intelligent life couldnt adapt to survive cold periods by freezing just as some frogs do on earth.

  15. #75
    spurious conceit MK27's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cpjust View Post
    The universe isn't infinite. At the moment of the Big Bang, the universe was infinitesmally small, then space began exploding outward in all directions and it's still expanding now.
    See! I tried to tell them all that but they don't listen.

    The next step for cpjust is to realize that "empty" space (in the metaphor, an ocean) is just a functional illusion of atomic reality (ie, the "outside" of the boat). Matter is location -- atomized substance. The only possible property of substance is three dimensions, and space is an effect.

    ps. it's Mercator's birthday, he was born in 1512.
    Last edited by MK27; 03-05-2009 at 07:03 PM.
    C programming resources:
    GNU C Function and Macro Index -- glibc reference manual
    The C Book -- nice online learner guide
    Current ISO draft standard
    CCAN -- new CPAN like open source library repository
    3 (different) GNU debugger tutorials: #1 -- #2 -- #3
    cpwiki -- our wiki on sourceforge

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