teddyrised

Boggy I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear, but I've made no assumptions that life needs oxygen or water to survive. On a side note, in the universe where liquid methane is in abundance, and since it is a source of organic carbon, there is a high possibility that life may evolve to be adapted on liquid methane and for the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn, some of them shows volcanic activity (thus an internal source of heat) and a possible liquid ocean underneath the frozen surface - there might be life there, or if not, some basic organic molecules than can eventually evolve into lifeforms.

Same here. Discovering extraterrestrial life has really no effect on the creationism theory. They are neither complementary nor antagonistic. Anyway regarding the question of why other terrestrial (ie solid) planets in the solar system couldn't have possibly support life: 1. Mercury - no atmosphere and extremely high temperature 2. Venus - excessively high atmospheric pressure. Although some might quote that the sulphuric-acid based atmosphere helps to prevent lifeforms from existing, remember that we are assuming that life needs oxygen and water to survive. 3. Mars - thanks 6undeground for the headsup! Mars has no atmosphere due to it's weak magnetic field, causing the atmosphere to be literally 'blown' away by solar wind.

As passionate as a lot of you seem to be about the existence of intelligent life out there, the odds are actually against you. A lot of what so called "Evolutionist" theorize is that what happened on Earth (life) was a fluke, a freak of nature, something with such a slim chance of ever happening that it's a miracle it occurred on Earth.quote> I believe this theory (and thanks for phrasing it in a very reader-friendly way, I suck at explaining theories), but I think it only applies to intelligent life. Basic organic molecules can be made from a mixture of methane, water and some other chemicals that I couldn't remember (but widely available on many planets) by zapping them with a bolt of high voltage electricity (aka lightning, when it occurs naturally). Extraterrestrial conditions may vary significantly from what we have on earth, so the evolutionary path may be completely and radically different, but there is still life out there. However, I doubt the existence of many intelligent lifeforms. Perhaps just a few, and we are one of them. Intelligent life is most probably formed by chance (with a very slim probability of occurring).

ET life is one thing that has me puzzled. its obviously one of the biggest questions in the world. here are some of my thoughts about it 1. like what most people say, the universe is huge, there has got to be something out there 2. if ET life does exist, what does this say about religion ? 3. If we do find ET life, what would we do if they are hostile to us ? 4. Perhaps we have found ET life but the Government hides it from us, for an example the Roswell incident. 5. how would the world react ? people go crazy over small differences we humans have with each other, imagine if they find out ET life exist ! 6. would finding ET life be worth it ? it could cause unwanted troubles, or substantial benefit, tough call. those are some of my thoughts.quote> Although I highly believe that extraterrestrial life does exist, I don't hold so much faith for intelligent ones. The development of intelligence might just be coincidental like us, or it's possible through evolution, but through a very slim probability. The greatest threat extraterrestrial life pose for us is not of it's hostility, but more of its invasiveness. Perhaps the most advanced extraterrestrial life is in a similar form to bacteria and viruses, they might infect us humans who have yet to develop any immunity to them in case of accidental physical contact. Or they might have evolved in a different atmosphere and planet that they are completely not viable on Earth. I suspect that even if human did discover extraterrestrial life, the government and related agencies are the ones to know of it first, and then they'll do some coverup until something happens (like a discovery by normal civilians or a leaked report, etc - remember the Roswell incident?). There are still many secrets that governmental organisations are hiding behind their backs - we'll never know what they actually know. Finding ET life would be quite futile since it is proven that our TV signals do not spread beyond one light year. Even if ET life did eject some high energy electrical beam or something, it's highly unlikely that we'll be aiming at that specific part of the sky for that moment. It's better if they come and find us, heheh, IF and ONLY IF intelligent life does exist.

fukuda said it right. Travelling faster than light (whether is it physically or transmitting electrical signals), if possible, would consume a significant amount of energy, and thus communications will be almost infeasible and unjustifiable. Physics theories are universal. By examining the light spectrum from distance stars (say, millions of light years away, aka light emmited millions of years ago) shows that they do follow the laws of Physics - thus the laws of Physics is not only spatially (in terms of physical space, region or distance) identical but temporally (in terms of time) identical as well.

