• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Mysterious radio signal from space is repeating every 16 days

Smiles and Cries

Smiles and Cries

Member
www.cnn.com

Mysterious radio signal from space is repeating every 16 days | CNN

Mysterious radio signals from space have been known to repeat, but for the first time, researchers have noticed a pattern in a series of bursts coming from a single source half a billion light-years from Earth.
www.cnn.com www.cnn.com

"Mysterious radio signals from space have been known to repeat, but for the first time, researchers have noticed a pattern in a series of bursts coming from a single source half a billion light-years from Earth.

Fast radio bursts, or FRBs, are millisecond-long bursts of radio waves in space. Individual radio bursts emit once and don't repeat. But repeating fast radio bursts are known to send out short, energetic radio waves multiple times. And usually when they repeat, it's sporadic or in a cluster, according to previous observations."

Can one of you guys just pick up the phone?
 
JareBear: Remastered

JareBear: Remastered

Banned
giphy.gif
 
Darkmakaimura

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I heard about this on GROUNDZERO with Clyde Lewis last night.

Anyways, if it is alien, they're probably long gone or transcended space and time by now.
 
Urprobablyright

Urprobablyright

Banned
It's inevitably going to be a object oscillating or pulsing or orbiting at a regular interval.

The idea that aliens would be communicating in ways that we conceive of is hubristic.

I don't doubt that there is life out there. Carl Sagan explains that equation neatly enough. What i do doubt is that they are a given to have anything like our concept of existence, or our material needs and basic instincts. There is absolutely no reason to suggest that they have a "conquer everything" instinct, or indeed a "build an empire" or "make peace" concept. There is no reason they would have any desire to meet us. There is no reason to think they know what radio waves are as we understand them. There is no reason to think even the most incidental iota of our minute and pointless existence on this earth is tangential to anything about the existence of these motes of life.

Try not to buy into Hollywood, as great as Contact was.

Also, keep in mind that it is a physical impossibility for them to ever meet us. Even going at the speed of light they're so spread out that it would doubtless take the nearest ones tend of thousands of years to reach us at the very least, by which time we will undoubtedly have followed the fate of every dominant species this planet has ever harboured and killed ourselves off by exhausting our environment or getting smacked by a big bit of rock.

Also considering the rate at which information from earth travels out, anyone who communicates with us will, to paraphrase Bill Bryson, likely start with "dear sire", then congratulate us on the handsomeness of our horses and our mastery of whale oil.
 
I

infinitys_7th

Member
Urprobablyright said:
Also, keep in mind that it is a physical impossibility for them to ever meet us. Even going at the speed of light they're so spread out that it would doubtless take the nearest ones tend of thousands of years to reach us at the very least, by which time we will undoubtedly have followed the fate of every dominant species this planet has ever harboured and killed ourselves off by exhausting our environment or getting smacked by a big bit of rock.
Click to expand...

Eh, the travel side can already theoretically be resolved. Actually finding the Earth and identifying it as having a civilization is a different matter. Our EM footprint is so recent and negligibly small against the galaxy, let alone universe, that finding us outside of the luckiest random crawl is practically impossible.

Even if an advanced civilization can warp or make wormholes or found some sort of hyperspace-like loophole, that does nothing to help them identify us. We are dead to the universe outside a 125 LY or so radius of our path in the universe over the last 125 years. At best a civilization might identify the planet as having water given how early we had it, but so do countless other planets.
 
Romulus

Romulus

Member
Urprobablyright said:
It's inevitably going to be a object oscillating or pulsing or orbiting at a regular interval.

The idea that aliens would be communicating in ways that we conceive of is hubristic.

I don't doubt that there is life out there. Carl Sagan explains that equation neatly enough. What i do doubt is that they are a given to have anything like our concept of existence, or our material needs and basic instincts. There is absolutely no reason to suggest that they have a "conquer everything" instinct, or indeed a "build an empire" or "make peace" concept. There is no reason they would have any desire to meet us. There is no reason to think they know what radio waves are as we understand them. There is no reason to think even the most incidental iota of our minute and pointless existence on this earth is tangential to anything about the existence of these motes of life.

Try not to buy into Hollywood, as great as Contact was.

Also, keep in mind that it is a physical impossibility for them to ever meet us. Even going at the speed of light they're so spread out that it would doubtless take the nearest ones tend of thousands of years to reach us at the very least, by which time we will undoubtedly have followed the fate of every dominant species this planet has ever harboured and killed ourselves off by exhausting our environment or getting smacked by a big bit of rock.

Also considering the rate at which information from earth travels out, anyone who communicates with us will, to paraphrase Bill Bryson, likely start with "dear sire", then congratulate us on the handsomeness of our horses and our mastery of whale oil.
Click to expand...

Of course, but if they're are thousands of intelligent species out there like many argue, maybe some developed in a similar fashion. But it doesnt matter, space is so big we'll likely never get details.
 
