Readers' Feedback

Extraterrestrial

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Generated : 19th March 2024


018

Erin

Hello,

I am researching serveral different UFO sightings in the Phoenix/Gilbert/Chandler, Arizona area. The reports are of 3 to 4 red lights that just seem to hover in the sky, after a while one will take off and soon the rest will follow. If you have any information or photos that you can send me about these sightings I would really appreciate it.

Thank you for your time.

KryssTal Reply: Sorry, you need to contact a UFO site. I don't believe in them!


017

john appoo

Dear Sir,

You have a wonderful website. I was interested in the question of whether there was Extraterrestrial Life in the universe. I believe so, because anything else would be ridiculous. The probability of its existence is just too high to be measured. Might as well ask the microbes if there is life on earth };-D.

I think that we are all in a hurry, there is time for everything to happen, sooner or later. Can we bend time and space? I believe so, given our continual progress, we will eventually make the break with old mother earth. Whether that's in the next hundred years or in a thousand, does it really matter? The universe will still be there. If we all get bombed or meteored out of existence, so what, life will come again, it always does. I believe that's the nature of life itself.

It's a shame that most of us may not get the answers we seek for, but the universe is a pretty unforgiving and uncertain phenomena. There, I've put in my two cents, time to get the pizza from the microwave.

KryssTal Reply: Thank you for your kind comments. All we can do is wait and see what happens.


016

H R Shah

Sir,

Kudos for a very good essay and one with good amount of light on the subject. I am referrring to the essay on Extra-terrestrial Life.

There are a couple of inquisitive questions in my mind. I hope U will care to answer them.

Long back I had come across a book named " Living Comets" by Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe. In it the authors have systemetically raised and tried to answer similar querries i.e. life on the Earth originatd from Outside, the Genetic materials also show evidence of Outside interference. Even the authors went to the extent of saying that there is no relation between A cause and its effect, but vice versa. E.g. a particular event did not occur as a result of some apperantly unrelated event, but, the said effect was to take place and so the said cause occured, Signals from Future.

Can u elaborate on them or preferable can U suggest me a site where such points are discussed. I would be obliged if U did.

Thanking you.

KryssTal Reply: Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe's ideas were once considered unlikely but are now being taken seriously. I have no sites for you to check but a Google seach may provide some ideas.

Thank you for writing.


015

Alfred Brown

Alfred.Brown@perlos.com

Hello,

I was reading your essay on the possibility of life on other planets. It was interesting that you came to a conclusion that the substance of organic life here on earth was formed in space prior to the earth supporting and generating life from the atmosphere.

KryssTal Reply: Organic chemicals (containing complex carbon molecules) are common in the Universe and are a normal part of chemistry. Since the Earth is part of the Universe, their presence here is part of the chemical cycle. Of course, organic molecules themselves are not necessarilly evidence of life.

There is another theory which is more consistent with the way the universe seems to work and that is, Life is a natural process of the universe and not something special to earth. This would mean that when the natural processing causing the formation of the stars and planets occurs, life is a part of this.

KryssTal Reply: Life must be a natural process - it occurred on the Earth. That, however, tells us nothing about its existence elsewhere. Finding life on another object in our solar system that can be proved to have arisen independently of life on Earth would tell us that life is very common. Unfortunatley, more data is needed before a reliable conclusion can be reached.

The process would happen when a planet that has life is destroyed and then becomes a part of another planet. We know that some bacteria can last forever shutting down when resources are not available and coming back to life when conditions are okay for metabolism.

KryssTal Reply: Life is hardier than we thought even 20 years ago. Whether life can survive the destuction of a planet probably depends on what destroys a planet. A collision may well propell spores out into space. A stellar explosion may well destroy everything in its path. Unfortunately, we don't know.

There is speculation that the earth will be destroyed when the M31 galaxy collides with our Milky Way.

KryssTal Reply: Don't worry about this one, the Sun will no longer be around by the time M31 collides with our Galaxy! More probable causes for the destruction of the Earth are (in order of likeyhood):

1 We pollute our planet, blow it up, or sucumb to diseases;
2 We get hit by an asteroid;
3 The orbits in the solar system destabilises so that another planet hits us;
4 A star comes close to the Sun destabilising our orbit;
5 The Sun changes so that life is no longer possible;
6 The Easth will be vapourised when the Sun turns into a red giant at the end of its life.

