How would you know that post-human intelligent lifeforms would want to contact us? What if it was like the book Diaspora, where the ultimate ideology of civilization was constraint?
Do you think intellegent aliens exist?if yes would they have already found us?
- Thread starter Xanikk999
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kingjoshi
King
Didn't read the book and don't understand what you mean. Could you please elaborate?Bill3000 said:
kingjoshi said:
Think SMAC's Ascent to Transcendence, basically, except less godhood. The story of post-human civilization where the descendents of humanity are basically software. Their opinions on what it meant to be civilized thus obviously changed. One of them is the constraint of nature - for example, it was considered barbaric to terraform Mars - the idea that civilization should not have to manipulate nature in order to thrive. There was also a huge ruckus on even slightly manipulating alien life when their sole purpose was to observe it in its natural form.
Yuri2356
Test Screening
Wusses.Bill3000 said:
Even in a post-human everyone-is-virtual world, expansion and settlement will still be needed to provide raw resources used to build/maintain whatever we're storing out minds in at the time, and expand the species' ability to just plain think about things.
Enkidu Warrior
Ultramagnetic
The odds on aliens existing are extremely favourable, the odds on them making contact are for a great many reasons pretty awful.
its imposible to travle the speed of light, u can travle 99.99% the speed of light but never gian that last 0.01 point.
that unles thears a way to, in a way, punch a hole throw time and space, and travel throw that. in witch u chold travel from point a to b instantly. or nearly instantly. thats the worm hole thing ppl hear about.
but other then that, aliens chold be traveling hear this very instant at near light speed. the thing is by the time thay get hear the sun will likely have already died, and earth nothing more then a chared up rock.
say thay travel from planet a, and thear destinasion is earth.
thay are going to travel at 99.99% the speed of light. *useing a ship perhaps powered by an anti matter engin, it will travel at the speed its at by contrating space infront of the ship, then expanding space just behind it*
now say traveling at the 99.99% the speed of light, it will still take say 50 years for them to get to earth. but thats on thear time. since time slows down for them since thear going so fast it will be only 50 yerars for them
but by the time thay get hear, it whold have been 10 billion years for us. so we whold have been long ago dead.
so thay must have left very early on to get hear.
so i think it will never get into contact with aliens, unless thear microbs within our own planet system.
but agin, maby thay can pucnh holse throw time and space?
that unles thears a way to, in a way, punch a hole throw time and space, and travel throw that. in witch u chold travel from point a to b instantly. or nearly instantly. thats the worm hole thing ppl hear about.
but other then that, aliens chold be traveling hear this very instant at near light speed. the thing is by the time thay get hear the sun will likely have already died, and earth nothing more then a chared up rock.
say thay travel from planet a, and thear destinasion is earth.
thay are going to travel at 99.99% the speed of light. *useing a ship perhaps powered by an anti matter engin, it will travel at the speed its at by contrating space infront of the ship, then expanding space just behind it*
now say traveling at the 99.99% the speed of light, it will still take say 50 years for them to get to earth. but thats on thear time. since time slows down for them since thear going so fast it will be only 50 yerars for them
but by the time thay get hear, it whold have been 10 billion years for us. so we whold have been long ago dead.
so thay must have left very early on to get hear.
so i think it will never get into contact with aliens, unless thear microbs within our own planet system.
but agin, maby thay can pucnh holse throw time and space?
Sims2789
Fool me once...
Considering how large the Universe is, chances are other forms of intelligent life exist and it isn't insane to say that they've visited us, though we don't know for sure until we make contact.
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
Xanikk999 said:
You assume that the drive for exploration and expansion is a universal one.
I don't think that a super-advanced technology implies the colonization of other planets at all. That might seem like a very logical assumption to a human, but we're explorers by nature. Our nature might not be another species' nature, especially if we've evolved from independent sources. It wouldn't be hard to imagine an advanced society of super-intelligent aliens living on 1 planet only, being entirely content to stay there forever.
Eran of Arcadia said:
Even if the probability that intelligent life could arise on its own, without any intelligent help, in a GALAXY is 1 in 100 million, we'd end up with 1,000 intelligent lifeforms in the Universe, on average.
So it could be that we're not listening for the right things, or just that the probability of intelligent life evolving is so low that it happens less than once per galaxy.. Either way, it's not enough data to dismiss the potentiality of other intelligent life in the Universe. If life could arise independently on Earth, it can happen elsewhere.
ForNoOne said:
If you were a space faring alien race, could you contact us? Can we talk to ants? If there is a space faring alien race out there, chances are they are million of years more advanced than us - perhaps communication isn't even an option, on an intellectual level.
kingjoshi
King
This assumes they've figured out ways to handle asteroids or any other calamities from befalling their planet. And one doesn't need to assume the whole population has a desire to explore, just that a few do and their technology allows for it. I have no idea on any probability on all of this and don't really care to speculate (except maybe specific points).warpus said:
I don't know if that's a fair comparison. Maybe it's possible that the galaxies ARE the species. We're just tiny insignificant matter that happen to inhabit their cells (planets). Maybe there are other dimensions on which they exist.warpus said:
Assuming it's not a difference of such magnitude in size or alternate dimensions, then one would assume if they are more intelligent then us, we would at least be able to see them if they came to Earth. Or that they would understand something about physics and notice the radiowaves or other waves we utilize and try to send some signal (even if we couldn't understand it) we could intercept.
Hey, maybe the government(s) has. Who knows.
Erik Mesoy
Core Tester / Intern
I think it's highly likely, but I can't say anything specific.The Poll said:
Obligatory link: Drake Equation
friskymike
Listening to:
Glad someone linked the Drake Equation. Although there are still many things we don't know about the variables that affect the development of suitable planets and intelligent life, on the balance of probabilities I would have to see that intelligent aliens probably do exist.
