http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070424/ap_on_sc/habitable_planet

So, scientists have found a planet near a red dwarf trillions of miles away.

I hear all this talk of “green livin” and whatnot…Our sun ain't gonna' last forever…if global warming or ROUS's don't get us first, eventually, this planet will not be able to sustain life…so, shouldn't we…don't we owe it to the children -(Won't someone think of the children) to start developin' the technology to make a trek?

If they started takin' recruits (I know, I'm sure they have enough NASA volunteers–if the US is even first…) would you sign up? Husband and I would in a second…I would defin. live out the rest of my life in a freighter-star ship…It may seem selfish to commit your offspring to such…but, fuck them…that would be an undescribable experience…

What do you think?

I duuno, I got my hopes up years ago when they said there was evidecnce of microscopic life on mars, then they took it back, so now I'm skeptical.

WERE ALL GONNA DIE

Alexis,

Yeah, I remember that…But, I'm one of those people that think it's naive to think we're alone…(At least that's what I want to think…)

What I'm sayin' if the gov't showed up and said…we are sending a group of 3000 people into space and we would like you to go, teach kids art (or cook—whathaveyou….) would you be up for it? Just leave it all and go!

I say yes.

Hmm, I probably wouldn't go, the thought of spending the rest of my life stuck in a spaceship with a group of other people would drive me insane. >_<

That said, current technology wouldn't permit space colonization given the sheer amount of energy required to lift a ship capable of storing a sizeble group of people in addition to everything required to facilitate life for a few thousand years.

Still, I guess being a pioneer of the continuation of the human race would be pretty cool…

Never. I can barely survive flying from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia.

Besides, how would the change in gravity affect the human body, both immediately and generations down the line?

I'm afraid of heights. I can barly get on a PLANE. Let alone a damned spaceship.

I don't really know. I'm really interested in space and all it's mysteries, but a trek through space on a giant spaceship silled with colonists…Isn't it a perfect target for space pirates?

And maybe, just maybe, I watch too much scifi.

Scientists are already suggesting that life on this planet may be unlikely due to it's rapid rotation around its sun.

That said. I don't think I'd volunteer. I'm too old to make that long of a flight and I enjoy my life as it is now. If NASA “needed” ME for some reason though, I'd go.

i would, as long as some of my family got to go to. families are the way for long distance exploration, regular astronaughts'll just flip out and kill eachother.

I'd only go if we get the internets onboard the spaceship….

I'd go, no strings attached. I'm sick of this planet, I wouldn't want my children and grand children being raised in a society like this.

marine
WERE ALL GONNA DIE

Damn…So, I guess I shouldn't plan ahead too far.

Brokenhill
I'd go, no strings attached. I'm sick of this planet, I wouldn't want my children and grand children being raised in a society like this.

There are other societies you know, you don't have to leave the planet to find a new one ;)

you gotta think about it though, by the time our sun expires we will have probably advanced to the point where we can travel at the speed of light, and if not, life could be sustained under the earth's crust untill the earth reaches a new sun.

heh, like thats gunna happen, meh, speculation is fun.

I don't think I would want to be one of the testers. Those always seem to go wrong. NASA may employ genius's, but genius's can be really stupid.
Plus like it was said earlier, I don't do well with not being able to get away from people, and kept in a tight quarters.

heh, i guess they are gonna plan to put all the rich people in a noah's ark and travel to another earth because we've messed this one up pretty good.

Personally I'm more concerned with keeping earth habitable than going off to find new planets to destroy.

Imagine how many undiscovered fuels must be in there.

Glarg
Imagine how many undiscovered fuels must be in there.

True… Or we could use it as a test bed for new and improved nuclear weapons! No one's ever built one of those global Cobalt life killers… We could see it it works! ^_^

ozoneocean

Glarg
Imagine how many undiscovered fuels must be in there.

True… Or we could use it as a test bed for new and improved nuclear weapons! No one's ever built one of those global Cobalt life killers… We could see it it works! ^_^

Actually I heard the Goverment is already planning for a nuclear test bed on the moon.

Oh man, I hope it does turn out that it can host life. Maybe there's intelligent creatures on the planet already?

Hmm, on the question of joining a team like that… I'd definitely go. Maybe working as a techie or something. xD; The thought of discovering new life astounds me, and, truth be told, I would love to meet alien life, face to face. x3;;

ReincarnatedParano
I would love to meet alien life, face to face. x3;;

heh, why would it have a face? ;)

ozoneocean

ReincarnatedParano
I would love to meet alien life, face to face. x3;;

heh, why would it have a face? ;)

Oooh, good point. Haha, guess that needs rephrasing. XD;

Which brings the multiple questions…

Are they A sexual or B sexual?
Do they even have reproductive organs?
What do they eat?
What is their average life span.
Is there more then three sexes? More then a male, female, and shemales?

Glarg
Which brings the multiple questions…

Are they A sexual or B sexual?
Do they even have reproductive organs?
What do they eat?
What is their average life span.
Is there more then three sexes? More then a male, female, and shemales?

That'll probably depend on what element they primarily consist of. As carbon based lifeforms, we share many similarities with most life forms on earth, though the amount of similarity shared between us and other alien life may be suprisingly similar, or radically different

Glarg
Imagine how many undiscovered fuels must be in there.

I bet Haliburton already has the contracts.

maritalbliss
Yeah, I remember that…But, I'm one of those people that think it's naive to think we're alone…(At least that's what I want to think…)

If you knew anything about the probabilities in evolution you'd think it's naive to think we're NOT alone
http://www.aish.com/societyWork/sciencenature/Evolution_Rationality_vs._Randomness.asp

Now I don't really go along with this guys quid pro quo argument for intelligent design. But his statistics are sound. I'm willing to accept the idea that life on our planet evolved through random mutations (at least until a different scientifically testable theory with higher probabilities emerges.) However, I can't help but believe that the likelihood of there being more life, even in the vastness of space, is a ludicrously slim margin.

PS. I wanted to supply this statistic for someone on the debate board a while back. 1 out of 100 billion billion (at best) is the statistical probability of life evolving through random mutation (simply on a “combination of protiens” level, not even including environmental sources.)