Possible habitable planet discovered.

[FatDino]

So the only thing that'll happen if we send a colonization ship over there, is that the dudes already living there will tell us to get off their lawn and go home.

How dare they do that! We are the children of God, the keeper of knowledge and technology. Should they act with such hostile manner, we will, yes we will, take them on without hesitation. We have nukes and politicians willing to use them, we will bomb their entire civilization.

 

[R. Richard]

'No longer human' is a fairly arbitrary designation; if we, humans of 2007, would consider our hypothetical descendants to be 'inhuman', they would likely view us as equally so, the same as we make the distinction between humanity and the apes we came from (assuming that our descendents will possess the ability to make that distinction, which seems particularly likely if we are talking about a choice). Whatever becomes of us, we won't be the same as we are now. Choosing to remain is a non-option which would require massive effort and doom humanity to extinction.

I am assuming that you mean the common, ape-like ancestor of both humans and apes. However the way you have stated it can raise the beast in some people and 'lynch mob' is such and ugly phrase.

 

[Pure]

it should be an interesting psych experiment:

20 light years away. assume we could travel at 10% of the speed of light.
that's 200 years.

it would be an interesting experiment to put a couple hundred people sealed in a vessel for that time--say 10 generations? anyone read Lord of the Flies?

i wonder too, about population pressure? start with 200 people and grow by, say 2% for say 150 years. suppose the smart ones didn't breed so much and you end up with a group of colonists, 30% of whom are little Amicus's.
suppose the psychopaths got the upper hand, and a group of Ted Bundy's emerged?

i suppose we should just freeze the initial group and hope that not too many get "freezer burn" of the cortex over the 200 years. and that HAL lets them live.

 

[FatDino]

i suppose we should just freeze the initial group and hope that not too many get "freezer burn" of the cortex over the 200 years. and that HAL lets them live.

Ziploc them; that should help with the "freezer burn" and keep 'em fresh and juicy.

 

[Patrick_B76]

I find this kind of stuff fascinating. Scientists have discovered a new planet that holds a good probability of being habitable. It's only 20 light years away. All we've got to do is get there and plant a flag.

It's kinda weird to think that about 400 years ago if you publicly said there were other planets out there, the church would label you a heretic and burn you at the stake.

new planet

I'm no Christian, but give them a break. You know that guy who keeps bringing up the most embarrassing moments of your life at parties? You're that guy.

 

[FatDino]

I'm no Christian, but give them a break. You know that guy who keeps bringing up the most embarrassing moments of your life at parties? You're that guy.

YOU give him a break. I don't see Wildcard mentioned the word Christian anywhere. He was just showing an astronomical article. If religions is all you can see in virtually everything, why don't you run for the papacy? Geez.

 

[Patrick_B76]

YOU give him a break. I don't see Wildcard mentioned the word Christian anywhere. He was just showing an astronomical article. If religions is all you can see in virtually everything, why don't you run for the papacy? Geez.

Don't even try it.

Here is what he said:

"It's kinda weird to think that about 400 years ago if you publicly said there were other planets out there, the church would label you a heretic and burn you at the stake."

'The Church" is a common name for the Christian church. Muslims and Jews don't use churches.

Burning heretics at the stake gives the vivid image of punishment for crimes against the Christian church.

Don't pretend to be naive, you and everyone else knows what he was talking about. I thought it was a cheap shot. My opinion.

 

[FatDino]

Don't even try it.

Here is what he said:

"It's kinda weird to think that about 400 years ago if you publicly said there were other planets out there, the church would label you a heretic and burn you at the stake."

'The Church" is a common name for the Christian church. Muslims and Jews don't use churches.

Burning heretics at the stake gives the vivid image of punishment for crimes against the Christian church.

Don't pretend to be naive, you and everyone else knows what he was talking about. I thought it was a cheap shot. My opinion.

Hah. Sorry, buddy. You think you're so smart to know that I was "pretending". Well, guess what. I wasn't.

All the valuable scientific information from that article and all you can pull out is that statement? Like I said, religions is all you see.

Yes, everyone else and I know perfectly well what he was talking about. He was talking about a big astronomical discovery, about a planet that may very well become human's next colony, about a fact that religious organizations did try to eliminate those who had different views than theirs.

In your words, did he have to say pagodas and temples as well to make that statement less "hateful"? Because history shows, all religions have done similar things.

How about this? Get on with your life. Maybe you'll see that not everyone is as hateful, yes, hateful, as you are.

 

[Patrick_B76]

Hah. Sorry, buddy. You think you're so smart to know that I was "pretending". Well, guess what. I wasn't.

All the valuable scientific information from that article and all you can pull out is that statement? Like I said, religions is all you see. Yes, everyone else and I know perfectly well what he was talking about. He was talking about a big astronomical discovery, about a planet that may very well become human's next colony, about a fact that religious organizations did try to eliminate those who had different views than theirs.

And what was the point on mentioning heretics and burning at the stake? A cheap shot. It had nothing to do with the article at all. Just a cheap shot.

In your words, did he have to say pagodas and temples as well to make that statement less "hateful"? Because history shows, all religions have done similar things.