If this happens in such a way that tears the earth into fragments, many of these fragments will have preserved life on them. If the fragments encounter a planet able to support life or are drawn together with other fragments in the formation of a planet, then life will be present.

KryssTal Reply: Again it depends on the cause. The Earth will eventually be vapourised when the Sun expands to a red giant.

Space is very active and it makes more sense that life is a part of the activity and not some strange phenomenon restricted to the earth.

KryssTal Reply: I'm not sure what you mean by "active".

We have just really become aware of universal environment so it would make sense to declare what we do not know does not exist.

KryssTal Reply: Lack of knowledge is not proof of presence.

We do know that our universe has an earth and that the earth will not last forever in its present form. We can also be sure that when the earth is fragmented, primitive and simple life will start a journey to some where else.

KryssTal Reply: This is speculation. We do not have enough information to be "sure". I look forward to the day when (if?) we get that data.

Since we know this will happen it makes clear sense that this is the same manner life was placed on earth and any where else.

KryssTal Reply: We can only know that if we find life elsewhere. Then we can compare the exact chemistry. From that it will be possible to tell if the two sources had a common origin or not. All life on Earth shares a common chemistry. All Terrestrial, DNA is composed of just the same four bases. It must have evolved from a single "creation event". There may have been many of these on the Earth and one became dominant. That "creation event" may have come from outside the Earth. Without another source of life to compare we cannot know whether life begins in a particular place or whether is gets carried through space; or indeed if both processes are at work.

When the subject of comets composed of frozen water and gas comes up. I think of what a piece of one of the frozen poles of our planet will be like upon fragmentation. I can also know that there would be countless forms of life in a preserved state. It seems a bit strange and some what naive when the community of humans seems to think that they and the planet they live on, are in some way a special part of a very normal process.

KryssTal Reply: Whether the pole remains frozen depends on many factors. Don't forget that our Sun will warm up as its source of nuclear energy gets older. Look at my We Are Star Dust essay about the evolution of stars. Also, would ice survive a collision? Energy tends to change to heat. Perhaps life can be transported in solid rock. There have been bacteria found in solid rock under the ice in Antarctica. The idea of comets carrying life is a very interesting one. We need to sample one and study its composition.

It is great that humans want to explore and wish to travel beyond the means of their life times. The fact seems that space travel to distant places is reserved for the simple forms of life in the same way a flower places seeds upon the wind. Some of the seeds survive to make new and others do not. I wonder what will become of the microbes stuck to some of our space probes.

KryssTal Reply: Who knows.

You have obviously thought a lot about this subject and I am very happy that you have chosen to share your thoughts with me.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Hello,

Thank you for your response. I have thought about our sun also. I don't have any data to prove things however it seems to me that life has followed the sun. Since the sun has collapsed and expanded several times it is possible that the three planets of Venus, Earth and Mars may have served host to life in relation to this. It is just a thought.

Although there is not enough data for humans to prove that life either does or does not exist any where else there is a trend of thinking that does follow human thought when we doubt the presence of life any where except Earth. It is the same dangerous trend that had human kind believe that they were the center of the universe, the Earth was flat and the stars were pasted to the back drop of a revolving sky. This kind of thinking was used to control vast populations for single minded purposes. This trend is still being used as a control measure when the vast majority of the population considers the existence of life outside of the Earth to be blasphemous to very human existence.

The basic postulation is there more ways for life to be an intrinsic part of the universe than not and only isolated to one planet out of hundreds of billions. There was a published article where several scientist had found bacteria in meteor fragments these fragments were then speculated upon and then dismissed. Here is one of the links.

http://explorezone.com/archives/00_02/22_fossil_meteorites.htm

This dismissing of evidence on the grounds that the bacteria looked too much like those present on Earth, goes in hand with what we should expect bacteria from an extraterrestrial source to be consistent with. We should expect them to be very much like that present on Earth. Since we do not have the inclination to spend monies on finding and capturing an object before it lands on Earth we will have to be satisfied with what falls. In many of the samples taken we have found evidence of life. The thought despite the evidence, is always the samples have earth borne remnants of life.

There seems to be a belief that the only way life existing outside of earth will ever be considered a fact is if ET goes on the tonight show and perhaps the Pope decrees it to be so. The same mode of thinking that went with returning from the sea instead of falling off the edge or beheading a guy for saying the Earth was not the center of the universe.

