There's Now Credible Evidence of Alien Intelligence - But Are We Ready For It?"

[Dalisclock]

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 analogy, because an alien race with that many colonies seems like one we'd rather not make contact with.

I share your concern

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.

This also begs the question: If aliens did show up in our solar system, would they even bother with us? If they're here for resources, there are plenty in the asteroids, on the moon or on mars. Much easier to get at and cart off then putting themselves out there for the earthings to shoot at.

If they're looking for like to engage with, they'd probably take one look at us and keep on going. A species that can't even form a world government, or even not murder each other all the time over stupid stuff? Yep, they aren't ready for the big leagues yet. Or they decide it's just better for everyone if they cleanse the planet of the vermin. Deploy kinetic energy weapons from orbit until civilization grinds to a halt and move on.

 

[Stupidity]

This also begs the question: If aliens did show up in our solar system, would they even bother with us? If they're here for resources, there are plenty in the asteroids, on the moon or on mars. Much easier to get at and cart off then putting themselves out there for the earthings to shoot at.

If they're looking for like to engage with, they'd probably take one look at us and keep on going. A species that can't even form a world government, or even not murder each other all the time over stupid stuff? Yep, they aren't ready for the big leagues yet. Or they decide it's just better for everyone if they cleanse the planet of the vermin. Deploy kinetic energy weapons from orbit until civilization grinds to a halt and move on.

People hold the idea of a world government as if it was a natural and literally universal standard. I doubt this is the case. Likely they would just take one look at us and come to the reasonable conclusion that we would be too annoying, random and chaotic to deal with.
If anything is holding us back from dealing with a mutli planet species it's simply we are not equipped to deal with a species that plans and thinks in terms of centuries or millennia. Democratic countries switch ruling parties every four years, a blink of the eye to a truly advanced species.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

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.

The odds are not significant however. If anything... discovery of alien infrastructure elsewhere, with very little else in the way of proof, kind of makes the argument that we could very well be alone to the point of inconsequence.

Put it this way...

The rise of humanity was due to the interglacial warm period. What guarantee is there that we will still be around (to be taken note of) by the time another alien species notices us? Over the entire span of the universe, humanity occupies a fraction of it. So not only does an intelligent species has to arise, have thr right accessible resources, not destroy itself or be destroyed by external factors, occupy the right time frame that other contactable races are still (also) extant, and survive possibly millenia travelling to other worlds to investigate.

It's not a case whether intelligent life is out there. It's a question whether we'll ever find it. At least whild they, or us, still have the capacity to do so. And even then we're assuming thst another species will *want* to make contact to begin with. It's far more likely than not that first contact will simply be proof of the crushed remnants of some nuclear bunker-esque structure somewhere. Millions of years old already. The mystery of the species' disappearance an eternal question that ultimately highlights the age and extreme distances involved in the cosmos.

 

[Dalisclock]

This also begs the question: If aliens did show up in our solar system, would they even bother with us? If they're here for resources, there are plenty in the asteroids, on the moon or on mars. Much easier to get at and cart off then putting themselves out there for the earthings to shoot at.

If they're looking for like to engage with, they'd probably take one look at us and keep on going. A species that can't even form a world government, or even not murder each other all the time over stupid stuff? Yep, they aren't ready for the big leagues yet. Or they decide it's just better for everyone if they cleanse the planet of the vermin. Deploy kinetic energy weapons from orbit until civilization grinds to a halt and move on.

People hold the idea of a world government as if it was a natural and literally universal standard. I doubt this is the case. Likely they would just take one look at us and come to the reasonable conclusion that we would be too annoying, random and chaotic to deal with.
If anything is holding us back from dealing with a mutli planet species it's simply we are not equipped to deal with a species that plans and thinks in terms of centuries or millennia. Democratic countries switch ruling parties every four years, a blink of the eye to a truly advanced species.

