finding life similar to earth

pasiphae_spirit · #1 (**permalink**) 31-January-2004, 02:16 AM

if the government/NASA announced that they had found life similar to earth with people & animals & societies but aliitle more primitve & a bit different than earth. how would you react? would you be scare? how about if they found life that was more advance? i think if they ever found that i would be REALLY scared.

muku · #2 (**permalink**) 31-January-2004, 12:37 PM

i think it would be great!

damienpaul · #3 (**permalink**) 31-January-2004, 12:46 PM

I would not be scared, i'd be rather excited but cautious of the next step.

#4 (**permalink**) 31-January-2004, 02:10 PM

(I think we're in the wrong post here...??)

But hell yeah, I would be thrilled if, say, we captured images of some Earth-like planet, with city lights twinkling on its night side, etc...

What I would be SCARED of is how us stupid humans approached them. With all our arrogances & moral uptightness, we'd probably offend them & start another stupid war! :angry:

They might be looking through their telescopes at us right now, listening to our broadcasts, and laughing their heads off...or shaking their heads in disgust... Maybe they're thinking, "Gee I hope those idiots don't stumble upon warp drive technology!"...

Who knows...

Josh · #5 (**permalink**) 31-January-2004, 02:36 PM

Hi pasiphae_spirit (et al)

I've moved this thread to the appropriate forum. It'll make it easier for people to find it.

damienpaul · #6 (**permalink**) 31-January-2004, 02:40 PM

Thank you josh

I agree Faulkner actually, they would possibly be fearful or disdainful of us and our ways. However, it could be that they see some potential in us and intervene at a later critical point in our upcoming history.

#7 (**permalink**) 31-January-2004, 02:59 PM

We can only hope!

I think history has proved that humans are incapable of resolving their problems. We need outside intervention, that's for sure.

Otherwise, I do not see a rosy future for our offspring. At all.

Chook · #8 (**permalink**) 31-January-2004, 07:59 PM

Ha ... you're funny Faulkner:
You say that "With all our arrogances & moral uptightness we'd probably offend them & start another stupid war! ". Agreed!

But what causes war? Surely it is the opposite of "moral uptighness" - greed, land grabs and all that.

I won't go on - but you know what I mean (time to go for our morning run!)

"She who must be obeyed" has called.

Tinaa · #9 (**permalink**) 31-January-2004, 11:58 PM

I would be most curious and excited! What is their music like? Do they keep pets? What do they like to do for fun? It would be so great to know that we are not alone!

#10 (**permalink**) 01-February-2004, 02:56 AM

[/quote]What is their music like?[quote]

Ah, what I'd give to hear some Alpha Centaurian rock'n'roll!!! B)

Chook, yeah I can be a comedian at times, I admit. But...remember that one man's moral goodness is another man's evil...it's all relative, and a lot of it is culturally indoctrinated (ie artificial). There is no universal standard of "morality". The Universe, after all, is indifferent to morals, it knows no good or bad. I'm sure the Islamic terrorists out there act from a deep moral sense of what they consider "rightness" - not (as Bush likes to say) because they are inherently "evil". (And please guys, I am NOT condoning terrorism, OK? :P )

I'd like to think there's an alien civilization out there that has achieved a form of utopia, where petty "ethical" concerns are swept away by the one & only "Live & let live!" ... Where they've freed themselves from moralistic enslavement!!! Ah, a society of pleasure & leisure for all... Isn't that what we all crave??

Spacemad · #11 (**permalink**) 01-February-2004, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Faulkner@Feb 1 2004, 02:56 AM

I'd like to think there's an alien civilization out there that has achieved a form of utopia, where petty "ethical" concerns are swept away by the one & only "Live & let live!" ... Where they've freed themselves from moralistic enslavement!!! Ah, a society of pleasure & leisure for all... Isn't that what we all crave??

I agree with you , Faulkner, I, too, would like to think the same! But what are the chances that some alien civilization, in some obsure corner of this immense universe, has developed in anyway like our own. They would surely be so totally different to us as we are to the ants that crawl along the ground around our feet. If their world were more advanced than ours what is the possibility that it be only a couple of centuries, highly improbable I should think. For as much as I love the Star Trek universe I can't come to imagine that hundreds of worlds might have a similar grade of development, (no matter how I might desire that it were so!), surely they would be very, very different.

Just look at our own world with millions of different speices of animal & vegetable life, & that´s only one world! If there is life on millions of worlds surely they would be so different one to another as an ant is to a human. In such a secenario perhaps we could never communicate or realize their existence.

We sometimes refer to ants, dolphins, monkeys, cats & dogs, etc. as being "intelligent" . Yet we are incapable of communicating with them on a meanigful level - so what are the chances we would be able to do better with being from an alien world?

Should we expect them to make the first intents of communication? Even if they did so, would we be capable of of understanding them? Anybody remember Encounters of the First Kind? There the aliens communicated with a supercomputer in a code of sounds & combinations of colours! Dolphins communicate with one another with ultra sounds that we can´t make out & very little, in any real, progress has been made in the study of their "language" for many, many years. Ants communicate by means of chemical traces mainly it would seem, so how do we go about communicating with them?

