Looking For Intelligence

Calgacus writes "We've all read stories about extra-solar planets being found by gravitational wobbles. The Scotsman has a story here about a planet in the Fomalhaut system being discovered because of its wake through a dust cloud. It's further out than other recently discovered planets and astronomers are saying it means there's an odds-on chance of intelligent life being out there. If only there was more on Earth..."

Comments

Looking for intelligence

[z-man]

Move along, nothing to see here :).

Re:Looking for intelligence

[Unknown Bovine Group]

If they're TRULY intelligent, they're working on a planetary cloaking device so we can't find them.

Re:Looking for intelligence

[BluBrick]

If they're TRULY intelligent, they're working on a planetary cloaking device so we can't find them.

Or perhaps so no-one else can find us?

Intelligent Life

[RPoet]

I think Hobbes said it best: "The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."

Re:Intelligent Life

[rmadmin]

Amen to that. They probably considered waging war on us, and taking over, but then they probably noticed that we are always at war with ourselves, sat back and laughed at us.

Re:Intelligent Life

[Steve Franklin]

The whole point of Special Relativity is that you need infinite energy to even GET to the speed of light. Positing some theory that only requires "insane" amounts of energy is hardly a solution.

As for your second point, the answer is economic. There's a big difference between building a bunch of wooden boats and manufacturing a fleet of intra-galactic star cruisers, even those of the common sublight variety. That kind of effort would require a relatively slow development of infrastructure along the colonized pathways. Unfortunately, there are no islands in deep space, no assurance that there will be habitable planets orbiting nearby stars, no friendly natives willing to teach the explorers how to plant corn, no equatorial currents pointed directly toward habitable areas, and most importantly, no recopied maps left over from Phoenician/Greek times with grid systems centered on Alexandria, Egypt.

And above all else, unlike Earth (and Star Trek), any intelligent beings encountered along the way will most likely not be human, and possibly not even humanoid. The fact is that exploration is one of those endeavors that just doesn't scale very well.

Intelligent Life?

[Anonymous Coward]

Eureka!

If the inhabitants have learnt how to leave a trail of noxious chemicals behind their planet then they MUST be intelligent!

Re:Intelligent Life?

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Leave a trail of noxious chemicals behind planet.

2. ???

3. Intelligence!

Only Here....

[RobotRunAmok]

"We've all read stories about extra-solar planets being found by gravitational wobbles...

I think that's why I keep coming back to SlashDot; only here does a story begin like that and nobody blinks an eye...

God luv yuz...

Too much Intelligence

[Anonymous Custard]

If only there was more on Earth...

Intelligent human says: "I believe you mean, 'If only there WERE more on Earth....' You see, the use of the future subjunctive ---"

Bigger, dumber human says: "And now, for the severe beating of an intelligent human..."

I'm confused

[wunderhorn1]

ASTRONOMERS said there was an "odds-on" chance of intelligent life in space after new observations produced the best evidence yet of planets circling stars outside our solar system.
...
However, he said there was little chance of finding life on the planet because it was under constant bombardment from a surrounding belt of comets.

So in other words, don't believe the hype?
Let me get this straight -- now that we've found conclusive (?) evidence of another planet that most likely wouldn't support life, this increases the chance of finding intelligent life in outer space. Makes sense.

Intelligent Life

[DeadSea]

If only there was more on Earth...

As long as they don't visit the US or browse slashdot with a -1 threshold they should be fine.

Search for Terrestrial Intelligence (STI project)

[Anonymous Coward]

You might want to visit the STI website then ?

They're planning to use the 90% unused brain power in every person out there, with the STI@Home project, but their Antartica station is still under construction...

Re:One part I don't get...

[marijne]

space is filled with moving matter: therefore the temperature is not absolutely zero. I think it is somewhere around -100K (absolute zero being about -273K)

We like the stars and all, but...

[Gruneun]

Dr Mark Wyatt, another team member, said the dust showed evidence of comet activity.

Something tells me my wife won't be excited by this and I'll still get yelled at for not doing a better job of cleaning up the living room.

Re:Poor Write-Up (Sensationalism)

[scott1853]

From what I hear, there may be a new SETI@Home client that will also scan slashdot stories for traces of intelligent life. Early beta testing has not found anything yet. It is being assumed that several petahertz of computational power will be required to detect such anomalies.

The MP boys said it best

[iworm]

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.

-- The last lines from The Galaxy Song - Monty Python's The Meaning of Life

Re:One part I don't get...

[Space cowboy]

Man, if you ever get *any* negative 'K' readings, you're either in for a nobel prize or a Nelson-like 'Haa-Ha!'....

Simon

Re:Poor Write-Up (Sensationalism)

[Ed Avis]

This news article is definitely the most Scottish News and the most 'direct from Scotland' I have ever read.

Re:Do we REALLY want to find them???

[Anonymous Coward]

Sagan was brilliant yes, but YOU have as much understanding and experience with aliens as he did.

I've had more experience with aliens than Sagan. I went to public school.

Re:Poor Write-Up (Sensationalism)

[uberdave]

2. slashdot isn't much of a sensation

<melodrama>What are you saying! Are you trying to tell me that all of the countless hours I've spent reading Slashdot have been a waste fo time? That I've shot my productivity at work in the foot for nothing? Please, say it isn't so!</melodrama>

RIAA, MPAA and ALIENS...

[Eric_Cartman_South_P]

If aliens get our first strong siglans to leave earth atmosphere (TV and Radio siglans) and send them back to earth as a way to say Hello (ala movie "Contact") does that mean the RIAA and MPAA can sue the aliens for unlawfull duplication of copyright material?