Will We Ever Get There?
Every time I look at the stars, I wonder if we will ever get there. It seems unlikely. Is our lifespan too short or are we simply snookered by distance?
Alpha Centauri, our closest neighbor outside our own solar system, is almost four and a half light-years away. This means that if we could travel at one tenth of the speed of light - and we cannot even remotely - it would still take us 45 years to get there. That is 90 years for the return trip with no time for any sight seeing. Few of us will outlive the entire journey.
If we were to attempt to make the journey with one of the space shuttles, it would take 135,000 years just to get there. However, hitching a ride with one of the Voyagers seems to be a better bet. The one-way trip will only take 75,000 years. Alas, we just don’t live long enough to do it.
When we look at our current technology, it seems unlikely that we will get there first and then we don’t even know if Alpha Centauri has any habitable planets. The single planet discovered so far orbiting that star is far too hot to support life as we know it. Life, as we know it, may be much further away.
Therefore, it seems a much safer bet to wait until those little green men arrive here but I not sure if ‘safer’ is the right word. If these beings arrive here, they may not be that well disposed towards us. If they display the same imperialism as our earlier European powers, we’re going to be in for a rough ride. How would you fancy having to perform slave labor on a Drakonian farm? Aliens may even have a taste for long pig… also known as human meat.
Then, on the other hand, maybe those on the other side are sitting with the same problems. It may explain the lack of any real evidence regarding ‘visits’ to our planet for all we had so far are rumors and conspiracy theories. One such theory has it that the far side of the moon is infested with aliens and that the Americans had been warned off the moon; that is why they’re no going there any more!
And I don’t know why everybody just assumes that intelligent extra-terrestrial life has to be humanoid. Maybe when they get here, they will simply proceed with their journey after failing to find intelligent life!
Have a great day and don't go flying too far
Comments (55)
I sometimes have this effect on people
and sometimes the complete opposite effect.
Hope you'll get better soon.
I think we are born with an interest in the stars. I can remember staring at the stars since very young. I think it is the mystery behind it that intrigues us.
No, no! It was for real. Santa Clause is also for real.
One way trips to the new world may have been the norm for convicts but that was to known destinations where other people were already settled. Sending people to a destination unknown with no chance of getting any feedback on what is happening - just for the sake of spreading our seed - is another matter altogether.
Now that is another theory that boggles the mind. A body so dense with a gravitational force that traps even light! But is it that? Perhaps it is a stargate used to travel to other galaxies?
We won't know for sure until we've been there and back.
Are you telling me that you have a healthy (or healing) look?
Found any intelligent life yet?
Intelligence is relative to those looking for it. I find my pet rock amazing company and we have discussed several aspects of quantum physics and his views on the chaos theory is fascinating. We seem to be on the same wavelength. So yes, I found intelligence in abundance. After all, we live on a big rock.
Ok,
Are you perhaps insinuating that me pet rock is not alive; or even worse that he is a moron?
He is asking all the questions at the present. does that count for anything?
My apologies for only noticing your comment now. Unforgivable. I'll monitor my blogs better in future.