I think even if we discovered extraterrestrial life, God will not be disproved. Religion and extraterrestrial life are not completely antagonistic to each other. There's another theory I've read on Wikipedia regarding the topic (sorry but I cleared my history and couldn't find the url). It might be hard to detect life on other systems because they might be too advanced that they're consuming so much energy - this necessitates them to harvest energy from the star itself, which means snuffing out possible lightrays and transmission from their system. Intelligent life might be very rare, but there's definitely life out there. Won't be it an awful waste of space if there's only us in the whole universe?

@Danlikebooks: Quoting from my previous post (and summarised a little)... 1. Our signals couldn't reach even the nearest star: We always believed that our television signals and radio transmissions are acting like an ever-expanding sphere, extending away from Earth and into the unknown. But scientists revealed in the recent Discovery Channel documentary, Life After People (has anybody watched it?), that our signals and transmission will lose energy and eventually fade into pure noise after one light year - and the nearest star is about THREE light years away - three times the distance. 2. The probability of two colonies of intelligent life using the same technology for communication approximates to zero: And even if we manage to refine our technology someday that our signals and transmissions will propagate with almost 100% efficiency through space, the intelligent life on the other end of the universe might not be using the same technology, the same radio channels, the same equipments - the probability of two life forms using the same technology is just too slim to be considered. 3. The distance is too daunting - nearest possible life is three lightyears away. For better chances, more than 50 light years: Extraterrestrial life does exist, but it's infeasible for us to establish a connection with them. We can only detect, but not communicate - the distance is way too great. Even if life exist in the nearest start system (three light years away), it will take 6 years for us to get a reply. Considering that life can exist only at a very significantly huge distance, say, 50 light years, communicating will be an extremely ardous task - waiting a reply will take a century. What if a natural disaster or intelligence-caused calamity happens to wipes out the entire colony of life? That'll break the communication as well. I hope this helps!

Personally I think that creationism and intelligent design are two aspects that are, and will be, in constant conflict with evolution theory. Just bear in mind that although evolution is just a scientific theory, there is no evidence so far that can disprove this theory. Although we are still far from proving this theory to be a fact (it'll take millions of years), there is current evidence pointing towards it - like how insects exposed to mutagens and insecticides evolve, in terms of the entire brood/colony, into insecticide resistance; as well as how humans have domesticated dogs from wolves; and another powerful evidence is the human effect on evolution - complete homozygosity of wheat plant, which is never seen before in the past. It's nature's and mankind's forces that's resulting in evolution, as proposed by scientists. Don't get me wrong - I still respect the views of other religions. I'm just stating the facts. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @skigeek: Well said! My point is, whether you believe in creationism, evolution, or whatever who's to say that this is the only planet where it happened?quote> @Godzillaman: ROFLMAO the photo you've attached gave me a good laugh, really.

A quote by Doctor Arroyway (Jodie Foster) in the film Contact: I'll tell you one thing about the universe, though. The universe is a pretty big place. It's bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So if it's just us... seems like an awful waste of space. Right?quote> Right. The universe is very big - it's reckoned by scientists and astrologers alike that the number of stars in the universe is more than the number of grains of sand we have on earth. And for every single second the universe is expanding (since the Big Bang, if you believe in it) and evolving. It wouldn't make any sense if Earth is the ONLY planet out of the trillions of planets out there (in billions of solar systems) that has some form of life. But when it comes to INTELLIGENT life, it's a different thing. Human might be created because of a random, unpredictable event in the past, which caused us to gain intelligence and dominate over other living animals. It must have been something that made it possible for us to think, to create, to wander and to dream. It's not part of evolution - evolution helped to refine our knowledge and our organic, physical aspects of life. There is most probably life in the universe, but intelligent life might be a little bit rare. Even if intelligent life (or lives) do exist, we will most probably be unable to reach out and communicate with them by current technological standards. Remember that we always believed that our television signals and radio transmissions are acting like an ever-expanding sphere, extending away from Earth and into the unknown? But scientists revealed in the recent Discovery Channel documentary, Life After People (has anybody watched it?), that our signals and transmission will lose energy and eventually fade into pure noise after one light year - and the nearest star is about THREE light years away - three times the distance. And even if we manage to refine our technology someday that our signals and transmissions will propagate with almost 100% efficiency through space, the intelligent life on the other end of the universe might not be using the same technology, the same radio channels, the same equipments - the probability of two life forms using the same technology is just too slim to be considered. Extraterrestrial life does exist, but it's infeasible for us to establish a connection with them. We can only detect, but not communicate - the distance is way too great. Even if life exist in the nearest start system (three light years away), it will take 6 years for us to get a reply. Considering that life can exist only at a very significantly huge distance, say, 50 light years, communicating will be an extremely ardous task - waiting a reply will take a century. What if a natural disaster or intelligence-caused calamity happens to wipes out the entire colony of life? That'll break the communication as well. Sorry for the long wordy post I'm just sharing what I think.

