Friday, January 30, 2009

How theories about plant evolution are changing and the probability of alien invasion

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here's today's news:
g Life - The discovery of lignin in red alga cells is changing theories about the evolution of plants on Earth. Lignin, a principle component of wood, was identified in algae for the first time using powerful chemical and microscopic techniques. See article.
g Message - Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can join a worldwide search for intelligent life in space. Here’s a primer to how Seti@home works.
g Cosmicus - NASA’s Mars Spirit rover may be rolling again as soon as this weekend, although engineers remain perplexed as to what caused it to lose memory and abort an attempted drive last Sunday. See article.
g Learning - Here is a very thorough list of astrobiology-related journals, magazines and newsletters.
g Imagining - The alien invasion is a common theme in science fiction stories and film, in which a technologically-superior extraterrestrial society invades Earth with the intent to replace human life, or to enslave it under a colonial system. But would aliens actually ever attack another planet? See article.

Get your SF book manuscript edited

2 comments:

Joseph Capp said...

Dear AL,
The big question is are they here. Our ideas about what ETs would do is impossible because we don't know what is out there. But if UFOs and the entities reported near these objects are any indication of what they are; then landing on the White House lawn seems to be a no no.
Although there does seem to be times when they appear...during the Nuclear Weapons build up UFOs were reported all around our military bases. They even seem to communicate in a way without major interference...when UFOs closed down ten Minuet Man missiles in their silos for a short while.
Could that indicate they now exactly what we were doing. Close Scrutiny!

We know now the harm which can come when a higher technological member of our species when they force themselves on to those without.
This may be how they work here. This may have been here a long time and stay here for many different reasons. Staying mostly out of our business. Studying us and our food. Sending our government messages when they get to out of line. They may even have their own disinformation campaign to make sure they are not discovered.
Of course that would mean they were species profilers and could even figure out how to fool our top scientist.
Joe Capp
UFO Media Matters
Non-Commercial Blog

Rob Bignell said...

Interesting points. Yet, if ETI is malevolent, the aliens need not lurk around or fight us in some scenario like "The Invaders" TV series or a World War II film plot. Any sentient lifeform with the technology to cross the stars easily could estinguish all life on Earth by simply aiming a few large asteroids at us. After waiting a few years for the dust to clear, the planet would be theirs for the taking.

If they are here and are not malevolent (a more likley scenario), then all of their lurking is irrelevant as they probably have the technology and will to keep their identity secret. The question then remains: How do we contact ETI that wants to actually engage in real, meaningful conversation?