However
It is almost certain that there are aliens. Whether or not they have been to earth and made contact with mankind is another question entirely. Life may be a natural consequence of the particular way this universe works. Our existence along with the millions of other species and the amazing diversity would almost guarantee that life exists elsewhere. This is especially true if life was deposited here through an event known as Panspermia where the building blocks and even entire protein sequences, perhaps even organisms like viruses and bacteria, hitched rides on comets and asteroids. We already know that microbes from earth can survive in space. The space station has microbes living on its hull. The idea that life could be whizzing around the galaxy deep inside comets, asteroids, and even rogue planets is made even more plausible if it can live on the outside of a space station exposed to the sun's radiation, the vacuum of space, and the cold. http://www.iflscience.com/space/marine-plankton-found-surface-international-space-station
Bacteria can go dormant for tens and hundreds of thousands of years and "come back to life" as this article tells us. www.livescience.com/3691-microbe-wakes-120-000-years.html
So let's do some math. If we have a comet with a small colony of microbes in it moving at a leisurely pace of 20,000 kph and bacteria can live at least 120,000 years then how far could it travel in that time? About 21 trillion kilometers or 2 light years. We have no reason to believe that it couldn't last millions of years in the depths of space or even form in dense nebulae around stars.
I once thought of a project to ensure that if life on earth were the only life in the galaxy or universe I would raise the money through crowd sourcing to have a sample of DNA from earth launched on a trajectory that would take it out into deep space. After reading articles like those above I figure that is not necessary. It is without a doubt that Voyager's 1 and 2 will be carrying Earth DNA into deep space. If it should by chance encounter a planet some time in the very very distant future perhaps it will become the seeds for that planets evolutionary process. Maybe that's how we got started whether by accident or by design. Perhaps the probe now sitting on the comet Comet 67P/Churyumov-
That would make for a good science fiction story. Earth gets whacked by an asteroid that resurfaces the planet or some other massive disaster and eventually one of our satellites or probes somehow tumbles back to earth carrying microbes we put there and reseeds earth again. Then reptilian like scientists 500 million years from now wonder about the sudden rise of multi-cellular life in such a short time period as we do. Which is completely plausible. Then you throw in that it turns out that certain bacteria are programmed to do just that. Maybe "the creator", a super genius from billions of years ago, designed bacteria to act like the ultimate program that under the right conditions finds a planet, changes its atmosphere, and when the oxygen levels reach a certain point the DNA program begins to allow for mutation that ultimately leads to sentient life. Like Von Neumann machines. A concept much used in sci-fi of the 60s and 70s by authors like Clarke and Asimov. Here's the wikipedia link that explains Von Neumann machines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine
When you think about it nature created the Von Neumann machine already when it created life. Throw a seed onto the ground and it grows a plant that produces seeds that fall on the ground and grow a plant that produces seeds and so on. In other organisms, I refuse to say "more complex", but in other organisms, like humans, one half of the process is performed by males and the other by females, and then biological behavior, also a result of the DNA program, cause the two to complete the cycle. DNA also stores information over time suited to its environment. We could look at evolution from the gene's perspective. The same basic genes exist in a multitude of organisms. Genes handed down time after time after time for certain functions. Take plants for example. The gene set that codes for the mechanisms to produce chlorophyll which acts as a solar panel that provides the energy that drives the metabolic processes of the plant. Millions of species some that have been around for thousands of generation some that are fairly new on the scene carry this same set of codes. They also carry the code for processing CO2 and producing Oxygen. We are complimentary, animals that is, in that we use Oxygen for the same purpose and return CO2. In our science fiction story as described above this is perfect. You code for two kinds of organisms, a large amount of diversity, and they produce a much needed resource for each other.
In my idea to crowd source a container or probe that contained DNA in the form of living organisms like bacteria, viruses, and perhaps molds the container would be designed to open up in the atmosphere of a planet dispersing its contents. This would be to avoid a hard landing or a chance landing in a volcano on another world which would certainly destroy the entire cargo. The idea of a ship functioning for millions of years after launch is as yet unlikely. It would have to be designed in such a way as to survive re-entry by its natural characteristics and not by mechanical controlled means.
A comet is nature's perfect delivery system. Composed of ice water it would enter an atmosphere, begin immediately coming apart, and then vaporize at a very low temperature compared to a more solid object. The dispersion of the contents would be quick and most likely at a low enough temperature to keep from cooking the contents. Dispersing on the wind would ensure greater coverage as well. If I were from an intelligent species trying to seed life through out the universe I would use comets to do it. You would also need lots of them. Many would be pulled into the gravity wells of stars and burn up. Many would crash into planets like mercury or venus and cook. Others would hit airless moons. And so forth. In my sci-fi story the Oort cloud would be the repository of many of these probes placed around our solar system. A large percentage of them containing such precious cargoes. Over millions and billions of years one after another makes its way to the inner solar system and hits a planet or moon. With this system seeding of at least one of the planets at a point in its geological evolution that is favorable for life is increased.
Now if I could think of way that the clock like working of the solar system does this at regular intervals and this super intelligence figured this out I might have a good ending. Perhaps a theory that circles back on a previous statement I made. If the originator of this plan evolved on Earth or Mars half a billion years ago and set these events in motion to ensure life at least survived in this solar system now that would be a pretty large idea. Perhaps this life form, only a few millions years ago evolved on Mars, got very intelligent, and when they saw that the end was near sent ships here and out into space. A species devoted to continuing life as they knew it whether they were around for it or not. Perhaps right now, in the atmosphere of Jupiter are our long lost cousins floating around like Carl Sagan's imagined creatures.