I hope my ending humor is not found offensive.

Thank you for your thoughts.


014

Joyce A Brundage

jabrundage@juno.com

Dear Kryss,

I've read your speculative essay on extraterrestrial life and agree with everything except one point: I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that life exists elsewhere in the universe and that we've definitely been visited by aliens. I have seen a ufo and don't doubt for a minute that what I saw was real. Unfornately, I have no photographs to prove it. I did, however, create some images on my computer from memory and would be amenable to submitting one to anyone who was interested.

How did these aliens get to our planet? Could it be possible that 'worm holes' really exist and they traveled here by that means? Could the Bermuda Triangle and like places here on Earth be entrances and exits from worm holes? I don't really know how they got here, but they did. It would be very interesting to hear your theories about this.

Thank you for your time and consideration. Sincerely,

KryssTal Reply: Thank you for your email and for your kind words.

UFO observations seem to be confined to certain countries, the USA and other English-speaking nations being the majority of them, following national borders very closely (see attached image). This indicates that UFOs are a cultural phenomenon rather than an astronomical one. Appearances of the Virgin Mary also follow a country pattern; being confined to Catholic nations. This is another cultural phenomenon.

Meteors are visible independently of countries and are an astronomical phenomenon.

As of now, there is no evidence that we have been visited by alien life forms. That evidence may arrive tomorrow or it may never arrive. That statement is not the same as saying that extraterrestrial life does not exist.

As I said in my essay, I have no evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial life. My beliefs on the matter are speculation. What is required is an exhibit that can be studied and that is clearly of extraterrestrial origin. Such an item does not appear to exist.

Regards,

Thank you very much for your prompt reply and thank you for the gif.

Apparently, from what I can deduce from it, most of the sightings have been in North America.

KryssTal Reply: It's funny how they follow the border so closely, isn't it. And borders are human inventions, aren't they?

You are absolutely right, and I wish I had some actual photos of what I saw, but I simply don't know how else to explain it. I'm sure I wasn't dreaming, and I'm sure I'm not just generating this from my imagination because I've watched too many sci-fi movies.

KryssTal Reply: As I said, it's a cultural thing.

In India, they don't have sci-fi so they don't see UFOs. The Hindus see images of Vishnu or Shiva while the Muslims see various prophets and saints (like Lal Qalandar Shah Baz flying through the air). The Arabs with their storytelling tradition of Arabian Nights see genies and flying carpets - something never seen in the USA.

It totally changed my life in ways I'm still finding out about. I'm speaking out now because it's a new millennium -- a new age of scientific knowledge and advancement.

KryssTal Reply: See my web page about the Calendar. Even the millennium is a cultural thing:

calendar.html

I just read from a web page called http://space.com/ that Nasa has now proven the existence of black holes beyond a shadow of a doubt through the x-ray satellite 'Chandra' which was launched from the space shuttle Columbia. Nobody believed in black holes back in the time I saw the ufo, they hadn't been proven yet.

KryssTal Reply: This is a non argument.

A is not believed at first, then it is proved. B is currently not believed; B will be proved because A was proved.

The argument is equivalent to saying that Santa Claus will be proved to exist because Fermat's Last Theorem was recently proved. Each idea stands or falls on its own merits. By the same token, saying that angels exist because Isaac Newton believed in them is irrelevant. Ideas stand or fall on evidence pertaining to them.

I am totally sure that extraterrestrial life will be proven to be a fact in my lifetime (hopefully).

KryssTal Reply: totally sure" and "hopefully" contradict each other. This is a wish which I share but it has no bearing on whether UFOs are alien craft.

Incidentally, whenever someone sees a satellite in orbit and does not know what it is, they are seeing a UFO. The U in UFO stands for "unidentified". As an astronomer I see few UFOs because I know the sky well enough to identify most items. There are things that are unexplained but that is because we don't know what they are or we don't have enough data to identify. If something is unexplained it doesn't prove a particular theory or hypothesis.

It is like saying: There is no explanation for A therefore my idea, B, is true. No; B is true only if there is evidence for B. Lack of knowledge of A is NOT evidence for B.

And it will also be proven that they're coming here via worm hole.

