Well clearly I didn't fully educate myself on the subject. I appreciate you correcting me. I thought it was a fascinating new method since it was developed from two different fields to solve a unique problem.
I've been watching this discussion because I was genuinely surprised there wasn't a...
The technology is still in its infancy so it takes a long time to image but muon tomography is perfect for this kind of use.
It's likely to find many uses so the tech should eventually be refined for faster scanning.
Yeah, the dust "proof" settles everything.
Except the gradual, century long dimming.
Or the periodic brightening of the star.
Or why the dust hasn't been pulled into the star if it's in the system.
Or how dust that's far away but in between us and it could have such dramatic occlusion.
So I'm...
I get the joke but I want to point out that a "dwarf" planet is still a planet the same as a human with dwarfism is still a human
*additionally: suck it NDT!
To those reading this thread take note of the tone of my posts and the tone of this one: personal, emotional. This person has also done what a few other replies have done and characterize my assertion that the extraterrestrial hypothesis be a "serious" contender. I've only ever said it should...
You're conflating being able to understand advanced aliens with being able to determine if something is artificial and I agreed that understanding their purpose or motivation isn't likely to be known but we can know if something is artificial if it's within our own experience. A species that...
I think I've been pretty clear that it should only be a contender - no more or less serious than any other unsubstantiated hypothesis - and then only if that person has publicly expressed a belief that extraterrestrial life is likely. If someone thinks we're unique and alone that's perfectly...
We can test whether or not it fits natural phenomenon up to a point but then if it's something never observed before we can only test the hypothesis by comparing it with things we do know. This has happened multiple times with this star and so far in each case the hypothesis has to be downgraded...
We don't disagree over that. I've always thought the idea that if it's artificial then it's some form of Dyson sphere to be odd. If it's artificial then there's probably an endless list of things it could be built for. A local groups capital like Coruscant from Star Wars. An experiment too...
Well I deviated from my main point a couple times but I was specifically trying to call out the cognitive dissonance (or outright double standard in some cases) of folks in the scientific community - and even people like Seth Shostak. They claim to believe the likelihood of extraterrestrial...
Two things. One: discussions of the phenomenon as being artificial ARE serious. Dismissing it and laughing it off is an emotional reaction - not a rational one or a scientific one. And frankly the behaviour from supposed professionals whenever the extraterrestrial hypothesis is brought up is...
Things seem to have gone silent. Does anyone know if we're all just in waiting mode for the ATA and various other observational results? Searching around online hasn't really given me a good feel for why the non-media outlets have become so quiet.