When it comes to science fiction, the possibilities are limitless. But every future world that's created, or alternate reality that's developed holds maybe 10% of the interest of UFO stories. Even those that roll their eyes and call the guy a crackpot walk away thinking about it at least a little. Very few people are completely against the idea of intelligent alien life having contacted us humans. That's not to say that there aren't skeptics, but even those skeptics have to think about it every once in a while. It crosses everyone's mind at some point, and it always sticks out enough that the next time someone talks about alien encounters, that little part get caught and pulled to the surface again.
I probably think about alien contact more than I think about zombie outbreak, and I have zombie apocalypse scenarios planned out with my friends. But there's a very different sort of allure that comes with extraterrestrial life. Most people envision very human-looking lifeforms similar to what we've seen on Star Trek and other sci-fi shows. I have to admit, for a while so did I. But really, I'm at the point where I actually don't expect the extraterrestrial life to actually be living biologically. I'm thinking that they'd all be robotic. The reason for this is that I highly doubt that any civilization that has developed space-flight, does not have a working computer, or a computer-like system. The calculations required for flight paths on a planet require computers and satellite guidance right now, and Earth is a very small place compared to the entire galaxy, let alone the entire universe. So to simply traverse our leg of the galaxy, we would need computer systems so advanced that our current systems could be compared to cave drawings. Somewhere along the way, AI will be developed, and at that point, why send a person when a computer will do?
Sending people into space seems unnecessary. Yes, Space Odyssey taught us not to use AI to do a human's job, but humans are just so limited. The only way that I could see aliens traversing the galaxy physically instead of using a computer is if they happened to be more durable than the computers. Can they handle low gravity for extended durations? If not then they need to make a gravity machine, which is probably a lot more costly than sending a computer. Can these aliens handle extremely low temperatures? Better start heating the ship, oh, assuming that you can control the pressure properly the whole way. And since most biological lifeforms require some form of sustenance to keep living, they would need to somehow accumulate that food for the travel, and dispose of their waste. A computer eliminates 90% of the efficiency problems there. All it needs is power which can be accumulated from solar radiation of winds, or whatever fuel we're using, or perhaps a small fusion generator. So computers are far more likely to be traveling throughout the universe than humans or other biological creatures.
And if this is the case, when an alien craft does come to Earth, there's just going to be computers on it. No little green men or big-headed gray guys to mess around with people. Unless of course, for some reason the computers identified what we thought aliens would look like, created androids that looked like those and the used them to test us... So let's just say no on that one.
Basically, we're going to have to communicate with the aliens through a sort of Morse Code involving mathematics. It's going to be us just beeping at them or flashing lights hoping that they recognize the patterns that we're showing them in whatever language or number system they use. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll get some sort of confirmation, but I'd imagine that the computer would simply register our attempts at communication and then leave to catalog the next planet. From there, depending on how efficient their space travel is, a little ship would probably arrive with some sort of communication device, or maybe just some sort of blueprints based on natural ratios that are consistent throughout math. If we can figure out how to get the damn thing to work, then we'll have contact with another life form.
But most likely they would have transferred over to computer and electrical based life forms anyway. Screw biology, live forever as a computer today!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Who gets to be the hero?
Jamison: Do you remember that movie that came out a few years back... District 9 I think?
Keller: Yeah, what about it?
Jamison: Well, in that movie, an alien spaceship appeared to run out of resources and sort of, parked on Earth. But what if those aliens hadn't been so lucky to make it to Earth?
Keller: Is this just another hypothetical thing? C'mon, you have to have something better to do with your time.
Jamison: No no, not entirely... Just think about it. We have 8 planets in our solar system and 5 dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt. And off the top of my head I don't even know the number of moons those planets have. What would you think if an alien ship got stranded on say, one of Saturn's moons?
Keller: If they ran out of resources getting to our solar system, then they probably wouldn't go to Saturn.
Jamison: But Saturn is a fairly large planet and if the ship that was traveling lost speed, it might have been pulled into its orbit, and then subsequently pulled into the orbit of one of its many satellites.
Keller: So what? Are you saying we scour every moon of every planet looking for crashed spaceships?
Jamison: Sort of... What I'm saying is that there might be a sign or something telling us to look somewhere.
Keller: Like a distress beacon or something?
Jamison: Yes. Something like a distress beacon, but something we might detect... Periodic discharges of particles into space.
Keller: Why wouldn't they just use a radio or something?
Jamison: They might not use radios where they're from. They could use some method of communication that we are not familiar with, or that we are not currently pointing in Saturn's direction.
Keller: Are you proposing that there's an alien spacecraft on a moon of Saturn?
Jamison: I'm proposing that there's a distress call that's been taking place on Enceladus for possibly 400 years.
Keller: So an alien ship has been trapped on Saturn, pardon, Saturn's moon for 400 years and they're still sending out this distress signal?
Jamison: Yes. It's likely that they managed to harness some small amount of energy from the geologic events to shoot water through the frozen surface and into space.
Keller: Why wouldn't they just harness that energy and use it to get off the planet.
Jamison: I don't know. I think maybe their vessel is beyond repair or requires a component not available on Enceladus.
Keller: So they can jery-rig geysers into blasting ice into space, but they can't blast their ship back into space?
Jamison: It might be a moot point. Maybe they didn't want their ship to be subject to Saturn's gravitational pull. It's likely that their craft might be fragile or difficult to find on a planet the size of Saturn.