JordanN

JordanN

Banned
Urprobablyright said:
I don't doubt that there is life out there. Carl Sagan explains that equation neatly enough. What i do doubt is that they are a given to have anything like our concept of existence, or our material needs and basic instincts. There is absolutely no reason to suggest that they have a "conquer everything" instinct, or indeed a "build an empire" or "make peace" concept. There is no reason they would have any desire to meet us. There is no reason to think they know what radio waves are as we understand them. There is no reason to think even the most incidental iota of our minute and pointless existence on this earth is tangential to anything about the existence of these motes of life.
Click to expand...
Isn't science constant?

If the whole point of aliens is they are an intelligent species like us, then I think we can rightfully assume they have similar concepts of the universe that we have.

In regards to why they would meet us, we can assume they're like biologists. We still study animals like ants and fish, despite them living completely different lives to us. Of course, that presents many more scenarios. We study fish but also see them as food or treat them as pets. What if aliens see us in the same way? We could be "exotic" to them.
 
Last edited:
S

Slings and Arrows

Banned
Urprobablyright said:
It's inevitably going to be a object oscillating or pulsing or orbiting at a regular interval.

The idea that aliens would be communicating in ways that we conceive of is hubristic.

I don't doubt that there is life out there. Carl Sagan explains that equation neatly enough. What i do doubt is that they are a given to have anything like our concept of existence, or our material needs and basic instincts. There is absolutely no reason to suggest that they have a "conquer everything" instinct, or indeed a "build an empire" or "make peace" concept. There is no reason they would have any desire to meet us. There is no reason to think they know what radio waves are as we understand them. There is no reason to think even the most incidental iota of our minute and pointless existence on this earth is tangential to anything about the existence of these motes of life.

Try not to buy into Hollywood, as great as Contact was.

Also, keep in mind that it is a physical impossibility for them to ever meet us. Even going at the speed of light they're so spread out that it would doubtless take the nearest ones tend of thousands of years to reach us at the very least, by which time we will undoubtedly have followed the fate of every dominant species this planet has ever harboured and killed ourselves off by exhausting our environment or getting smacked by a big bit of rock.

Also considering the rate at which information from earth travels out, anyone who communicates with us will, to paraphrase Bill Bryson, likely start with "dear sire", then congratulate us on the handsomeness of our horses and our mastery of whale oil.
Click to expand...

Life on this planet came from another planet. For life to grow on this planet, it needed food, water and sun (with the exception of life surrounding thermal vents that rely on the heat from the thermal vents). For the same life to grow on another planet, it would need food, water and sun.

We could argue about evolution, but as evolution has shown on this planet, some species evolve identically even though they have never had contact with one another.

If we take the known universe, as vast as it is, it's all the same. All planets and stars adhere to basic laws of physics, light has a maximum speed, radiation is a thing, gravity shapes the growth of planets etc.

On top of that, take in to account the cognitive revolution. Only one species to have ever exists on this planet that has cognitive/high brain function is homo-sapiens.

I would not be surprised, at all, if a distant world of aliens were very, very similar to us. I think the Hollywood idea of 'greys' and aliens with tentacles is madness, as laws of evolution would make sense that the most efficient form of an intelligent life-force is us, or 'us-shaped'
 
Urprobablyright

Urprobablyright

Banned
infinitys_7th said:
Eh, the travel side can already theoretically be resolved.
Click to expand...

Happy with everything you said, including this.

I will however state, in the hope that one more post will finally get me membership, that i deliberately discounted speculation about FTL travel. Like I'm aware of theoretical stuff, but it's all theory~ i refuse to take any ideas for FTL travel from science fiction, for starters :p

There's one interesting idea from quantum physics, if my imperfect, distracted memory serves, of two particles (can't remember which type) being somehow bonded, separated, and then for one to be observed exactly, remotely mimicking the movement of the distant partner atom, instantaneously, no matter how far away the two are... That kind of phenomenon feels more like the seed of skipping the laws of the universe that we can perceive than punching holes in our dimensional "fabric"

Basically i reckon any scientist who knows anything about the stuff we speculate on would pretty much instantly say that everything science fiction comes up with is a hasty conclusion born of an imperfect/incomplete understanding of the law it's trying to outthink~
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
Gashtronomy said:
The most widely accepted scientific theory of how life originated on Earth is the theory of Panspermia. Our other options are God - which solves nothing, as how did they originate? - or aliens, which again puts us in the same position of a God creating life.
Click to expand...
Panspermia isn't a proven thing. And you're also leaving out the possibility of abiogenesis.

God or aliens are also not proven entities.
 
Urprobablyright

Urprobablyright

Banned
JordanN said:
Isn't science constant?

If the whole point of aliens is they are an intelligent species like us, then I think we can rightfully assume they have similar concepts of the universe that we have.

...

we can assume they're like biologists.
Click to expand...