I've been out of touch from Simtropolis for almost a year, but I'm back here to thank the NAM team for their unwavering dedication to the NAM project, and all the countless hours they've invested in making NAM a possible reality instead of just an impossible dream. NAM has made cities look more realistic with amazing additions and modifications to transport / commute related pieces in SimCity 4, making many awesome CJs look even more awesome with the help of NAM. To many, Simcity 4 is never Simcity 4 without NAM, seriously here's a big thank you and a happy new year to everyone, especially those who've worked hard from the NAM team! Thank you so much. Anyway this is not a comeback for me. Botania is kind of dead - I'm just reluctant to conclude it. May everyone have a smooth-sailing 2008, especially to those who are still keeping their CJs alive! I'm really impresed by CJers because they really spend loads of effort in making things interesting. Kudos to everyone.

Hi everyone, I'm not here to announce that Botania is back. Sadly to say, I can't find any more free time to devote myself to this city journal and my hostel blocked access to Simtrropolis completely (I live in a forign nation). So for a few months or so when I have a break and I return home only then I'll get the luxury to visit here. I'll rather say that this cj is not dead yet, as I have plans to revive it once I get to university (and out of the restrictive life of living in a hostel). I sincerely thank you all for your support, but don't expect this cj to be back until next year. I've got a major exam to take this year too. To all other cjers and simtropolis members out there, check out the really awesome cjs around. I must say that each author has really invested a whole lot of effort in maintaining them. Take care and see you all Terry

Hi everyone, thanks for your concern for Botania. Especially dedgren, thanks for your comment! It is greatly appreciated Well, I just wan to say that Botania is well alive (at least in my hard-drive), almost all the plugins are restored (for those which are unrecoverable from STEX due to the shift I've tried to destroy the realted buildings etc. and replace them with something else). However, Botania is progressing too slow to be a proper CJ. Well, I have to admit that after that harddisk crash I've almost sure that I'll loose Botania forever. So the recovery of the available information was of course a big surprise, but then I felt that I've not as passionate as before. It is school holiday in most countries in Asia (approx 2 months), and I'm busy enriching myself with other stuff. So this is another reason why Botania is progressing so slowly. And no, I am not running out of ideas. Humans do run out of creativity sometimes but it gets restored after some resting. I'll plan to continue this CJ once I've filled the entire region (about 12 more medium cities to fill, so will be quite soon I think). Thanks for all your support, especially those who linked / acknowledged me in their posts / Cjs / or any published information. Thank you all. And your support makes Botania moving on. Soon.

Holy.... choco you are getting better and better with your CJ! Omigosh I can't believe how beautiful Green Depra looks like from the region view! And what I LOVE most about this update is the railway bridge! Reminds me of the railway lines that winds through the Alps... having all the greenery and scenic views below the tracks while the tracks stay high and dry on bridges! Woah! And love the little fishing docks under the railway bridge. They are simply awesome and they added this very nice and realistic touch to Green Depra. Way to go choco!!! Love all the greens I can get from Green Depra.