Keller: So these aliens, are blasting water into space so that someone, we can find them?
Jamison: That's what I think.
Keller: And why do you say that?
Jamison: The ring of particles around Saturn isn't consistent. Enceladus is periodically shooting ice into orbit and then collecting it within a few days. Most of the ice is just scooped back up and falls back to the surface. Only particularly violent eruptions send ice far enough into orbit to remain there for decades at a time. Like most Satellites, Enceladus has a slightly elliptical orbit, and these most violent eruptions occur at the apex once every 20 rotations. The power of the eruptions that are taking place would have severely depleted the mass on the Southern pole of Enceladus had the eruptions been more frequent or consistent for more than ten thousand years. Something is causing those eruptions to take place at the specific rate, regulating it, and waiting until enough ice has recollected on the surface, and it hasn't been going on for very long.
Keller: A compelling point, but isn't it possible that these events could be taking place naturally?
Jamison: It is. It's always possible that it could be a coincidence, but in the event that it's not, which we have sufficient evidence to believe otherwise, we need to get up close and examine this event.
Keller: You want to prioritize the TSSM over EJSM.
Jamison: We need to get a lander out there quickly. We can't wait another 15 years to launch it. It takes 7 years to get out there. Who knows how long it'll be before we can bring something back? It could take another 50 years to put something together that would be capable of excavating and recovering an alien craft.
Keller: Well you can put together a presentation, and I can get you a meeting, but I can't promise you they won't laugh you out of the place.
75 years later, the Jamison-Callister project was commissioned, and 70 well-preserved alien bodies were discovered on the surface of Enceladus.
Keller: Yeah, what about it?
Jamison: Well, in that movie, an alien spaceship appeared to run out of resources and sort of, parked on Earth. But what if those aliens hadn't been so lucky to make it to Earth?
Keller: Is this just another hypothetical thing? C'mon, you have to have something better to do with your time.
Jamison: No no, not entirely... Just think about it. We have 8 planets in our solar system and 5 dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt. And off the top of my head I don't even know the number of moons those planets have. What would you think if an alien ship got stranded on say, one of Saturn's moons?
Keller: If they ran out of resources getting to our solar system, then they probably wouldn't go to Saturn.
Jamison: But Saturn is a fairly large planet and if the ship that was traveling lost speed, it might have been pulled into its orbit, and then subsequently pulled into the orbit of one of its many satellites.
Keller: So what? Are you saying we scour every moon of every planet looking for crashed spaceships?
Jamison: Sort of... What I'm saying is that there might be a sign or something telling us to look somewhere.
Keller: Like a distress beacon or something?
Jamison: Yes. Something like a distress beacon, but something we might detect... Periodic discharges of particles into space.
Keller: Why wouldn't they just use a radio or something?
Jamison: They might not use radios where they're from. They could use some method of communication that we are not familiar with, or that we are not currently pointing in Saturn's direction.
Keller: Are you proposing that there's an alien spacecraft on a moon of Saturn?
Jamison: I'm proposing that there's a distress call that's been taking place on Enceladus for possibly 400 years.
Keller: So an alien ship has been trapped on Saturn, pardon, Saturn's moon for 400 years and they're still sending out this distress signal?
Jamison: Yes. It's likely that they managed to harness some small amount of energy from the geologic events to shoot water through the frozen surface and into space.
Keller: Why wouldn't they just harness that energy and use it to get off the planet.
Jamison: I don't know. I think maybe their vessel is beyond repair or requires a component not available on Enceladus.
Keller: So they can jery-rig geysers into blasting ice into space, but they can't blast their ship back into space?
Jamison: It might be a moot point. Maybe they didn't want their ship to be subject to Saturn's gravitational pull. It's likely that their craft might be fragile or difficult to find on a planet the size of Saturn.
Keller: So these aliens, are blasting water into space so that someone, we can find them?
Jamison: That's what I think.
Keller: And why do you say that?
Jamison: The ring of particles around Saturn isn't consistent. Enceladus is periodically shooting ice into orbit and then collecting it within a few days. Most of the ice is just scooped back up and falls back to the surface. Only particularly violent eruptions send ice far enough into orbit to remain there for decades at a time. Like most Satellites, Enceladus has a slightly elliptical orbit, and these most violent eruptions occur at the apex once every 20 rotations. The power of the eruptions that are taking place would have severely depleted the mass on the Southern pole of Enceladus had the eruptions been more frequent or consistent for more than ten thousand years. Something is causing those eruptions to take place at the specific rate, regulating it, and waiting until enough ice has recollected on the surface, and it hasn't been going on for very long.
Keller: A compelling point, but isn't it possible that these events could be taking place naturally?
Jamison: It is. It's always possible that it could be a coincidence, but in the event that it's not, which we have sufficient evidence to believe otherwise, we need to get up close and examine this event.
Keller: You want to prioritize the TSSM over EJSM.
Jamison: We need to get a lander out there quickly. We can't wait another 15 years to launch it. It takes 7 years to get out there. Who knows how long it'll be before we can bring something back? It could take another 50 years to put something together that would be capable of excavating and recovering an alien craft.
Keller: Well you can put together a presentation, and I can get you a meeting, but I can't promise you they won't laugh you out of the place.
75 years later, the Jamison-Callister project was commissioned, and 70 well-preserved alien bodies were discovered on the surface of Enceladus.
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