They probably haven't found us because interstellar travel is impractical, and there are far better ways of communication that the wasteful spilling of electromagnetic radiation into space in all directions like we practise. They may have already turned their stars into Dyson spheres to capture 100% of the star's energy and making them practically undetectable to us, or they may have transcended into virtual worlds or energy-based rather than matter-based intelligence, the possibilities are endless and its all speculation.
They probably haven't found us because interstellar travel is impractical, and there are far better ways of communication that the wasteful spilling of electromagnetic radiation into space in all directions like we practise. They may have already turned their stars into Dyson spheres to capture 100% of the star's energy and making them practically undetectable to us, or they may have transcended into virtual worlds or energy-based rather than matter-based intelligence, the possibilities are endless and its all speculation.
Neonanocyborgasm
Deity
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Xanikk999 said:
Aliens exist, but I doubt that they are more advanced than we are. More likely, they are equally so., or else we'd find evidence of them in space.
AL_DA_GREAT
amour absinthe révolution
There is probably life some where out there. but that it could get here isn't likly. I mean why would aliens travel for millions of years to make circals n some guys field
Rambuchan
The Funky President
You guys obviously never saw 'Barbarella' or 'Flesh Gordon Meets The Cosmic Cheerleaders'. 
If you had done, then you'd know that such aliens exist and you'd want to "make contact"
EDIT: Another piece to add to the Drake equation is Asimov's 'Extraterrestrial Civilisations'.
If you had done, then you'd know that such aliens exist and you'd want to "make contact"
EDIT: Another piece to add to the Drake equation is Asimov's 'Extraterrestrial Civilisations'.
Leonel
Breakfast Connoisseur
Rambuchan said:You guys obviously never saw 'Barbarella' or 'Flesh Gordon Meets The Cosmic Cheerleaders'.
Oh wow Barbarella was such a bad movie!
I couldn't stop watching simply because of how awful it was. 
It's like a hippy version of Flash Gordon.
classical_hero
In whom I trust
We had a thread very similar to this not so long ago and our resident scientist/mod said that we are basically waisting our time looking for alien lifeforms because in all likelyhood they do not exist. Those who believe in aliens are kidding themselves and are basing there evidence on hearsay.
Rambuchan
The Funky President
I might be remembered what Col said incorrectly but I think he was just saying that we haven't found them yet. Not concluding that they don't exist. But I might be wrong on what he said here.
One thing I would like to point out is tech-rate speed and progress-speed.
An ET civilization may be ahead of us in progress and tech or behind us. What matters (at this point, before we contact them) is our tech-rate speed.
If we progress more quickly than the species behind us - they will never be an issue. If we progress more quickly than the species ahead of us, then eventually we'll catch up.
Likewise, if we progress more slowly than the species behind us - they will eventually catch up. And if we're slower than the ones ahead of us, they will never view us a competition.
The faster we advance (which we can deliberately increase), the more species will eventually end up being 'behind us' by the time we meet them. Which means that we have more control on how the interaction will go.
An ET civilization may be ahead of us in progress and tech or behind us. What matters (at this point, before we contact them) is our tech-rate speed.
If we progress more quickly than the species behind us - they will never be an issue. If we progress more quickly than the species ahead of us, then eventually we'll catch up.
Likewise, if we progress more slowly than the species behind us - they will eventually catch up. And if we're slower than the ones ahead of us, they will never view us a competition.
The faster we advance (which we can deliberately increase), the more species will eventually end up being 'behind us' by the time we meet them. Which means that we have more control on how the interaction will go.
Masquerouge
Deity
I think there are probably a lot of alien life across the universe.
However, these other life forms could very well be in superclusters billions of light years away. What is then the chances for them to focus on one planet of one stellar system in an entire galaxy ?
I mean, even if you're very, very intelligent, it still takes a lot of time to find the needle in the haystack.
Plus, even if it's likely than other life forms are carbon-based (both because of the properties of Carbon making it one of the best candidates for life cycles, and its abundance throughout the universe), maybe they're so alien that we will just never be able to communicate ?
However, these other life forms could very well be in superclusters billions of light years away. What is then the chances for them to focus on one planet of one stellar system in an entire galaxy ?
I mean, even if you're very, very intelligent, it still takes a lot of time to find the needle in the haystack.
Plus, even if it's likely than other life forms are carbon-based (both because of the properties of Carbon making it one of the best candidates for life cycles, and its abundance throughout the universe), maybe they're so alien that we will just never be able to communicate ?
There is evidence for intelligent life in the universe. But so far we only know that it exists on one planet, earth. There is, however, a good chance it exists elsewhere due to the huge number of potential worlds.
If intelligent life exists elsewhere I doubt they know that we are here due to the vast size of the universe and the evident rareness of intelligent life.
Intelligent life forms must probably also exist within suitable timeframes for them to find each other. If a nearby alien civilization died a million years ago it means that we may never find evidence of their existence. A million years are a short period of time compared to the known age of the universe.
Assume that earth have sent signals into space for a mere 100 years and been listening for alien signals for 50 years.
I think we can be sure that intelligent life is very rare. But I do not believe that we are the only ones.
If intelligent life exists elsewhere I doubt they know that we are here due to the vast size of the universe and the evident rareness of intelligent life.
Intelligent life forms must probably also exist within suitable timeframes for them to find each other. If a nearby alien civilization died a million years ago it means that we may never find evidence of their existence. A million years are a short period of time compared to the known age of the universe.
Assume that earth have sent signals into space for a mere 100 years and been listening for alien signals for 50 years.
I think we can be sure that intelligent life is very rare. But I do not believe that we are the only ones.
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