There's Now Credible Evidence of Alien Intelligence - But Are We Ready For It?"
- Thread starter m00se
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I try to stay on top of the scene with the guys at Mysterious Universe, but this must have slipped through the cracks on me. Thanks for the read!
I'm still sceptical on this, but I really hope that it's true. I'd love to see contact with other sapient species in my lifetime.
Okay, so I think saying that intelligent life exists somewhere out there in the universe is a given. There's so much space out there. Even if the odds of intelligent life arising elsewhere is a fraction of a half of a percent, that means there will be at least one intelligent species per galaxy.
Now, that brings us to the question of if there is intelligent life in our galaxy? Maybe. Has it visited us? Possible, but not entirely likely.
I'm all too willing to say there is other life in our galaxy. It may not be much more than bacteria, but could be as complex (and even as intelligent) as a dog or ape. I don't think this is controversial.
The 200 stars with odd light patterns I find suspect. That seems like a lot of life out there. Way more than I would reasonably expect, unless they were colonized worlds. And the Dyson Sphere theory seems questionable. Especially without a way to actually confirm it. Radio signal, for example.
The emails don't sound that convincing, either. It sounds like two people who believe in intelligent life discussing the possibility of it being confirmed. Not actually discussing revealing that. Far from damning as it were.
I want to clarify. I'm the type that wants to believe. I just know better than to get my hopes up. What you imagine will almost certainly be far better than reality.
Now, that brings us to the question of if there is intelligent life in our galaxy? Maybe. Has it visited us? Possible, but not entirely likely.
I'm all too willing to say there is other life in our galaxy. It may not be much more than bacteria, but could be as complex (and even as intelligent) as a dog or ape. I don't think this is controversial.
The 200 stars with odd light patterns I find suspect. That seems like a lot of life out there. Way more than I would reasonably expect, unless they were colonized worlds. And the Dyson Sphere theory seems questionable. Especially without a way to actually confirm it. Radio signal, for example.
The emails don't sound that convincing, either. It sounds like two people who believe in intelligent life discussing the possibility of it being confirmed. Not actually discussing revealing that. Far from damning as it were.
I want to clarify. I'm the type that wants to believe. I just know better than to get my hopes up. What you imagine will almost certainly be far better than reality.
I wanted to believe every part of this until I have to acknowledge Hillary Clinton, Reality TV, & X-Files. If it was going to become this bizarre it might as well have stated Donald Trump poisoned Flint Michigan's water in hopes to assimilate the population into his orange army.
I'm afraid I fall into the group of people who won't believe in aliens until I see hardcore proof. And I mean something along the lines of finding some sort of structure that clearly wasn't built by humans, or constructed by nature's randomness. Or some sort of transmission. Or bodies. Or aliens doing exactly that: landing in front of the U.N.
There's a lot of stuff in our galaxy alone that science is still just now discovering, let alone trying to figure out how it works. So yeah, I'm not chalking this up to aliens just yet. More in line of, "We have no idea what's causing this because it's happening outside of our current understanding of science."
There's a lot of stuff in our galaxy alone that science is still just now discovering, let alone trying to figure out how it works. So yeah, I'm not chalking this up to aliens just yet. More in line of, "We have no idea what's causing this because it's happening outside of our current understanding of science."
Lack of a known explanation is not "Credible Evidence of Alien Intelligence".
It's one credible theory, for now, not evidence.
Seeing something you don't understand and claiming it's mere existence as evidence of your theory is the foundation of religion, not science.
You'd need a hell of a lot more data than "it's getting dimmer faster than we can explain" to actually call it evidence of a dyson sphere or similar.
That said, I'd certainly like to think it's aliens, but let's not be getting ahead of ourselves.
It's one credible theory, for now, not evidence.
Seeing something you don't understand and claiming it's mere existence as evidence of your theory is the foundation of religion, not science.