The ultimate goal of these "creators" would be for a sentient species to spring up and eventually move beyond the orbit of Mars to escape the eventual expansion of the sun into a red giant. The Oort cloud repository being an insurance of a sort. What a grand and noble thought that would be. Maybe such an idea would be something for the "non believers" and "believers" alike to aspire to. Continue life in the universe even if it doesn't work out here in the long run.
I think I will go write that story. Or maybe you could. If you sell it for the movie rights just give me a cut.
That's all for now. Time to go to bed and dream. Maybe the mother ship will show up and some of us can leave all this nonsense going on here on this planet behind.
One could only hope.
I once thought of a project to ensure that if life on earth were the only life in the galaxy or universe I would raise the money through crowd sourcing to have a sample of DNA from earth launched on a trajectory that would take it out into deep space. After reading articles like those above I figure that is not necessary. It is without a doubt that Voyager's 1 and 2 will be carrying Earth DNA into deep space. If it should by chance encounter a planet some time in the very very distant future perhaps it will become the seeds for that planets evolutionary process. Maybe that's how we got started whether by accident or by design. Perhaps the probe now sitting on the comet Comet 67P/Churyumov-
That would make for a good science fiction story. Earth gets whacked by an asteroid that resurfaces the planet or some other massive disaster and eventually one of our satellites or probes somehow tumbles back to earth carrying microbes we put there and reseeds earth again. Then reptilian like scientists 500 million years from now wonder about the sudden rise of multi-cellular life in such a short time period as we do. Which is completely plausible. Then you throw in that it turns out that certain bacteria are programmed to do just that. Maybe "the creator", a super genius from billions of years ago, designed bacteria to act like the ultimate program that under the right conditions finds a planet, changes its atmosphere, and when the oxygen levels reach a certain point the DNA program begins to allow for mutation that ultimately leads to sentient life. Like Von Neumann machines. A concept much used in sci-fi of the 60s and 70s by authors like Clarke and Asimov. Here's the wikipedia link that explains Von Neumann machines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-replicating_machine
When you think about it nature created the Von Neumann machine already when it created life. Throw a seed onto the ground and it grows a plant that produces seeds that fall on the ground and grow a plant that produces seeds and so on. In other organisms, I refuse to say "more complex", but in other organisms, like humans, one half of the process is performed by males and the other by females, and then biological behavior, also a result of the DNA program, cause the two to complete the cycle. DNA also stores information over time suited to its environment. We could look at evolution from the gene's perspective. The same basic genes exist in a multitude of organisms. Genes handed down time after time after time for certain functions. Take plants for example. The gene set that codes for the mechanisms to produce chlorophyll which acts as a solar panel that provides the energy that drives the metabolic processes of the plant. Millions of species some that have been around for thousands of generation some that are fairly new on the scene carry this same set of codes. They also carry the code for processing CO2 and producing Oxygen. We are complimentary, animals that is, in that we use Oxygen for the same purpose and return CO2. In our science fiction story as described above this is perfect. You code for two kinds of organisms, a large amount of diversity, and they produce a much needed resource for each other.
In my idea to crowd source a container or probe that contained DNA in the form of living organisms like bacteria, viruses, and perhaps molds the container would be designed to open up in the atmosphere of a planet dispersing its contents. This would be to avoid a hard landing or a chance landing in a volcano on another world which would certainly destroy the entire cargo. The idea of a ship functioning for millions of years after launch is as yet unlikely. It would have to be designed in such a way as to survive re-entry by its natural characteristics and not by mechanical controlled means.
A comet is nature's perfect delivery system. Composed of ice water it would enter an atmosphere, begin immediately coming apart, and then vaporize at a very low temperature compared to a more solid object. The dispersion of the contents would be quick and most likely at a low enough temperature to keep from cooking the contents. Dispersing on the wind would ensure greater coverage as well. If I were from an intelligent species trying to seed life through out the universe I would use comets to do it. You would also need lots of them. Many would be pulled into the gravity wells of stars and burn up. Many would crash into planets like mercury or venus and cook. Others would hit airless moons. And so forth. In my sci-fi story the Oort cloud would be the repository of many of these probes placed around our solar system. A large percentage of them containing such precious cargoes. Over millions and billions of years one after another makes its way to the inner solar system and hits a planet or moon. With this system seeding of at least one of the planets at a point in its geological evolution that is favorable for life is increased.
Now if I could think of way that the clock like working of the solar system does this at regular intervals and this super intelligence figured this out I might have a good ending. Perhaps a theory that circles back on a previous statement I made. If the originator of this plan evolved on Earth or Mars half a billion years ago and set these events in motion to ensure life at least survived in this solar system now that would be a pretty large idea. Perhaps this life form, only a few millions years ago evolved on Mars, got very intelligent, and when they saw that the end was near sent ships here and out into space. A species devoted to continuing life as they knew it whether they were around for it or not. Perhaps right now, in the atmosphere of Jupiter are our long lost cousins floating around like Carl Sagan's imagined creatures.
The ultimate goal of these "creators" would be for a sentient species to spring up and eventually move beyond the orbit of Mars to escape the eventual expansion of the sun into a red giant. The Oort cloud repository being an insurance of a sort. What a grand and noble thought that would be. Maybe such an idea would be something for the "non believers" and "believers" alike to aspire to. Continue life in the universe even if it doesn't work out here in the long run.
I think I will go write that story. Or maybe you could. If you sell it for the movie rights just give me a cut.
That's all for now. Time to go to bed and dream. Maybe the mother ship will show up and some of us can leave all this nonsense going on here on this planet behind.
One could only hope.
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