Dinosaurs did evolve, into the birds we have today but I think what was meant by the question was why did Dinosaurs not evolve at the rate we have. Well, it has taken hundreds millions of years for Man to arrive as we are today and that was with several different species of humanoids, some around even at the same time, even possibly mating. Dinosaurs didn't have the same opportunity because they were not around long enough, I don't mean dinosaurs in general but each particular species, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park for example would have lived millions of years apart, e.g. Stegosaurus extinct when T-Rex was around.

Paul, I do believe that intelligent life exists out there but sadly we will never meet them as I can't see how it will ever be possible for a human body to travel the intense speeds and distances required to get to the closest exoplanet, let alone one that has life.

Hi Kerry,
I think I'd be surprised if anyone posted a NO here but it would be interesting to hear from anyone that did think this.

The Drake Equation??? I was sure I'd heard of this before (probably on an old 'Horizon' Documentary) my memory is not what it used to be, so i looked it up...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

This stood out for me "and there were probably between 1000 and 100,000,000 civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy"
Well who knows if this is anywhere near right? but the fact they're thinking in terms of those numbers is incredible! and in our own galaxy only!
Within our own galaxy this at least gives us a chance at contact eventually, one day, hopefully, hurry up and get here already

Darryl, I had you down as a 'YES'
Think (and hope) your wrong about meeting them though...we are advancing it seems to me in huge leaps (look at where we were only 100 or 200 years ago...many of those people from that time would not believe the things we have today, medicines, new tech, transport etc etc)
We'll find a way to travel the stars at great speed whilst being able to protect ourselves from these forces...it's all just a matter of time.
Nice to hear from you again...too many old familiar names have been missing for awhile.

I hope I'm wrong too but for example, Alpha Centauri is the closet star to us at 4.37 light years. You need to travel at the speed of light for 4.37 years to get there. That is a long trip and that is without stopping to refuel. The closest exoplanet that is in the habitable zone would take 11 years travelling at the speed of light to reach. If we were ever to invent this kind of technology we would first need to find a way to make nuclear fusion sustainable. Unless you are thinking of a warp drive system where we do not travel through space but we bend (warp) spacetime to bring it closer to us.

Darryl James Cooper wrote: I hope I'm wrong too but for example, Alpha Centauri is the closet star to us at 4.37 light years. You need to travel at the speed of light for 4.37 years to get there. That is a long trip and that is without stopping to refuel. The closest exoplanet that is in the habitable zone would take 11 years travelling at the speed of light to reach. If we were ever to invent this kind of technology we would first need to find a way to make nuclear fusion sustainable. Unless you are thinking of a warp drive system where we do not travel through space but we bend (warp) spacetime to bring it closer to us.

Darryl, it is a long time and needs new technology, but I'm not sure transport technology is the only improvement that would get us there. I'm going to throw some ideas out here ... What d'y'all think?

1 - increased lifespans. If humans lived longer (probably a lot longer), we could be willing to spend long periods of time travellling. You'd still need a certain type of person to want to go first, but they probably haven't all been culled from the gene pool

2 - virtual reality. If this was better/normal, would it atter where you are? Why not on a spaceship. See 3...

3 - degradation of the earth's biosphere. If and when it gets too bad for individuals and families, people will accept and try to do things that would be unacceptable in 'normal' times.

4 - cryogenics. Sleep our way out there.

5 - digital uploading of people. Possibly combined with 6.

6 - self replicating machines. We could send probes out to explore and get stuff ready for us, then travel out there.

My feeling is that it would all likely require increased lifespans, we're not good at thinking long term, even our long term is short by almost every other standard. I think i remember reading somewhere that 100,000 years of sustained effort would get us most of the way through our spiral arm of the galaxy ...

Paul, think i now remember you from the kickstarter, nice to re-meet you! And ta for digging stuff up on the drake equation, but can't we go and find them? And maybe ask to borrow some coffee...

Darryl, I was about to mention the warping of space (wormhole theory) until I read on
Although that would take an incredible mind to make it workable? if it ever will be?
I'm assuming we'll venture out as humans to our local neighbours...the Moons & Planets within our own system but over time I would like to think we'll jump forward as we have the past few hundred years to allow us to get somewhere close to light speed (some say it is not possible to attain light speed others believe we can go quicker..i don't know? remember it's not that long ago since we broke the sound barrier, then Mach 2 etc) so I believe it will happen one day.

Kerry, I like your thinking
I seriously would make that first trip to borrow that coffee were it possible, what would they look like? how would they think? do they believe in something? similar to our religions or do they know something that would correct or confirm our thinking?
I kinda envy those first contacters.
Your idea's sound just fine to me...we are living longer and we may well crack the ageing gene.
Sending out a spacecraft without humans but with some form of ourselves on board be it VR or Cyborg/Robot (it's been said that were we to discover other intelligent life it may well be in the form of an intelligent machine probe possibly sent out by an alien race)
I like to think the Earth will be ok but if the worst case scenario occurs as in the wonderful film "Interstellar" then yes I think we would knuckle down and sort it out (we would have to and that focuses the mind)
Digital uploading of people...yes it might not be impossible but to upload consciousness...wow! asking a lot there but maybe that's how as a race we'll advance? wouldn't that be strange if we could time travel to the future and found say in millions of years time we were mainly machines & probably stronger and far robust but this is kinda sad too
Self replicating machines...I don't think we are too far off this now Kerry.

Oh and it's a pleasure to re-meet you too