You'd need a hell of a lot more data than "it's getting dimmer faster than we can explain" to actually call it evidence of a dyson sphere or similar.
That said, I'd certainly like to think it's aliens, but let's not be getting ahead of ourselves.
We have two tings here: evidence of a couple of overly credulous people and evidence that a number of astronomers didn't bother to learn the history of their discipline. Did we learn nothing from Galileo? We see a number of phenomena that our standing theories can't readily explain, so we bypass the possibility that this is just something we haven't seen before? Scientific infallibility is ultimately an absurd idea, but a sound enough one for the time being. Scientist infallibility is something else altogether. And if it is the Earth that moves as it orbits the sun, why is there no parallax shift in the stars?
Look, the possibility of other life out there is basically a sure thing. But to assume that it's come to Earth (in our species' lifetime), gone unnoticed, translated our language, determined which country is the best to make contact with and made contact with only that country, beggars belief. To assume every natural astronomical possibility is in the list of stuff we've imagined is, if anything, even stupider.
Look, the possibility of other life out there is basically a sure thing. But to assume that it's come to Earth (in our species' lifetime), gone unnoticed, translated our language, determined which country is the best to make contact with and made contact with only that country, beggars belief. To assume every natural astronomical possibility is in the list of stuff we've imagined is, if anything, even stupider.
I understand your caution, but regarding the SDSS findings, it seems like the insinuation is that they are colonized worlds, since the bursts are time synchronized. I hope it's a chemical anomaly, because an alien race with that many colonies seems like one we'd rather not make contact with.Saltyk said:
I share your concernm00se said:
Any race with 200+ colonies would pretty much need FTL or be so alien that we would have no common ground with them. Hell with 200+ colonies and no FTL they would have next to nothing in common with each other.
Also "humanity" is never going to be ready for extraterrestrial life. NEVER. Vast swathes of the planet are still theocracies and murder for "Insert Deity Here." Although technological change has increased leisure time and available resources so that western societies can pretended to be peaceful and understanding, our fundamental nature hasn't changed.
It's not even a question of violence. As a whole, humanity would respond to ET with fear, hate, complacency, curiosity, greed and stupidity. People really underestimate how alien an alien race could actually be.
"There's Now Credible Evidence of Alien Intelligence"
Is anyone remotely surprised that that is completely untrue? Anyone?
Is anyone remotely surprised that that is completely untrue? Anyone?
I think it's more a problem with certain article and headline writers, not so much the astronomers. As far as I can tell the general scientific consensus seems to be that "we don't know", "could be aliens" and "quite unlikely to actually be aliens".Recusant said:
Interesting read, though a bit heavy on the Xfiles comparrisons. A lot of people are omitting the fact that, while astronomy is a science yet to be mastered and the proof based on it is light in context, government officials , especially high ranking ones, are a different matter altogether.
I think the bigger question is not "if alien life exists", but "has alien life made contact with us already and what is our relationship with them".
I think the bigger question is not "if alien life exists", but "has alien life made contact with us already and what is our relationship with them".
Smilomaniac said:
But why would you be inclined to believe in a god without evidence? There is no actual evidence for gods. Just a bunch of claims that people make declaring it to be evidence. Even if somehow anyone proved intelligent life somewhere else all that would happen is reinforcing the god of the gaps argument.Smilomaniac said:
It's probably true we, as we are, are not ready for the third contact. We're still a specie in infancy, a humble step to something greater. We might need some more time to cure all the little flaws in our brain (mainly religion, as it encompasses all issues in our current cognitive abilities), and become the next humanity worthy of alien interest. Let alone accept a floating radioemitter dumpbag as our new CEO.Stupidity said:
That being said, you hugely underestimate our propency to turn anything into an object of sexual desire. From Kirk's going into no male has gone before, to rule 34, furries, cloppers and Mass Effect horny fanarts, there are already many places for openmindness toward alien intercourses...
As long as the aliens in question are as reproduction-driven as we are, a common ground is already etablished.
