If there are aliens, what will they look like?

[JasperFrank]

Some people may find it comforting.
I believe in that. The fantastic is, in this age, still so very important for everyone.
You can know, or/and, and be happy: To know both is the problem.

 

[sd455dan]

We were aliens when man stepped on the moon, and will be again if we can do the same on Mars.

Have to agree with Elon Musk on his statement :

I Think fundamentally the future is vastly more exciting and interesting if we are a spacefaring Civilization and a multi-planet species than if we're not.
You want to be inspired by things,
You want to wake up in the morning and think the future will be great.

And that's what being a Space Faring Civilization is all about.

 

[Jstpssng]

People down there are far more intelligent than we are, they don't pass gas, and they have much nicer tractors than we do.

Maybe when people are reincarnated that's where they go. I can't wait! (I don't believe in reincarnation. )

 

[tradosaurus]

Okay, we have some common ground, we both observe the same thing. However when posed with a direct question to explain your world view's driving mechanism for the "fall" vector, you instead explain what you observe and do not offer further explanation. I, on the other hand, say that gravity in conjunction with differential density is what causes the stratification and the bolt to "fall".

You may have missed my post earlier.
Post 273

Can you through logic or mathematics explain why accelerometers react the way they do to acceleration and as you would put it "density". I say gravity.

Gravity is not a constant. The variations are consistent and mathematically supportable in a way that density would fall apart. Gravity varies with:
latitude - the Earth's equatorial bulge means that surface gravity is lessened as you mover further from the equator.
Centripetal force - counteracts gravity differently for differing place on Earth at differing radius from the center.
Elevation - the higher the elevation, the farther from the Earth's center, the lower is gravity.
Local anomalies - due to the mass density variation of landforms. Rock vs. ocean, etc.

When I ship an instrument from Connecticut to Kennedy Space Center. I have to make corrections in the gravity factor in order for the instrument to pass its self diagnostics tests. These instruments happen to be center of gravity instruments. My occupation, my company, my customers, are not frauds. If what I did for a living was a fraud, if gravity were a fraud, many of our country's most sophisticated weapon systems would simply not work. They do work. See Ukraine. Hundreds of thousands of people around the world would have to be "in" on the scam. Puck-ass college students would have figured it out years ago and the gig would be up.

I will post your #273 below

Gravity, or more appropriately called the acceleration of Earth's gravity, is roughly equal to 9.8 meters/sec^2. I use accelerometers often in my work and I can say without a doubt, I witness with my own eyes, that the acceleration of Earth's gravity is the same phenomena as rectilinear acceleration, just like Einstein's elevator thought experiment. I play around with these electro-mechanical accelerometers while familiarizing myself with the signs of their coordinate system, and in the process can say that the accelerometer cannot tell the difference between gravity and acceleration.

The centripetal acceleration at Earth's surface assuming a radius of 6400 km at a rotation rate of once per 24 hrs is 0.03 meters/sec^2. Earth's normal gravity at 45 deg latitude at sea level is 9.8 meters/sec^2. Thus, the force caused by gravity is several orders of magnitude greater the the force trying to throw water off the earth.


That is why the water does not fly off.

For readers who may feel intimidated by your big words I will define them below:

Accelerometer - instrument for measuring acceleration, typically that of an automobile, ship, aircraft, or spacecraft, or that involved in the vibration of a machine, building, or other structure.
Centripetal acceleration, the acceleration of a body traversing a circular path. Because velocity is a vector quantity (that is, it has both a magnitude, the speed, and a direction), when a body travels on a circular path, its direction constantly changes and thus its velocity changes, producing an acceleration. The acceleration is directed radially toward the center of the circle.

In physics we learned that acceleration is the change in velocity (Δv) over the change in time (Δt), represented by the equation a = Δv/Δt. This allows you to measure how fast velocity changes in meters per second squared (m/s^2).

This is what you are measuring and works perfectly on a non-moving, non-rotating earth. Gravity is a complete nonsensical idea that even Neil De Grasse can't explain.

If water doesn't fly off a rotating earth why can't you repeat this in an experiment? The idea of the global earth universe where the earth, a perfect sphere, constant rotates with no external forces and no idea of what caused it should be left in the stories of fantasies. It is certainly a realm of a religion where absolute faith is required to believe in fantastic distances and motions with no proof whatsoever.

 

[MossRoad]

 

[the old grind]

"It is certainly a realm of a religion where absolute faith is required" to deny scientific discovery and/or things that can't be viewed with the naked eye.

Walking on water, raising the dead, turning water into wine, and fitting two of each and every creature on a ship where they'll get along for weeks and not starve just takes the right kind of magic.

btw, if the center of the Earth isn't underground where on the flat surface is the geographic center? Are we on a disc or a rectangle? Maps suggest the latter.

 

[Jstpssng]

Are we on a disc or a rectangle? Maps suggest the latter.