KryssTal Reply: Three pieces of speculation here:

1 Aliens are visiting us.
2 Wormholes exist.
3 Matter can travel through wormholes safely.

Although, I don't really understand why such an advanced race of beings would want with us, but they're coming never the less.

KryssTal Reply: Why did the Spanish want to visit Mexico or Peru?

Just in case anyone is interested, I've attached an animated gif of the ship I saw.

KryssTal Reply: Nice animation. But not evidence of anything, I'm afraid. Sorry to be such a bore!

Once again, thank you so much for your time and audience -- thanks for hearing me out! I truely appreciate it!

KryssTal Reply: Always like to natter.

There was really no need to be rude to me, however you succeeded in putting an end to me ever trying to talk to anyone else about this again.Hope you're happy. Have a nice life, you very rude person!

KryssTal Reply: No rudeness was meant. I thought we were having a debate about a matter that we were both interested in. Talking and discussing is healthy. You do not have to agree with a person to have an interesting discussion. Disagreement should not be taken as a personal attack.

Keep talking and keep learning.

Kryss,

Apparently I misunderstood your intentions -- I apologize for calling you rude. Maybe I put too much importance on the subject. I would like to continue discussing this as I find it all very fascinating! I promise I will not take offense at anything else you have to say, ok?

I guess if e.t. really exists and they are coming here, they will let their presence be known in their own time. In a way, I wish I hadn't seen what I saw that night -- it was such a profound experience, but I can't really talk about it much because most people are not that open-minded. Have you ever had a profound, life-changing experience and then couldn't talk about it to anyone? I find it rather frustrating at times.

Once again, thank you for your time! If you would like to continue debating, I would be happy to oblige! Sincerely,

J. Brundage

p.s. Live long and prosper! :-)


013

Kate

kate@2198.com

Hi- I am currently at uni and am doing a module for non-scientists in astronomy. I am trying to research for an essay on the probability that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe. I found your essay helpful and thought provoking, but would be interested to know how you believe people would react to conclusive evidence of the existence of E.T., how humans really would react to first contact. Cheers.

KryssTal Reply: That has to be one of the most interesting questions humanity faces. The problem is that the answers are not symmetric.

For example, if no extraterrestrial life is found in our solar system, it really does not tell us much because the solar system is such a tiny part of the Universe. However, if we did find life in the solar system, it would boost the chances of finding intelligent life elsewhere. This is because, two independent sources of life in one solar system would imply that the Universe is teeming with life.

As for First Contact, I assume you mean with intelligent life.

Well, let us look at our own history. What has been the result when two civilisations meet? When one of those civilisations is superior technologically, the usual result is colonisation and / or genocide. I think that intelligent life will be much the same anywhere in the Universe. I hope I am wrong in this but I would err on the side of caution.

Philosophically, it may affect the things people believe, especially with organised religions that preach a special place in the Universe for humanity. But in our history, religions grow with the technologically advanced societies that conquer and absorb other societies. Islam, for example never conquered Europe because the Moors lost a battle in France and the Ottomans lost a battle near Vienna. Christianity conquered America and Australia because the conquerors were far more technologically advanced than the indigenous people encountered. And this is nothing to do with the actual intelligence of the peoples involved. Europe had more domesticated plants and animals which gave them more power and resources.

I would recommend you read the book Guns, Germs and Steel for more about how and why societies evolve at differing rates. Click on one of these Amazon links for details.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393038912/theultimathomepa
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099302780/theultimathome02

Good luck with your essay.


012

James Wheeler

Jmes-ct16@hotbot.com

I have just read your essay Are We Alone in the Universe. I am currently writing an essay for school with a similer theme to that of your "The prospects of finding extraterrestrial life in our solar system" and wonder if you could be so kind as to give me your insigth towards it.

Thank you for your time

KryssTal Reply: I'm sorry about the delay in responding - I've been house-buying. I hope your essay went OK.


011

Ed Burns

ejb52@npoint.net

First paragraph: second sentence:

This essay is not an essay of answers because nobody knows the answer.

You're basing your entire essay on a false assumption. Obviously, no one can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are NOT any other life forms in this universe; but by saying nobody knows the answer you are by default stating that all those who report aliens are either deliberately lying, being manipulated by others, misinterpreting what they've seen, or mentallly unbalanced. You leave absolutely no possiblity for some of these reports being accurate and factual. If someone encountered an alien they would personally know the answer, whether or not they could prove it to someone else. So, I tell you, someone does know the answer.