But he didn't say that, he said "The church" and "heretics" and "burned at the stake." Distinctly Christian. It detracts from the article by shoving that crap into the face of people who truly believe in that religion. Everyone who knows about Christianity knows about the execution of heretics. We don't need Mr. Wizard over there giving us his little morality/history lesson.

How about this? Get on with your life. Maybe you'll see that not everyone is as hateful, yes, hateful, as you are.

Don't give a shit.

 

[shereads]

Two words:

Preemptive invasion.

 

[Guest]

Two words:

Preemptive invasion.

Necons wet dream last night.



What if we arrived, and found intelligent life, and realized we weren't?

 

[N0madS0uL]

This is totally unnecessary. Sure this new "find" is fascinating but really... there are much more important matters on "this" planet that needs serious attention. I don't see the point in spending trillions on a "space" expedition. What have we done by going to the Moon? How has it helped us remedy the problems in our planet? All these are just distractions.

You switch over to another object if the old one's beyond repair. Earth isn't beyond repair but it'll be if we don't mind our actions.

I'm not totally against space exploration but there's a time for it and its not now.

 

[shereads]

This is totally unnecessary. Sure this new "find" is fascinating but really... there are much more important matters on "this" planet that needs serious attention. I don't see the point in spending trillions on a "space" expedition. What have we done by going to the Moon? How has it helped us remedy the problems in our planet? All these are just distractions.

You switch over to another object if the old one's beyond repair. Earth isn't beyond repair but it'll be if we don't mind our actions.

I'm not totally against space exploration but there's a time for it and its not now.

The problem is, there could be intelligent life on this newly discovered planet. If they're really smart, they'll leave us alone. But if they're smart like us, they're already planning to bring us democracy. Which would be fine, except that in their world, "democracy" might mean, "house arrest" or "feedlot" or "a nutritiious diet of soy and worms." You want to wait around for these unknown lifeforms to decide your fate? Fine. Not me. I say we nuke them back to the stone age. Unless their culture skipped the stone age and went directly to bronze...Whatever.

 

[N0madS0uL]

That's so "16 yr old buys a new aliens vs predator video game".

 

[cantdog]

A red dwarf? Will that provide enough energy for plants and other animals to survive? BTW, isn't a red dwarf supposed to turn into a black hole after...idk, like some hundreds of millions of years? Okay okay, humans will all be extinct by then.

But seriously, IF that planet has liquid water, it may take at least another fifty years to build a research camp there.

And the view...sunset on one side and dark on the other all the time , huh?

Just think of the things we can do...

You mean red giants.

 

[shereads]

That's so "16 yr old buys a new aliens vs predator video game".

My God! What if they take our video games?

But what if they don't?!

The bastards!

And what if they impose a new hyper-HDTV broadcast standard that's incompatible with all the new LCD and plasma flat screens that were given as Christmas gifts last year? Don't be naive, NOm. It's us or them.

 

[N0madS0uL]

Red Giant -> White Dwarf -> Kaboom! -> Black Hole.

Am I right?

 

[shereads]

Red Giant -> White Dwarf -> Kaboom! -> Black Hole.

Am I right?

Hard to say. Nobody's tried it yet.

 

[N0madS0uL]

My God! What if they take our video games?

But what if they don't?!

The bastards!

And what if they impose a new hyper-HDTV broadcast standard that's incompatible with all the new LCD and plasma flat screens that were given as Christmas gifts last year? Don't be naive, NOm. It's us or them.

Well talking over here helps me stay awake for the Chelski vs Liverpool match. Speaking of which, it's gonna happen in 10 minutes. Too bad there's no Barca this time around.

 

[shereads]

Red Giant -> White Dwarf -> Kaboom! -> Black Hole -> The Return of Shoulder Pads

 

[Kev H]

This tentative discovery will:

Give our budding young scientists something to strive for.

Give our thinkers something to think about.

Give our dreamers something to dream about.

Give us one more reason to get our act together (one more potential reward, in whatever terms you define "reward").

We can always hope that the negative reasons will just evolve themselves right out of the equation.

I know I will certainly be following the story with interest, since it supports that hopeful line in Contact (paraphrased, don't have my copy handy): "If only 1 in a billion stars had planets, and only 1 in a billion of those planets had life, there could be billions of civilizations out there."

I was especially interested to note further evidence that we are an extremely young system, with an extremely young civilization (by relative terms); if this newly discovered planet had formed life when we think ours did, they'd have had many billions of years to evolve.

 

[N0madS0uL]

Shoulder Pads? Anyways, take care and g'dnite. Gotta go

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I just hope the alien women like me

 

[scheherazade_79]

I find this kind of stuff fascinating. Scientists have discovered a new planet that holds a good probability of being habitable. It's only 20 light years away. All we've got to do is get there and plant a flag.

It's kinda weird to think that about 400 years ago if you publicly said there were other planets out there, the church would label you a heretic and burn you at the stake.

new planet

I come from 400 years into the future. I find it grossly insulting that you speak of just one habitable planet when there are trillions, and what's more - expresss amazement at it,

Burn bitch, burn!

 

[TxRad]

I just hope the alien women like me

That's assuming the Alien race has women.... It could be asexual..... or even tri-sexual... Now that would really screw things up....