Now you're scaring me. I always thought that I was safe, the sun and stars are obviously rotating around me so I must be in the center with the edge equidistance from me. Yet what if I think I'm headed toward a corner, whereas my destination is actually toward a side? That obviously is much closer and I may accidently step off the edge of the earth into-
whatever is after the point of know return.

 

[the old grind]

One should have to go over the ice wall of oceanic containment and/or through the dome that keeps our atmosphere here and separated from the vacuum of space. Without gravity there would be nowhere to fall & they would just float.

I'm confused by the movie where characters are on a flat rock so central to the earth & graviity that it floats but there is somewhere to fall to if it tips too far and someone falls off. If gravity was real they should just land on the opposite side of it.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Too bad Nellie Bly is gone; she could answer a lot of questions, but she died in 1922. She went AROUND the world in 72 days, in about the year 1880.

Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist, industrialist, inventor, and charity worker who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne 's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within.

 

[Jstpssng]

Too bad Nellie Bly is gone; she could answer a lot of questions, but she died in 1922. She went AROUND the world in 72 days, in about the year 1880.

Elizabeth Cochran Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist, industrialist, inventor, and charity worker who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, in emulation of Jules Verne 's fictional character Phileas Fogg, and an exposé in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within.

The world was a lot smaller then, though. All of the extra people have caused it to flatten out, just as you do with a spatula on a hamburger while grilling it.

11:16 edit; your comment caused me to do a search on Nellie, which led me down a rabbit hole. She led an interesting life.

 

[bcp]

Are we on a disc or a rectangle? Maps suggest the latter.

Now you're scaring me. I always thought that I was safe, the sun and stars are obviously rotating around me so I must be in the center with the edge equidistance from me. Yet what if I think I'm headed toward a corner, whereas my destination is actually toward a side? That obviously is much closer and I may accidently step off the edge of the earth into-
whatever is after the point of know return.

Isaiah 11:12 - The Root of Jesse

He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of ******; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

biblehub.com

Bruce

 

[MossRoad]

 

[tradosaurus]

Isaiah 11:12 - The Root of Jesse

He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of ******; He will collect the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

biblehub.com

Bruce

4 Corners on a round flat disc?

 

[MossRoad]

It's a steering wheel!

 

[tradosaurus]

It's a steering wheel!

View attachment 738494

 

[CalG]

snip

btw, if the center of the Earth isn't underground where on the flat surface is the geographic center? Are we on a disc or a rectangle? Maps suggest the latter.

Now you are projecting ;-)

 

[Reddogs]

Since the UFO thread got closed, I'm interested in what others think intelligent aliens might look like.

Personally, I'm inclined to to think that if they evolved on a planet similar to Earth, they would look somewhat like us, bi-laterally symmetrical, Heads with two eyes for binocular vision, one or more limbs with hands and fingers to be able to manipulate objects, and two or maybe four legs. While there may be intelligent races that have evolved in seas on other planets that look like fish, whales or big jellyfish, they aren't going to be able to develop or build interplanetary space ships or propulsion systems.
Evolution on this planet over a few hundred millions years has seemed to have settled on this body format for a great number of species, so it must have inherent advantages for survival.
While there are species like whales, Orcas and Dolphins that may be intelligent and live in social groups, their bodies have not allowed them to develop any technology that they can manipulate. Other species like ants live in large social groups and can cooperate to use objects and materials as tools and raw materials, but aren't individually intelligent.

What are your thoughts on this?
And PLEASE, keep your religious views on this subject out of the conversation.

Ford Edsel....

 

[Bill Guenthner]

To create a technological society capable of space travel, a species needs certain baseline attributes. Bipedal, freeing at least two arms with hands with opposable thumbs and fine motor skills for manipulating objects and tools. Stereoscopic vision so two eyes. Language is a must and can't impede vision or dexterity, so probably a spoken language. Fire is an absolute precursor to metallurgy so lives in an oxygen and carbon rich environment on a rocky planet and probably breathes oxygen. Bottom line if we meet them they will be a lot like us. More like us than a dolphin or an elephant is.

 

[bcp]

Bipedal? No, Hands or similar-yes. Two "hands" and two or more feet.

Same with eyes. Not two, but at least two.

Couple of examples from SF:



Bruce

 

[Cougsfan]

To create a technological society capable of space travel, a species needs certain baseline attributes. Bipedal, freeing at least two arms with hands with opposable thumbs and fine motor skills for manipulating objects and tools. Stereoscopic vision so two eyes. Language is a must and can't impede vision or dexterity, so probably a spoken language. Fire is an absolute precursor to metallurgy so lives in an oxygen and carbon rich environment on a rocky planet and probably breathes oxygen. Bottom line if we meet them they will be a lot like us. More like us than a dolphin or an elephant is.

That seems a bit over-limiting. You seem to be saying that if it doesn't parallel mankind's development, they wouldn't have a chance of doing the things that we can imagine. That may be true, but I would also propose that there are probably ways of getting things done that we are incapable of even imagining.