I guess I will have to play with Yahoo Answers a bit. I have some burning questions. One is not–is Elvis still alive?
Yahoo Answers Impresses
I posted two questions on Yahoo Answers yesterday. The answers are extensive and timely… this is truly impressive. Best of all, itís free*.
After reading through all the answers from users (who create
their cartoon avatars from a variety of custom design with the fun
Yahoo Avatars tool), you can select a best question, which will then
move towards the top. I awarded the best answer to my first question to
Michael, a ìlevel 3î Yahoo Answers user with 214 answered questions so
far. Hereís his reply:<q>Q: Why havenít we visited by aliens yet?
A: It is
probable (but not definite) that civilizations evolve at different
rates. The hominid species spent a good million years just running
around like an animal before we developed the mutation that allows us
to imagine the future and make decisions that are not instinctual. So,
even if civilizations were to develop on many different planets, they
could be separated in TIME by a few million years easily.
On top of
that, before you send out an expedition to a planet in search of life,
youíd want to receive a signal from them. Weíve only been broadcasting
into space for some 40 years now… and 40 light-years is pretty small
in the grand scheme of things. Even if another civilization received
our signals today, it would take them 40 years minimum to respond,
barring some faster-than-light communication technology, and probably
much longer to actually get here. With our current rocket technology
(~40 miles/sec exiting Earthís sphere of influence), it would take us a
good 4500 years just to get 1 light-year away. I think the nearest star
is about 4 light years away ñ so thatís a long time!</q>
Source: Yahoo Answers Impresses
tags: yahoo+answers