Zeluvaa
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Hey, guys! Did you know that big asteroids strike all planets in our solar system with some regularity (like every 100 million years plus/minus) Every time they strike the Earth, it resets the species clock. Probably something similar happens in the other sun systems in the universe. This means that intelligent life (like us) may only have the time between asteroid strikes to perfect enough technology to communicate, or harder, to visit, other intelligent life before the asteroids smack them back into the "stone" age again. So, in the meantime, science fiction is all we have.
Suppose a species living for say a few thousand or more years as advanced civilization (like us). Then it is entirely possible for such a species to build mechanisms to deviate asteroids. Thus they can avoid the resetting of species clock and live on and become more advanced.
There billions of galaxies each with billions of stars. According to Drake equation there are at least 10,000 advance civilizations in our Milk Way galaxy alone.
The drake equation does not give an accurate estimation for advance civilization because it does not take into consideration many factors, including the ones that Developereo mentioned in his post.
The Drake Equation is probably the biggest piece of junk in modern science. For most of the terms in the equation, you can put in any number from one billion to one billionth, and you will end up with any final answer you want.
Since all we have is one data point (Earth) for our guesses, there is absolutely no way to justify any number you plug into the equation.
Exactly!
According to some theories, multicellular life, let alone intelligent life, is a freak of nature. Earth got lucky because of a combination of factors including just the right sized moon to create tides and regulate the axial tilt (= stable climate), Jupiter to sweep up the otherwise constant barrage of comets (= relatively long span without mass extinction events), and any number of other chance factors that just happened to work out on Earth.
I saw a documentary where they were discussing the Drake equation and someone came up with another equation which builds up on the Drake equation and takes into consideration all of the factors you mentioned. The estimation for number of advance civilization they came to was not 10000 as Drake equation suggested, but closer to 1-10 or so. This I believe is a much more sensible number.
The Sci Fi FTL engines, easily possible.
We all know E= m x (c x c). Taking c as speed of light or just the goal speed, the energy required to go at that speed means the mass of the object multiplied by Speed of light x Speed of light.
c = sqrt(E/m). If m = 0 (or nearly zero) then that means Infinite speed can be achieved with the tiniest amount of energy.
If Aliens are not corporal beings or have devised ways of becoming non-corporeal then its a good possibility they can achieve FTL. Basically we humans can't even achieve FTL, till we are able to make our masses 0, since that would put an unimaginable amount of exertion on our bodies.
It will be quite prudent for anybody to say with certainty that Aliens haven't visited us yet.
The equation you are actually looking for is
http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/a/2/3/a234845f2e68dc74e420e32f15d7578d.png
One cannot use E=MC^2 for objects with definite mass travelling at speeds a significant fraction of speed of sound. Instead one has to use the above relativistic formula.
As for FTL, it is theoretically possible for information (including objects) to be transmitted faster than light without actually travelling FTL. Worm holes is one such way.
Another way suggested by a physicist is to bend spacetime in front and back of the aircraft. Space would be shrunk at the front of the aircraft and made to expand at the rear. This would propel the aircraft faster than light. The aircraft however would not itself be travelling FTL in its own frame of reference. However in external frame of reference or to an outsider it would appear as if the aircraft is indeed moving FTL.
It is called Alcubierre drive.