Do you believe in extraterrestrials?

[Uieurnthlaal]

As far as aliens being immortal after a certain level of progression, 1. that does not remove the chance of genocide or some skynet uprising. The mot terrifying part of searching for alien life will not be the fear that we may be alone, it may be their intentions. If we found alien life in our are, for it to contact us in a reasonable time frame it would have to be much more advanced than us. 2. If they really are so much more advanced technologically, what exactly is holding them back from wiping us of the earth to get the resources/land/whatever they want? We can subscribe to some "democracy" view, but remember even today democracies often are willing to pursue cloak-and-dagger operations to secure their future. It wouldn't be hard for an alien democracy's government to come up with a bioweapon, send it to earth and eradicate us, and then say they found some planet where the intelligent race died. That would satisfy their need for land/whatever while the operation would essentially have zero risk to them, and their public wouldn't know until it was far too late, if they would ever find out at all.

1. Actually, it kind of does. Space is fucking huge. A species on the run from genocidal oppressors, could, with the right technology (really fast generation ships and the like) scatter themselves to the interstellar winds, and continue to do so almost indefinitely. In fact, their population would likely explode. As for skynet, the same thing applies.

2. What resources could POSSIBLY be on Earth that they'd need that couldn't be gotten elsewhere in the solar system for cheaper, no bioweapons required?

1. Well, if the species could escape quickly, scatter themselves, and continue, than the genocidal oppressors could do the same thing with robots designed to multiply and find them.
2. Resources, I don't know. I'd imagine the scenario would be more like, the distant alien species needs to, say, clear an area around Earth's orbit to harness the sun's energy. They then destroy Earth in the process. A bit like the Vogons, if you will.

[Grenartia]

1. Actually, it kind of does. Space is fucking huge. A species on the run from genocidal oppressors, could, with the right technology (really fast generation ships and the like) scatter themselves to the interstellar winds, and continue to do so almost indefinitely. In fact, their population would likely explode. As for skynet, the same thing applies.

2. What resources could POSSIBLY be on Earth that they'd need that couldn't be gotten elsewhere in the solar system for cheaper, no bioweapons required?

1. Well, if the species could escape quickly, scatter themselves, and continue, than the genocidal oppressors could do the same thing with robots designed to multiply and find them.
2. Resources, I don't know. I'd imagine the scenario would be more like, the distant alien species needs to, say, clear an area around Earth's orbit to harness the sun's energy. They then destroy Earth in the process. A bit like the Vogons, if you will.

1. Said robots could be easily destroyed, on the small chance they manage to find members of the species.

2. There's literally thousands of other stars that could be harnessed. Its like destroying Kansas City to use for farmland. It makes no fucking sense, and is a waste of energy.

[Grave_n_idle]

Consistent signals tend to suggest method, but could just be periodicity. Pattern signals suggest artificial origin.

1. i.e. if we started getting a pulse of neutrinos from the same source every minute, it might be a natural phenomenon or it might be an intelligence. It would be worth the investigation either way.

2. But if we got a cycle of primes that increased once a minute, over an hour, and then repeated the whole pattern - there's a pretty good chance we just found someone using neutrinos as a signal.

1. True.

2. Well, yes, if they were actively signalling us. However, we won't get that if they're signalling to each other, and we get caught in the stream, as it were.

Given the nature of likely neutrino broadcast, the only way we're likely to get 'caught in the stream' is if they're mailing it THROUGH us (which I guess you can do with neutrinos) - so we should see such patterns, if they existed and came this way.

[Grenartia]

1. True.

2. Well, yes, if they were actively signalling us. However, we won't get that if they're signalling to each other, and we get caught in the stream, as it were.

Given the nature of likely neutrino broadcast, the only way we're likely to get 'caught in the stream' is if they're mailing it THROUGH us (which I guess you can do with neutrinos) - so we should see such patterns, if they existed and came this way.

Well, it is conceivable that they could be mailing it to a planet in another system, and we get caught in the crossfire, or that the target is between us and them, and the message goes through the target.

[Grave_n_idle]

Given the nature of likely neutrino broadcast, the only way we're likely to get 'caught in the stream' is if they're mailing it THROUGH us (which I guess you can do with neutrinos) - so we should see such patterns, if they existed and came this way.

Well, it is conceivable that they could be mailing it to a planet in another system, and we get caught in the crossfire, or that the target is between us and them, and the message goes through the target.

Right. Either way, we're either in the beam, or behind it - if there is a pattern, we should have some idea of it.

[Abarrach]

Why "believe"? I THINK there are extraterrestrials, but I don't blindly say it, first I examine the evidence.