Opinion | How many aliens are out there? Why a new estimate is raising eyebrows

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Opinion | Seth Shostak: Aliens are out there. But a new study suggests they're more rare than we think. - NBCNewsTHINK

However, there’s one term in this equation that generates a lot of debate because it’s exclusively sociological. It’s the length of time that a technological civilization maintains its mojo and beams radio or light waves into space. That’s important because if an alien culture goes silent, we may never find it.

So because we’ve had radio for about a hundred years, the Nottingham duo assume that all technological cultures will use this technology for a century. But then they’ll stop, and radio will go the way of the buggy whip. Radar, broadcast television, Wi-Fi — all these uses for radio will disappear, and the aliens will move on to some other, unspecified technology.

Radio is a very useful technology, based on some fundamental physics. It might be around for as long as the wheel. So it would certainly be reasonable to guess that the technological lifetime of societies is 10,000 years, not 100. Choosing the larger number increases the tally of inhabited worlds by 100 times.

 

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THINK Ask them to estimate how many lifeforms are yet tho be discovered on Earth. The fact is they cannot possibly have a clue... it's just wild guesswork.

THINK It assumes that advanced alien civilizations only ever exist on earthlike planets, and that the natural evolution of life (and society/culture) on Earth is completely typical for all intelligent lifeforms on all planets. In other words, it's complete anthropocentric nonsense.

THINK I'm not sure if they are rarer than we think. It comes down to our technology. We don't have the technology advanced enough to detect them. I do believe the Universe is full of alien lives.

THINK You guys are hilarious...UFO Sightings and News...just reported the same exact thing within minutes of each other😂🤣😂Hey guys,I would check out all the Governor’s and Pelosi,everyone received PPP Loans for their personal businesses.Big corporations got theirs 1st.I remember.

THINK They will be confused by the ruins of Vegas.

THINK Those beings have been here before we were even created they're so advanced that they can come into our environment and do whatever they want and nothing nobody do can stop them. I believe they are the ones pulling the strings with human beings.

THINK Oh! 😯

THINK They exist, but are rare, does not provide any comfort

THINK One is in the White House.

THINK Fermi was right. Just like Sio Bibble. StarWarsMinute

THINK I think they’re extremely rare....have you ever seen one?

THINK Where did the author of this article get their drugs from? Asking for a friend . 👍🏼

THINK Everyone said,You all would go to Aliens next in MSM...it’s so true.Your running out of stories 👽

THINK

THINK Why not it is 2020 after all🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

THINK Their space archeologists will enjoy the ruins of our world.

THINK Aliens, that we've never found ourselves, are 'rarer' than we think. Genius KeepUpTheGoodWork NobelCandidate

THINK On a serious note: 'The search for extraterrestrial life – Can astrophysics see beyond its own limitations?' - Gerard Aartsen

THINK Once when I drunk a bottle of whiskey in the woods. A alien pop up and start to touch me. And I dint like it. The gross thing was 9 months later I give birth to my son. But iam a male. That was really a hard time for me. Look a other bullshit story in the sky. Cheers.

THINK No shit it like 1/a million planets that can support life

THINK Got a planet full of them. Masked as humans.

THINK Whew!

THINK None

THINK They all look like slightly bigger plankton (SpongeBob character) is what I imagine.

THINK Let's say there are only 35 alien civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. There are 100,000,000,000 galaxies, so at that rate there are 3,500,000,000,000 alien worlds...

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