Way back in the 60 ', an astronomer named Frank Drake
kicked off to create what we now know as the project still
SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence). Already some years ago that this incident happened after which Kenneth Arnold popularized the term "flying saucer" and that somehow started the wave of sightings that after the first result in serious investigations of the United States government on the issue UFOs.
Before proceeding, I would like to make a high to make an important clarification on the nomenclature and the real meaning of the acronym "UFO", as well as on the concept as seen by the common people. When someone talks about a UFO, the first image that comes to every mind is that of 
"a spaceship manned by little green men or gray, from another planet"
, when in fact, the acronym used to describe only to "any phenomenon or object in the sky that can not be identified without doubt by the observer" . This distinction is important, as many people quickly dismissed sightings witnesses and accused of being crazy with this interpretation misrepresentation of reality, a fact often authoritative ruling in favor of earnest truth of the most numerous (ie those who are not "space ships floating in the sky"). That said, I confess to have witnessed three sightings over my life, I say with the conviction of knowing that they really were UFOs, or "I saw something floating in the sky and I could not clearly identify everyday thing, like an airplane, a balloon, a bird or a reflection of the moon or Venus against the clouds. " While I have theorized about it, obviously I can not conclude that it was of spacecraft from another planet, which would greatly simplify somewhat the situation ... Solo one of these sightings had unusual features, but as I said, I can not say categorically no. "a spaceship manned by little green men or gray, from another planet" Returning to the central theme, SETI has been trying (among other things) to make contact with any intelligent alien race since its inception. The idea is simple, but the limitations of distance and time are a difficult problem to date. To get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe problem, you just need to know that the Sun's light takes about 8 minutes and 19 seconds to reach the earth, so that the vision we have of our star is out of date in time (say "backward") 8 minutes and 19 seconds from reality, and the Sun is "just here" to only 149,000,000 miles ... The next nearest star is 4.1 light years, meaning that the vision we have of it is a temporary mismatch of 4.1 years compared to reality ... and so on with the rest of the stars. This greatly complicates the task of communicating with any other intelligent race off the planet, because the speed of transmitting information faster than we know is the speed of light (if flatly rejected the strange bond that seems to exist between the particles and it was the center of the paradox Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen , which proves the existence of an "action at a distance" that disturbs the measurement of certain values between particles so that it seems that they were "communicated" with each other), and certainly not practical across interstellar distances. Assuming that our transmissions are being issued to a barely detectable power for 76 years (the first radio broadcasts were made in the year 1938), at this point would have reached approximately 3500 stars, of which none has an intelligent civilization wanting to communicate (this follows from the application of the same Drake equation we talked about earlier in this article ...), and which is estimated less conservative, intelligent civilizations able and willing to communicate with others would be separated by a distance of 2,000,000,000 light years, which would land with the idea of \u200b\u200bbeing able to communicate with aliens ... We
is then expected to gray green men or are traveling near the solar system and to "go for a ride" for our planet to visit, assuming you have not done or are doing now. This would imply that they are much more advanced than us, at least in terms of methods of space travel. Speed \u200b\u200b"light" or "sublight" do not seem practical, unless you have a huge ship full of resources and with several generations of travelers on their way to Somewhere deep in the galaxy and no return. If travelers were immortal, would be justified because these people would have "all the time to travel the world, but to other mortals, the trip itself would be a matter for too long term to be worthwhile.
If the technological level of an intelligent race is developed enough to allow travel at speeds exceeding that of light (read: warp "," hyperspace "," CTF ", etc.), The trip was of course much faster, and therefore, it is feasible to be done in a short time, giving the opportunity for these aliens to get around and communicate with us in a relatively short period, say within the scope of a "life on earth." With regard to forms of travel faster than light, many were surprised to learn that in 1994 a Mexican scientist named Miguel Alcubierre patented a theoretical model of the engine "warp." The system is called
"Alcubierre Drive"
(available in English
) (original, huh?) And although this model has not been applied in a practical way yet, it is expected that technological advances allow for a first implementation some years (the big problem with this model is that it requires the existence and handling of "exotic matter", which incidentally is not abundant except in theories about dark matter and strange states of matter).
For there is a project dating from the 60's and describes a possible vehicle ( called "Daedalus" ("Daedalus") in honor of the father of Icarus), which would have the ability to travel to 12 % speed of light (about 35,000 kilometers per second or so), and would be launched from a high orbit of the Earth to turn off their engines after a period of almost 50 years. The engine of this ingenuity is called "Motor inertial confinement fusion" , which is a proven technology and ready for use. The only reason that Daedalus has not even left Earth in an interstellar travel is its cost (as always ...). This completes our ability to travel through space. definitely our best chance would be if our visitors were already on the road, traveling the long space at incredible speeds and with a communications system that allowed them to "listen" in any way and access to know through a formal visit. Unfortunately, we can say that has not happened yet. While there are people who say they were contacted by intelligences from other planets, his assertions are rather sensational and lend themselves to speculation. There are significant cases, particularly in the area of \u200b\u200bthe abduction, very little can be stated as true and correct.
worse, Hollywood has been quite negative contributions over the years, with films such as "Body Snatchers", "Alien", "Independence Day", "Progeny," Signs, "" Predator, "" The fourth kind "," Skyline "," Battle: Los Angeles ", etc ... works which make pale "positive" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still", "Contact", "Encounters of the third kind", "ET", etc., so probably when people see "something" that seems to be a manned spacecraft by beings from other planets, most likely is how far you throw at hand Blunt, making the "First Contact" the beginning of a war of extra-planetary proportions. And if we are not ready yet for such a feat as a first contact with an intelligent civilization. Undoubtedly, I, if an alien, I would look away this "informal settlement" we call Earth, shake my head and would return back to where I came from, probably a planet where the inhabitants live peacefully, giving their part to improve their existence as a race and where all pursue the common good. They can not be blamed for that ... Surely is the reason why we did not contact yet. Maybe they are really out there, get close enough with their vehicles to see us (and be seen), and eventually reach the conclusion that the best they can do is stand aside and watch, hoping that "this" reach a conclusion. Maybe be something like the characters in the story of Asimov
"The Gentle Vultures" ("The Vulture Kindred")
, watching from afar, hoping that a civilization reached a breaking point (read "annihilation war") and then made his triumphant arrival, providing assistance to survivors in exchange for a small tax serve to finance the operation ... (Any similarity, however vague, with the operation "War on terrorism" of the Yankees is purely coincidental ...).
The "bad" then this is not making contact with another intelligent race. Somehow, I think that event would make us grow as human beings and perhaps force us to mature to the security of not being alone in the universe. I know that by now our capacity for wonder has eroded significantly. Constant exposure to media and art on this issue has made us develop a kind of shield that prevents us marvel at the vastness and possibilities of the universe, but still I have hope that if I ever have contact with another race of intelligent beings, we realize this and do the right thing.
If not, I'm not sure you want to be here when it happens ...
: wq
