Here's what we learned about aliens in 2020

[selvaarchi]

"In a year when mysterious monoliths literally appeared out of nowhere, you'd think the first real detection of alien life would be a stone's-throw away. Well, 2020 didn't bring any little green men, but it did bring astronomers closer to finding extraterrestrial life than ever before."

https://www.livescience.com/alien-clues-in-2020.html

From organic molecules turning up around the solar system to mysterious radio signals finally being traced back to their source, here are some of the biggest findings of the year about where aliens may be (and definitely aren't) hiding in the universe.

[Noclevername]

Well, one subtitle from the article sums up my view.

… But it's not likely.

We are closer to understanding the obstacles and potential signs of life than before, more likely to recognize the indicators if we come across them, but we cannot say we are closer to finding life, as that's a complete unknown variable. We have no way of knowing yet if ET life is right next door or a million galaxies away.

[Kay Burton]

We can only speculate about the existence of life outside the solar system. Unfortunately, all our information is mostly theoretical, because the capacity of our equipment is simply not enough to look into all corners of the universe. I would like to believe that in the foreseeable future, engineers will be able to create telescopes that will allow them to consider at least the nearest space objects. These thoughts are prompted by the development of the space camera supplier. I am sure that in order to make some kind of breakthrough, we need to think in categories outside the usual frames. Let us recall Leonardo da Vinci, whose inventions came to life, improved and became commonplace. And 500 years ago he was probably considered strange or insane. But he is still an example of a person who can think outside the given framework.

[Noclevername]

The premise of the thread is that we learned something about aliens. We have not had any aliens to learn anything about or from, so we have learned nothing about aliens.

The article proposes that we've "come closer" to finding aliens. Again, no. We don't have any idea how close or far we are from ever detecting extraterrestrial life, or if our current lines of examination are the right path to do so. We may be pursuing a dead end or a fluke for all we know.

There are too many unknown variables and only one isolated example of a life-bearing world to draw from. We can't say much except "it's possible". We certainly don't know the odds or if we're typical.

[KaiYeves]

The premise of the thread is that we learned something about aliens. We have not had any aliens to learn anything about or from, so we have learned nothing about aliens.

The article proposes that we've "come closer" to finding aliens. Again, no. We don't have any idea how close or far we are from ever detecting extraterrestrial life, or if our current lines of examination are the right path to do so. We may be pursuing a dead end or a fluke for all we know.

There are too many unknown variables and only one isolated example of a life-bearing world to draw from. We can't say much except "it's possible". We certainly don't know the odds or if we're typical.

Yes, it’s a slightly clickbait-y headline, “How scientists searched for aliens in 2020” would have been more accurate but still intriguing enough to inspire clicks.

[cannongray]

What about the three videos of "unidentified phenomena." recorded by the Pentagon ?

[Noclevername]

What about the three videos of "unidentified phenomena." recorded by the Pentagon ?

Un identified.

So no.