UFO's and extra-terrestrial life

[TheDawg]

There is but one problem pondering the infinite.
We are finite creatures.
Therefore nearly incapable of understanding, let alone relating to the infinite.

[Mr Logic]

All belief systems are reliant on an absence of proof.

Without establishment of truth via all of the five human senses any thought construct can be deemed to be therefore untruth.

See Immanuel Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason' for reference to the a priori continuance of a particle from second to second.

[CharveL]

The universe is demonstrably finite and expanding, for about 13 - 14 billion years.

Although we are finding an abundance of extra-solar planets, many of which reside in the potentially "habitable" zone, we are also learning that there is an increasingly daunting number of factors that must coincide to form life as we have defined it, and exponentially more still for it to evolve even to our point. Even then, with intelligence and technology do they even want to reach out to anyone else?

Black holes don't do anything that breaks the speed of light.

Our universe may be an expanding bubble amongst other bubble universes but even if we could travel to them we'd likely die instantly if physics principles vary even slightly to those defined in the birth of our own.

Perhaps in lieu of traveling faster than the speed of light (even approaching it slows time and increases mass) these "aliens" could bend space-time to get around but good luck with that. Possible, perhaps. Likely, not a chance.

Now, consider the past say, 10 years pretty much everyone and their grandmother has a cellphone with a camera in it. Consider the past 40-50 years since the UFO first became popularized and made us want to be believers. No definitive photos or video. I can understand it being rare but not one video of a craft landing in a field with a big-eyed lanky grey alien stepping out to take a two-stream piss on their way to some Tatooine canteen.

Conclusion: unless you are religiously attracted to the alien phenomenon by faith and ignore logic and statistical data, one has to conclude that alien visitation to this planet is very unlikely.

To each their own but some people with little money and sense, and a faith in things like destiny and fate, love to spend money on lottery tickets as well.

[Wolf_Rider]

Faster than light not possible?

Try this... imagine a train carriage hurtling along at the speed of light and you are just a passerby watching this.
At the rear of the carriage is a chap who throws a ball to another chap at the front of the carriage; that ball is travelling faster than the speed of light.
As an observer, within the carriage, it would appear that there is just one chap throwing a ball to another chap.

There "relativity" was born

A similar thing can be seen with a carousel and two people at opposite sides throwing a ball to each other. To a viewer on the Carousel, the ball appears to go straight, but, when viewed from above, the ball travels in a curve. (corioli effect)

The Fourth dimension is time and us 3 dimensional criters see the shadow of that as "inside/ outside" (but it is both at the same instant - no beginning, no end)

[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

Faster than light not possible?

Try this... imagine a train carriage hurtling along at the speed of light and you are just a passerby watching this.

yeah, imagine you're in the Batmobile with Wonderwoman.. that's pretty much the same grounds in terms of that theory's validity..

[Wolf_Rider]

Originally Posted by Sternjaeger II

yeah, imagine you're in the Batmobile with Wonderwoman.. that's pretty much the same grounds in terms of that theory's validity..

Catwoman would get jealous though...

now to the point... when you can't plausably discredit the fact you resort to ridiculing it. Its an age old human trait, indicating a closed mind.
Ridicule it all you want, but you'll never change the fact that the ball has to travel faster than the carriage in order to travel from the rear to front along the carriage's line of travel.

[TheDawg]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

Catwoman would get jealous though...

now to the point... when you can't plausably discredit the fact you resort to ridiculing it. Its an age old human trait, indicating a closed mind.
Ridicule it all you want, but you'll never change the fact that the ball has to travel faster than the carriage in order to travel from the rear to front along the carriage's line of travel.

Frankly I'm comfortable ridiculing things I dont understand. I'm white, middleclass and under educated... Probably something to do with it right there
Was self defecating humor in the rules section?

[bongodriver]

equal and opposite reaction, the throw of the ball will create just enough opposite force to slow the train enough so the balls travel is never faster than light.

[David Hayward]

Originally Posted by bongodriver

equal and opposite reaction, the throw of the ball will create just enough opposite force to slow the train enough so the balls travel is never faster than light.

We have a winner!

[CharveL]

Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider

Catwoman would get jealous though...

now to the point... when you can't plausably discredit the fact you resort to ridiculing it. Its an age old human trait, indicating a closed mind.
Ridicule it all you want, but you'll never change the fact that the ball has to travel faster than the carriage in order to travel from the rear to front along the carriage's line of travel.

Respectfully, you speak of facts without actually determining them. It's a difficult concept to wrap your head around, I know it was for me too, but this concept you are using is hardly new, and Einstein himself postulated it in the early part of the century, and subsequently managed to explain it using his theory of special relativity.

At the time it wasn't possible to test this particular aspect (your example, not every aspect of his theories) experimentally but over the years it has.

If I'm going 50mph in a car and turn my headlights on, the beams still go the speed of light to the observer at the side of the road. The 4th dimension of time adjusts.

This will help explain it for you...

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/hillis/hillis_p2.html