Well, the world government thing was more like first thing that came to mind for why Aliens might not even want to bother talking to us(if they were so inclined), rather then an endorsement(I'm aware of the many problems keeping that from becoming a real thing). More broadly, it's an extension of "So, they're spending tons of resources trying to threaten and murder everything and everyone around them. Sounds like a bunch of jerks." If we can't even deal with other humans with respect, one can only imagine we're not going to work well with creatures that are even less like us.

From there we branch off into how they'd react, which we couldn't predict without know anything of them and their culture. Probably the nicest thing(from our POV) they could do is ignore us.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Well, the world government thing was more like first thing that came to mind for why Aliens might not even want to bother talking to us(if they were so inclined), rather then an endorsement(I'm aware of the many problems keeping that from becoming a real thing). More broadly, it's an extension of "So, they're spending tons of resources trying to threaten and murder everything and everyone around them. Sounds like a bunch of jerks." If we can't even deal with other humans with respect, one can only imagine we're not going to work well with creatures that are even less like us.

From there we branch off into how they'd react, which we couldn't predict without know anything of them and their culture. Probably the nicest thing(from our POV) they could do is ignore us.

Maybe 'respect' is a bit much... but do you need respect? Humanity can live in high density cities, tens of millions criwded into a tiny parcel of land. All of thrm strangers, all of them with ulterior and seperate agendas, all of them with different tongues, different beliefs, different politics, differing culture... Yet we have proven time and again that this is doable. And very successfully might I add. I don't get where this dislike of humans as 'warlike' or 'vicious' comes from. The average person you meet on thr street will probsbly be the most affable, most grounded, most centred of any animal you'll likely meet.

After a few years of adjustment would you care if your neighbour was a troll-like being from planet Glaxxor 5? No... you might not be friends, you might not have respect, but then again hoe is that different now? I yhink most people, particularly those who live in major cities, would acclimate pretty well. I assume by 'respect' you mean equality in law and civil liberty and celebration of bringing their culture into our own, not simply different and impersonal? I reckon after a few years you'll be ignoring your troll neighbours nextdoor like you ignore the Thai migrant opposite you in your highrise apartment complex.

Live and let live is the passage of least resistance, after all. They would likely be a gregarious pack animal like ourselves, used to dealing with teeming crowds in largr city-based structure to maximise productivity like we do now. If not now, then sometime in their past went into a services-based economy... Ultimately we may be far more alike and thus our markets find minimal hesitation or restriction adopting their cuisine, their technologies, their arts and crafts... never underestimate the power of commerce to transform 'alien' into 'exotic'. In a few decades you might even get Glaxxor 'inspired' food, New York style. Or Australian wool jumpers targeted to Glaxxorian clientele in sizes.

The idea that Earth would have nothing to offer seems odd to me. 3.7 billion years of life on the planet. Billions of humans straddling close yo interplanetary travel, artificial intelligence and automation... Gotta be worth a closer look to any scientifically minded person regardless of where they come from.

If there's any comparison, maybe looking backwards a thousand years ... looking at the cultural difference of people within that experience. Yes, the very processes of thought and explanations of the universe would bd utterly alien to us, now. But it still represents a common point of social evolution. Who's to say what the hypothetical human of potential first contact will be like when we are talking about millenia of technological development and interstellar travel... not simply decades from now?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Also "humanity" is never going to be ready for extraterrestrial life. NEVER.

Correction - Humanity will never be ready for extraterrestrial life that's more advanced than we are. One of the reasons, as you pointed out is religion. Religious people would implode if they were to discover that there's a species out there more superior than they are. A species that could crush them if they wanted to. The very notion flies in the face of everything their monotheistic religions has taught them about their purpose on this planet.

Anyways, I've always believed in aliens. Not in the whole UFO thing. For that I require strong material and logical evidence. But I don't need material evidence to accept the idea that this is not the only rock in the universe capable of intelligent life. It seems extremely unlikely considering the sheer size of the fuckin' thing. I don't particularly enjoy believing that aliens exist. Thinking that there are potentially countless civilizations out there that I can't even begin to imagine and that I will NEVER SEE is the most depressing thing in the world to me.