Nah bro i don't wanna get into anything poopy with you but that's just my point, from where I'm seeing this, your various assertions that any culture that has got to similar advancement as us must look pretty similar to us, well, I'm not trying to insult you but it seems like it's bordering on, for lack of a better term, panuniversal racism :p like I'm pretty sure similar things were expected by Renaissance explorers about Atlantis or whathaveyou... they simply must have been long lost classical civilisations~ the kind of long lost people who could help you organise your wine cellar when you finally got them up in your crib~

Our understanding of the atom, for example. There would be myriad ways of visualising this fundamental building block. Myriad ways of interpreting it's affect on reality that are each distinctive but each valid... They could have got where they are purely by botanical logic and trial and error without doing the slightest bit of analysis about it and, beyond all that, it could be that they are farts of gas which vibrate together rhythmically in order to cause food crystals to condense in their planet's core then shatter against the atmosphere as they float up into it~

Clearly procrastinatorial above paragraphs aside, I'm sticking with my assertion in my original post that assuming that it's a given that these "cultures" must follow even vaguely similar structure to us is, like, willful and blinkered. They could be silicone based lifeforms, for Pete's sake, the crystalline entity!

Gashtronomy said:
The most widely accepted scientific theory
Click to expand...

That kind of statement freaks me out.
 
Last edited:
GAMETA

GAMETA

Banned
Pulsars maybe?

Haven't we got similar stuff already? I think so and, if I rrmember correctly, it was pulsars too.
 
JordanN

JordanN

Banned
Urprobablyright said:
Nah bro i don't wanna get into anything poopy with you but that's just my point, from where I'm seeing this, your various assertions that any culture that has got to similar advancement as us must look pretty similar to us, well, I'm not trying to insult you but it seems like it's bordering on, for lack of a better term, panuniversal racism :p like I'm pretty sure similar things were expected by Renaissance explorers about Atlantis or whathaveyou... they simply must have been long lost classical civilisations~ the kind of long lost people who could help you organise your wine cellar when you finally got them up in your crib~

Our understanding of the atom, for example. There would be myriad ways of visualising this fundamental building block. Myriad ways of interpreting it's affect on reality that are each distinctive but each valid... They could have got where they are purely by botanical logic and trial and error without doing the slightest bit of analysis about it and, beyond all that, it could be that they are farts of gas which vibrate together rhythmically in order to cause food crystals to condense in their planet's core then shatter against the atmosphere as they float up into it~

Clearly procrastinatorial above paragraphs aside, I'm sticking with my assertion in my original post that assuming that it's a given that these "cultures" must follow even vaguely similar structure to us is, like, willful and blinkered. They could be silicone based lifeforms, for Pete's sake, the crystalline entity!
Click to expand...
You need to look into convergent evolution.

It is definitely possible for two foreign species to have evolved the same or similar ways without actually growing up in the same environment. Now, I'm not claiming for a fact ALL aliens must be like this. But if we do know the next form of life out there also lives on an Earth like Planet, that orbits around its own sun, then yes, I would also start assuming why wouldn't these aliens also be bipedal creatures based upon having a big brain and maybe opposable thumbs?

That's the pattern for intelligence on Earth. If it's not humans, then it would be the rest of the great ape family that falls under this.

Of course, there's still the possibility that aliens could just be a floating cloud of gas that communicate through telepathy (thank you Futurama) or they could be just bacteria stuck to a rock. Ok, why does all of this have to discredit that there wouldn't be any humanoid life out there, when we know it does exist on a floating space rock called Earth?

I would even perfectly accept the answer that humans might even represent a stop-gap between animals lacking self awareness and those that are fully aware. Like robots for example, don't need to have a reason to exist but they still do, because they are apart of research or they were created to serve a purpose by other intelligent beings.
 
Last edited:
Urprobablyright

Urprobablyright

Banned
JordanN said:
You need to look into convergent evolution.
Click to expand...

I'll stick to my stubborn refusal to countenance the thought. Just because we have found a group of elements that are more or less present throughout the observable universe doesn't mean they all have the same effects on their environments or the lifeforms that deal with them. Oxygen would apparently almost certainly be extremely hazardous to other life forms visiting here, for instance. Just because a planet occupies a similar position and set of conditions to us, doesn't mean it's progeny would have anything to do with us. This planet only coughed up humans for the barest fingernail clipping of its history, after all~ their dominant species could be the jellyfish - I'm pretty sure our dominant species was jellyfish (or was it turtles?) for an interesting post-mass extinction period~

If we move beyond probability towards possibility then, of course, i agree with everything you say.

So I'll find a happy compromise there.

Of course, one of us coulda just said "ur probably right" hohoho
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

The weird, repeating signals from deep space just tripled
45
3K
NikuNashi replied
  • Locked
Radio wave bursts detected from roughly 3 billion light years away.
2 3 4
196
34K
Ahasverus replied
  • Poll
[Ars Technica] Google should kill Stadia
Opinion Drama 2 3
105
10K
Moochi replied
  • Locked
Scientists hear ‘huge’, mysterious and repeating signal from deep in space
2 3
112
20K
TheSecondSpitter replied
  • Locked
We may have found half the "missing" dark matter by watching neutron stars collide
34
6K
Yrael replied
Top Bottom