KryssTal Reply: Thank you for your email.

You are correct that nobody can prove that extraterrestrial life does not exist. This is because we have not studied every portion of the Universe. However it would be extremely easy to prove the existance of extraterrestrial life. We can look at 1,000,000 planets, not find life, yet prove nothing. However, a single example of extraterrestrial life would prove its existance. So the two strands are not equivalent.

I understand that there are many accounts of alien encounters. However none of these are definative. There is no single example of extraterrestrial life that has been documented and studied by the scientific community. No material evidence exists that I am aware of. Evidence must be more than anecdotal.

PS: SETI is also based on an assumption. The basic assumption is that an intelligent civilization somewhere would try to broadcast their existence and location to everyone who might receive their signal; just like encouraging your children to publish their name and phone number on a very distasteful website. SETI does not, and has not the ability to, receive the kind of radio/EM radiation that would be due to normal communications. It is based on the assumption someone would deliberately direct a transmission in the hydrogen line toward our planet, a VERY strong signal. Who would do that in the first place ? And what a limited study with such an infinitessimal chance for success.....

KryssTal Reply: I suspect that our chances of success are very limited. Not because I don't think that such life exists. I think communication between life in the Universe will always be difficult because of the time and space involved.

I would be more interested in finding any life, not necessarily intelligent life. If life is ever found anywhere else in the solar system, it would imply that life is very common in the Universe. However, if no such life is discovered, it tells us very little about how common it is. It may be one per stellar system or one per million stellar systems.

Either way these are fascinating questions.


010

Bill Parkyn

lparkyn@pacbell.net

Would you post your review of the recent book "Rare Earth" for its SETI implications?

KryssTal Reply: Hi - I think this message has come through to me by mistake.


009

Tarkan Sevilmis

sevilm@ug.bcc.Bilkent.EDU.TR

Why liquid is required? There may be life forms that don't require liquids to live. We haven't understand the space totally yet. There may be "aliens" (I called them aliens because most of the people call them "aliens") in the space that is only formed of energy or sth else. Maybe we already have encountered them, but we couldn't know how to look.

Mankind always think they are the best race in the space, but I bet it's not.

KryssTal Reply: I'm sorry but I think your English is not good enough to understand this essay properly. None of the things you have accused me of are correct.

I'm sorry about misunderstanding your essay.

KryssTal Reply: This essay states that it is based on what we know. Anything else is speculation. I only speculate depending on our current knowledge.

But I still believe that liquids and carbon are not required for life.

KryssTal Reply: Carbon is special in the way that it forms compounds. Chemistry is divided into two groups: the chemistry of carbon; and the chemistry of everything else. Look at some of the examples in the essay. No other element is capable of this behaviour. The Universe is only made up of the 100 elements and the laws of chemistry are the same everywhere.

organic.html

As for liquids - this is because of the properties of solids and gases.

There might be life forms that are not based on chemical reactions.

KryssTal Reply: We only know of two types of processes that produce energy: chemical and nuclear. Anything else is speculation.

These life forms might be based on some other energy source which may be we haven't yet explained or encountered.

KryssTal Reply: This is true but without this knowledge, we cannot make any statements about this.

Also I think that other life forms can visit us using a space-time gate.

KryssTal Reply: This is an idea from your head. There is no information about this so we can only speculate wildly. There is no evidence for this idea.

This is not impossible if we think that we still cannot explain how the space formed (but they might explain it).

KryssTal Reply: This is a religious statement. It has no place in a scientific discussion.

According to my personal idea, the other life forms have been visiting us since early ages.

KryssTal Reply: Many people believe this but there is not a single piece of evidence for this. The evidence may come tomorrow but right now this is speculation.

I am glad that my essay has made you think - this is the purpose. By the way - your name looks Turkish. Where are you from?

* * * * * * * * Thanks for answering my e-mails. Now I know what I should.

Of course it wouldn't be a scientifical essay, if you placed speculations in it. And I was wrong in one (don't say "only one!") point: mankind cannot use systems that haven't been researched yet, I think I watch too many science fiction films. (But they cause me thinking and I love thinking.)

Also you are right I'm from Turkey, Ankara.

Thanks for your help.

KryssTal Reply: Teshekur - I have some photos of Turkey on my travel page.


© 2024, KryssTal

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