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Doesn't this kind of change the argument a bit? It used to be that if a life sustaining planet existed, it would be so incredibly far away, that visitation to earth would be "unlikely". And sure, there's still that little lightspeed/mass thing to get past, but even at half the speed of light, it would only take a human lifetime to traverse that distance -- and the possibility of some civilization that may have evolved on that planet, making the long interstellar voyage to explore this neck of the galaxy, becomes more and more realistic. Especially if you consider cryogenics or something of the sort.
Of course, this new find might not have any life on it, but it does say one thing: There's a lot of stuff out there that is surprisingly close to us that we aren't aware of... like this really fucking big, possibly life-sustaining watery planet. ~Wifey
Astronomers and the UAP(UFO)
It came with a regular batch of astronomy news from an online news service devoted specifically to that topic. Usually, there are news releases from JPL and NASA about something the Mars Rover was doing, or a new photo that the Hubble took, or the first light of a new telescope. But today, there were two news releases that attracted my attention, mostly because they were so unusual.
First, there was a release from Harvard about a paper published next week in Nature will announce that an exoplanet has been found that is not only within 40 light years of Earth...
Read more at the source
4 comments:
You're right of course in saying ET visitation is possible. Even Pausible.
The question is, are they coming here. The notion of cryogenics for instance, is a human concept. Space travel in a ship of some kind, is a human concept. I'm not saying that it might not be that way, but we'd be talking about a culture....now think about this...that developed *completely* separate from earth's influence.
They may not see "space" the way we do. They may not travel as we do. Their biological makeup (if they are even at, or still in, that sort of existance - they may not be there yet, or transcended it already) may not require any sort of stasis.
Would they find us? You'd think if they can get "out" much easier and farther than us, that they certainly could find us. But, are we even what they search for? Is it a search at all for them.
The UAP or UFO enigma seems to be consistently tied to ETs for many interested people, when really, the pertinent data doesn't seem to point to it. It could be ET, and we've just got a culture bound view of what ET even means.
Sagan said contact with a truely alien culture would be "inexplicably weird". That, I can personally attest to is all too present in "contact" experiences.
Might this discovery turn the tide of thought in academe about the UFO issue? Maybe for some. But I question whether it's even the right attention in the right direction.
Love your blog...always gets me thinkin. ;)
JR -
You are right, cryogenics is a human concept, but I was more or less using that to represent any kind of hibernation period (which I know wasn't your point). I was considering discussing that life spans and perception of time on another planet may be vastly different than our own, therefore possibly negating the concern of travel lengths -- but wasn't sure if I'd end up rambling on, much like I'm doing now.
I also agree with you that the so-called 'aliens' are probably so alien, we can't really comprehend how they see the universe (I think you and I may have talked about this a bit before). And it really is kind of mind-boggling with the possibilities of not just carbon-based life, but other types of life (such as silicon) or even higher dimensional life (and for some reason, whenever I say higher-dimensional, it makes me feel like a New Age Guru).
I have an article that I'm still editing that I will post in the next day or so, that briefly discusses my position on 'ETs'. Basically it is an article about Sitchin's personal ideas infused in his deciphering of Sumerian texts and images, and how he tends to lead the reader along his personal path (at least in 'Twelfth Planet'). Anyway, that part is irrelevant to this reply. But basically, I have long considered that what we think of as ETs are actually terrestrial-based (like a civilization within the ocean), or that maybe they aren't even from this -- er--- plane. However, I think that there probably are some actual ETs out there who have popped on by for some gas and a chili dog, too. I think that the UFOs we see are sometimes physical 'ET' vehicles and sometimes 'other' -- which, to use a phrase you are familiar with, makes me half nuts-n-bolts and half not-so-nuts-n-bolts.
On second thought, I'm probably just plain nuts. *wink*
None of us can really guess the motives of other forms of life not native to our environment, whether they are from another planet or some humanly imperceptible realm of existence. I'd like to think that there are probably some human-like beings in the vastness of the universe, but how *close* those are, is anyone's guess.
The turn of the tide of academia is always a sticky area. And while a water planet in our neighborhood may not support any form of known or perceivable sentient life (or life at all) it should remind academia that they really don't have *anywhere near* all of the answers.
And thanks! I'm glad you've been peaking in from time to time! Good to hear from you.
We've been talking on the show lately about the concept of what it means to say "extraterrestrial". Unbeknownst to me, people are starting to use the term to describe anything "not from here" - which leads to all sorts of possibilities.
In the end because of how anti-structure fits into the whole enchilada, I'll currently stick with the notion that it's more to do with the nature of reality and perception. That's not to say it's psychological or internal.
Well on second thought...it's all psychological isn't it? Perception, altered states, the notion of a cohesive reality...that's all from our 3 pound universe (the Brain) inside the skull.
I often sit in my favorite chair and ponder. I ultimately put my finger into the air as if pointing to someone, and say "if I could get my finger to rip this open, I'd see what this was all about." As if I'm going to rip a hole in the movie screen of reality.
The answer to the question your reader's are now asking, is yes. I am a fucking weirdo.
Can't wait to read your write-up in the Sitchen thing. We're definitely in the same camp there - as I'm sure we are in a lot of this.
I don't know how comfortable I am with calling you a weirdo -- even a 'fucking weirdo', because frankly, I have day-dreamed since I was a wee lass, about ripping open the 'nothingness' surrounding me to see whats on the other side.
Interesting about the changing definition of 'ET'. When I use it, it's to represent life forms from another planet. Though, I can see how it could work in other areas to mean 'anything not from our definitions of Earth', but it can get confusing real quick, since the term is almost synonymous with what most consider 'aliens from another planet'. Opening it up to cover a broader area at this stage of the game just feels like a set-up for yet more misunderstandings in a wholly elusive and terribly misunderstood topic.
So tell those people to stop! ;)
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