The Universe

[Mikey`]

So this subject got brought up on the christianity debate, and it got me thinking, what's out there in our universe? Is there life? How big is it? What lies beyond the miniscule part we are currently aware of? If the universe is finite, what lies at the end? And what lies beyond that?  Well yeah, just some questions to think about, post away...

[Adam|Note]

These sort things will unfortunately re-main unknown during our lifetime, apart from the "is there life" part, that could come to us. I've always thought it would be funny if we searched the universe for superior life only to end up being the most superior race in existance however I very much doubt this.

If the prophecies of Baba Vanga & Nostradamus were to come true then we'll come into contact with other life in 2221.

[Smush]

Lol if the prophecies of Nostradamus were also true December 21, 2012 will be our demise.

Back to the original question.

No one knows. Use your imagination because I highly doubt that we will come into contact with other life in our generation.

[Jared]

Didn't they find life somewhere? Not like aliens, i'm talking like bacteria.. IDK, i heard something about that recently.

[Lip Job]

It'll be thousands of years before we find anything I think

And if you want to believe those bullshit prophecies your about as blind as a catholic

[Adam|Note]

Lol if the prophecies of Nostradamus were also true December 21, 2012 will be our demise.

Back to the original question.

No one knows. Use your imagination because I highly doubt that we will come into contact with other life in our generation.

Wrong, the Mayans predict our demise with Nibiru. Nostradamus & Baba Vanga predict a massive decrease in the earths population due to chemical warfare.

[MikeQ]

http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/

[Snipers]

this universe is curved, going to one direction for too long will eventually bring you back to your starting location, if the universe really was infinite the whole physics laws would be fucked upside down, but no-one can prove this to be right yet no1 can prove that this is wrong.. its a two-sided path, it's like debating if god exists. but if the science is really right, then the world isn't infinite, just keeps spreading until eventually some shit will fuck us inevidebly creating a new start for second generation of this game called life.

It'll be thousands of years before we find anything I think

And if you want to believe those bullshit prophecies your about as blind as a catholic

agreed, this is utter bullshit, the calendars they had can't be as accurate as modern science in any part. if there really was some shit heading towards the earth in 2012, it sure as fuck would be foreseen way before.

[skynet]

Using current knowledge and a hint of probability we get (using the drake equation);

So if theres even a hint of accuracy to the Drake equation, the universe is beaming with life. The question you should ask then, is why havent civilizations contacted one another? Do we want other civilizations to contact us? If they had the ability to visit us then they surely have the ability to wipe us out.

[Adam|Note]

agreed, this is utter bullshit, the calendars they had can't be as accurate as modern science in any part. if there really was some shit heading towards the earth in 2012, it sure as fuck would be foreseen way before.

Wrong, a comet could be more than trillions of lightyears away, but travelling at such a speed that we wouldn't detect it untill the day, or maybe so fast we wouldn't detect it at all, it would just end us.

[Snipers]

agreed, this is utter bullshit, the calendars they had can't be as accurate as modern science in any part. if there really was some shit heading towards the earth in 2012, it sure as fuck would be foreseen way before.

Wrong, a comet could be more than trillions of lightyears away, but travelling at such a speed that we wouldn't detect it untill the day, or maybe so fast we wouldn't detect it at all, it would just end us.

hey, there are probably more than plenty of pictures that are taken from such distances, the power of light is amazing indeed.

and the comet cant go fast enough for us not to be able to detect it, lights speed is substantially the highest form of transportation, i dont think any comet can win light even after accelerating for a stars lifespan.

[Lip Job]

Why is everyones first thought "genocide of the human race" as soon as they hear about aliens?

Most likely they wouldn't travel that far to just destroy us? Or else they have completely different personality traits and behaviours then us? So much so we can't comprehend.. Fact is we have no idea

[MikeQ]

Lots of speculation going on. We really don't know, but we are working on it. Saying something like "it will be thousands of years before we..." is silly. The drake equation is fun to play with, but it involves too many assumptions. When these assumptions are multiplied by each other the error becomes laughable. All we can do is conclude that it is very likely that there is life out there, and keep looking.

We need to be able to admit it when we don't know something, and have the courage to search for the answer.

If anyone is interested in these things I highly recommend keeping up with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). It is a 17 mile long particle accelerator which has already shown promise of finding answers; operating at only half of its capacity of 14 TeV. The main goal is to find the Higgs boson particle theoized to give things mass, but there are endless possibilites. We live in an exciting time of discovery.

To get down to the actualy science, here are some things you might find interesting.

Top 7 discoveries of 2010: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/2010-top-space-stories-101227.html

A great series on a wide variety of topics: http://www.history.com/shows/the-universe

String Theory:

Double Slit Experiment/Intro to quantum mechanics:

[Adam|Note]

agreed, this is utter bullshit, the calendars they had can't be as accurate as modern science in any part. if there really was some shit heading towards the earth in 2012, it sure as fuck would be foreseen way before.

Wrong, a comet could be more than trillions of lightyears away, but travelling at such a speed that we wouldn't detect it untill the day, or maybe so fast we wouldn't detect it at all, it would just end us.

hey, there are probably more than plenty of pictures that are taken from such distances, the power of light is amazing indeed.

and the comet cant go fast enough for us not to be able to detect it, lights speed is substantially the highest form of transportation, i dont think any comet can win light even after accelerating for a stars lifespan.

Trillions being an example of how far, obviously it would have to be further out than we can even imagine for it to be capable of doing what I said. The possibility of it is small, but it could be happening. Could happen just as you finish reading this... =P

[plex]

so much to discuss. i think that the universe is not infinite, but its pretty damn big. if there is a point at which the universe stops it is most likely expanding into something else that is infinite that we dont even know about. i believe its possible that theres things out there that are so large the planet earth could be the size of a grain of sand. you never know. i think that anything is possible in the universe, or anything we think of as impossible is easily achievable we just dont know it, mainly because of other life forms which i think its completely foolish to think that there is nothing out there besides ourselves. i personally dont believe that the world will ever end the way the mayans or whoever else predicted it. i feel that we will be our own demise. i could be wrong though. assuming that there are things trillions of times larger then us, we could(as adam put it) be completely wiped out in a millisecond. it could happen at any point in time. theres just so many things to consider tbh. ill post more shit later i think :P

edit: this was fascinating http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/2010-top-space-stories-101227.html

[Mikey`]

interesting opinions, i also have another thing somewhat on topic.  does anyone think that aliens/other beings have visited the earth in the past?  i mean, if you think about it, all of these 'gods' and 'angels' ancient civilizations talked about, isn't it possible they couldve been aliens, and that was just their interpretation of them?  also, some of those structures built back then, such as stonehenge and pyramids, are said to be monumental accomplishments in our day, let alone for them to construct back then with very limited technology.  some say that it was extra terrestrials that may have had a hand in it.  who knows? :\

[Adam|Note]

It's been said that the Egyptians were in contact with extra terrestrials, if you research enough you'll see that UFOs spotted in the present are featured as hieroglyphics. This being said, if contact was established between us and them there must've been a reason for it to stop. Unless of course it hasn't.

[Jonny]

Something I have spent a lot of time thinking about too