But I´m getting carried away.

QJones · #12 (**permalink**) 04-February-2004, 04:02 AM

I just hope that we have enough of the appropriate technologies and resources available when we do find XT life (and 'appropriate' really varies on their attitude towards us).

This is why I promote all types of beneficial technological advancement.

degeneration · #13 (**permalink**) 06-February-2004, 11:56 AM

I'd imagine that if it was announced that we had found life on another planet, it would just be at the observational stage... the actual first contact stage would be a long way away.

However, no doubt this would then be used as an excuse for upping the military budget, as this race that we've discovered will somehow pose a threat to planetary security, even though we'll know nothing about them.

For all the sci-fi fans out there, who watched Babylon 5. Knowing how stupid a lot of the people who are in the power positions are, they'll be arrogant and think they are better and can take care of themselves... just like the B5 meeting between Earth and the Minbari.

While I would be ecstatic at the announcement, I too would be very worried at what the government officials etc. were doing, saying, planning behind the scenes, and all the stuff that the general public are not made aware of.

#14 (**permalink**) 06-February-2004, 01:50 PM

Quote:

We sometimes refer to ants, dolphins, monkeys, cats & dogs, etc. as being "intelligent" . Yet we are incapable of communicating with them on a meanigful level

I beg to differ! Communication is not limited by language, of that fact I am certain.

damienpaul · #15 (**permalink**) 06-February-2004, 10:28 PM

i have to agree with faulkner here, We are able to communicate to domestic animals - particularly dogs on several levels beyond the vocal 'sit, stay' etc etc I have seen several times where a dog has somehow sensed that my mate had a very hard day at work, managed to cheer him up and all.

Spacemad · #16 (**permalink**) 06-February-2004, 11:13 PM

I agree with both Faulkner & Damienpaul that "communication" is possible, howbeit, on a very limited level with domestic animals & that it is not limited to the use of language.

Dogs most definately relate to us on a level beyond mere language, they seem to understand us better than we do ourselves at time, nevertheless, this is not, strictly meaningful. We cannot have a "conversation" with a dog, only a monologue, even if they do seem to understand us! The animal cannot respond to us with its own thoughts (supposing they had their own thoughts), we only infer an answer from our own imagination. (where´s the dog that can rebate this affirmation?)

(I´m not deriding dogs ,I, myself, have 5!)

Our discussion here, on the forum, cannot be conducted with any other being we have knowldge of! Only with fellow human beings.

QJones · #17 (**permalink**) 06-February-2004, 11:38 PM

Hmmmn, you've clearly never run into a conversation bot on the internet. Those things are pretty neat.

With XTs, I think that communication might be possible, but only if a whole bunch of luck or intelligence is involved (and the intelligence is a factor of luck, I guess, since I believe that there are intelligent and non-intelligent XTs somewhere in the universe).

Of course, the more science/intelligence/technology we have, the more likely communication will be possible. As well, the more resources we have, the more we can throw at the problem.

Thus, I often think about how to increase the net resources/production of our species. Decreasing costs and increasing productivity really seem to be the key.

GOURDHEAD · #18 (**permalink**) 07-February-2004, 07:01 PM

An extrapolation from Sesame Street might be useful.

Spacemad · #19 (**permalink**) 07-February-2004, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Hmmmn, you've clearly never run into a conversation bot on the internet. Those things are pretty neat.

QJones Posted on Feb 6 2004, 11:38 PM

You're right, I have never come across a converstion bot in my days of surfing the Internet!

How do I go about finding one? It could be an interesting experience! :P

BlackTearsofapril · #20 (**permalink**) 16-February-2004, 04:40 AM

I would litterally jump and scream for joy and e-mail all the earth's govornments to ditch the UN and become part of the intergallactic scociety... and if there isn't one... MAKE ONE! Then i would jump on a spacecraft and become the ambassador for earth. (can you tell this is basicly what i'm waiting for?)

OH OH OH! Neonewsnow.com has a few... (converstion bots) theyre called quigglebots. Aber programmed them quite nicely. Theyre friendly and funny... and reminds me of him... you can have a LONG conversation with them...

Cambo · #21 (**permalink**) 16-February-2004, 11:30 PM

Firstly I personally am not scared of the idea of meeting other intelligent or not intelligent life from space. It has to out there somewhere. I can't believe we (the earth in total) are the only life in the universe. We may be the only ones doing what we are doing at this present time, but distance really precludes any contact.
I think it would be a unifying event for all of humanity, short of those who live in fear. Just saw Bowling for Columbine by Michael Moore. What a succinct piece of film making about our (well American to be more exact) society and fear. But I digress.

It is a Utopian sort of dreaming but anything that breaks down barriers of all kinds between humanity is a good thing. Well most things.

As a twisted thought though, if humanity had an outside enemy that threatens all of us, maybe that could bring us all together and then all we need to do is address the threat or the fear and everyone would live happily ever after. But I know I'm just dreaming and clutching at straws.

We are an aggressive animal, that's why we are where we are and probably what will finish us off in the end. Quick pass me my anti-depressants!