[Cspace]

Do you think it's worth it to look for life on other planets? Why?

If so, where do you think the search should focus?

[Neraphym]

I think if we found life elsewhere, it would help us understand how life came to be on our planet. Also, if it is highly intelligent life, like our own, we can get some incredible knowledge out of it. However, if we end up contacting some conquering species, we could be in trouble.

[Jakethecheesepuff]

The chance of finding other life is extremely remote, and it would be a waste of money and time to try. However, if they DID find life then it would be interesting to see how the two species (human and Kwaa'agr) got along.

[Kaezion]

It's worth it to look for life within our own solar system, as that could yield profound insights into the biological sciences.

It's really not worth it to look further out. Firstly, we would have much trouble contacting a civilization at or below our technological level, because our own technology is really not space-worthy as of yet. All we can do ATM is send and receive radio signals but even that is just a "spray and pray" method (as far as I know); we just send out messages in random directions and hope that who/whatever is out there might pick them up. That's really not conducive to two civilizations finding each other.

The chances of us contacting alien civilization are much greater if said alien civilization were to have more advanced technological capabilities than we do. But the problem then becomes a military one; our fates would be dependent on whether or not the alien civilization, which in this case is technologically (and therefore militarily) more advanced than us, decides to let us live in peace.

So no, in my opinion the risks outweigh the potential benefits for a search for life outside our own solar system.

[Dragonman]

Hey Kaezion, good to see you around.

I would say that it is much more likely alien life would find us first, because it would take countless years for us to have the technology to explore far enough into space. The possibilities of other life are limitless to our current knowledge, because there is just so much more "space" left to be explored.

One of my student-teachers once had a conversation with us on this subject... he was a really brilliant guy, I wish I could remember everything that he said. But I remember him talking about how fast you can travel, and since nothing is faster than the speed of light, at least to the extent of our planet's knowledge, we would never be able to survive the length of the trips with our lifespans, and the same with other life out there, unless they have somehow discovered a way to travel faster than the speed of light.

[Jake]

Or, you could fix our lifespans. That'd probably be easier.

[Rylkan]

I'm not getting involved. I seem to always kill threads like this.

[Dragonman]

Do iiiiiiit.