Extraterrestrial Discussion Thread

[San Lumen]

and what's to say an advanced civilization hasn't figured it out and simply choses not to make first contact because we aren't interesting enough to them?

The universe is billions of years old, and given that timespan, it seems likely that the vast majority of alien civilizations in existance will be older and more advanced than ours by millions of years and would likely have relatively little left to learn from other similarly advanced civlizations that have already discovered every technology worth discovering. We, on the other hand, are in the brief transitory period of a mere few thousand years between pre-sapient animals and godlike masters of physics. Odds are that we are the only example of an early technological civilization in our galaxy, or even further afield. Rare and unique = interesting. Alien archaeologists should be flocking from all around, because there is likely nowhere else for them to study this stage in the early development of civilization first hand, and there may not be again for millions of years.

Are you aware how massive the galaxy is? What makes you think they’d what to make contact with primitive species like us?

Maybe they did land hear centuries or millennia ago and have chosen not to return just yet?

[Nimzonia]

Are you aware how massive the galaxy is?

Yes. What does that have to do with anything?

[San Lumen]

Are you aware how massive the galaxy is?

Yes. What does that have to do with anything?

There is definitely other advanced civilizations in our galaxy.

[Nimzonia]

Yes. What does that have to do with anything?

There is definitely other advanced civilizations in our galaxy.

I didn't say there aren't.

[Hammer Britannia]

Yes. What does that have to do with anything?

There is definitely other advanced civilizations in our galaxy.

The Earth is nearly 4.1 billion years old, with multicellular life having existed for 600 million and land life existing for roughly 350 million.

Even if we presume that advanced, industrial, civilizations like humans last 1 million years (though I'd say 10,000 tops), that would still have been between 350-35,000 chances for advanced civilizations to rise up. And yet, it has happened only once in the entire history of Earth. Which, to me, implies that evolutionary niche of "advanced industrialized entities" are a 1/350 chance on a planet tops on an Earth-like planet.

Of that, the most comparative planet to Earth (that we know of) is a planet called Kepler-452b, which has twice the gravity (good luck standing up right, let alone launching anything into space), and is likely dealing with runaway greenhouse gas from its star. This isn't even mentioning the fact most exoplanets we know of either have to deal with their red dwarf star tidally locking them/hitting them with constant solar flares or being so large that they're either waterworlds or would have a terrestrial species that can hardly even jump - let alone launch objects into space.

So, unless we're wrong and there are actually planets teeming with Earth-like conditions, then I feel like the chances of their being sapient, human-like, civilizations out there are slim-to-none if you consider how our intelligence evolved and compare it to planets that often seem either counter-intuitive (or even hostile) to the production of something we humans would consider "civilization" or at best would produce ones that could not interact with us or vice versa. (not to mention the improbability of massively-accessible FTL when you consider that even the theoretically possible devices would require materials we either don't control or only theoretically exist - such as exotic matter.)

[San Lumen]

There is definitely other advanced civilizations in our galaxy.

The Earth is nearly 4.1 billion years old, with multicellular life having existed for 600 million and land life existing for roughly 350 million.

Even if we presume that advanced, industrial, civilizations like humans last 1 million years (though I'd say 10,000 tops), that would still have been between 350-35,000 chances for advanced civilizations to rise up. And yet, it has happened only once in the entire history of Earth. Which, to me, implies that evolutionary niche of "advanced industrialized entities" are a 1/350 chance on a planet tops on an Earth-like planet.

Of that, the most comparative planet to Earth (that we know of) is a planet called Kepler-452b, which has twice the gravity (good luck standing up right, let alone launching anything into space), and is likely dealing with runaway greenhouse gas from its star. This isn't even mentioning the fact most exoplanets we know of either have to deal with their sun killing them or being so large that they're either waterworlds or have a terrestrial species that can hardly even jump - let alone launch objects into space.

So, unless we're wrong and there are actually planets teeming with Earth-like conditions, then I feel like the chances of their being sapient, human-like, civilizations out there are slim-to-none if you consider how our intelligence evolved and compare it to planets that often seem either counter-intuitive (or even hostile) to the production of something we humans would consider "civilization" or at best would produce ones that could not interact with us or vice versa.

So this is the only planet in the entire universe with life? I don't believe that for a second.

You are also aware life would adapt to the conditions of the planet it evolved on? There is no star or solar system exactly like ours. To assume you must have conditions exactly like Earth to have life and any deviation means its impossible is the peak of arrogance.

[Hammer Britannia]

The Earth is nearly 4.1 billion years old, with multicellular life having existed for 600 million and land life existing for roughly 350 million.

Even if we presume that advanced, industrial, civilizations like humans last 1 million years (though I'd say 10,000 tops), that would still have been between 350-35,000 chances for advanced civilizations to rise up. And yet, it has happened only once in the entire history of Earth. Which, to me, implies that evolutionary niche of "advanced industrialized entities" are a 1/350 chance on a planet tops on an Earth-like planet.

Of that, the most comparative planet to Earth (that we know of) is a planet called Kepler-452b, which has twice the gravity (good luck standing up right, let alone launching anything into space), and is likely dealing with runaway greenhouse gas from its star. This isn't even mentioning the fact most exoplanets we know of either have to deal with their sun killing them or being so large that they're either waterworlds or have a terrestrial species that can hardly even jump - let alone launch objects into space.

So, unless we're wrong and there are actually planets teeming with Earth-like conditions, then I feel like the chances of their being sapient, human-like, civilizations out there are slim-to-none if you consider how our intelligence evolved and compare it to planets that often seem either counter-intuitive (or even hostile) to the production of something we humans would consider "civilization" or at best would produce ones that could not interact with us or vice versa.

So this is the only planet in the entire universe with life? I don't believe that for a second.

You are also aware life would adapt to the conditions of the planet it evolved on? There is no star or solar system exactly like ours. To assume you must have conditions exactly like Earth to have life and any deviation means its impossible is the peak of arrogance.

I never said life, your assumption of the existence of life implying the existence of intelligence is what is being criticized here.

[San Lumen]

So this is the only planet in the entire universe with life? I don't believe that for a second.

You are also aware life would adapt to the conditions of the planet it evolved on? There is no star or solar system exactly like ours. To assume you must have conditions exactly like Earth to have life and any deviation means its impossible is the peak of arrogance.

I never said life, your assumption of the existence of life implying the existence of intelligence is what is being criticized here.

There is absolutely other intelligent civilizations our there.

[Thermodolia]

There is definitely other advanced civilizations in our galaxy.

The Earth is nearly 4.1 billion years old, with multicellular life having existed for 600 million and land life existing for roughly 350 million.

Even if we presume that advanced, industrial, civilizations like humans last 1 million years (though I'd say 10,000 tops), that would still have been between 350-35,000 chances for advanced civilizations to rise up. And yet, it has happened only once in the entire history of Earth. Which, to me, implies that evolutionary niche of "advanced industrialized entities" are a 1/350 chance on a planet tops on an Earth-like planet.

Of that, the most comparative planet to Earth (that we know of) is a planet called Kepler-452b, which has twice the gravity (good luck standing up right, let alone launching anything into space), and is likely dealing with runaway greenhouse gas from its star. This isn't even mentioning the fact most exoplanets we know of either have to deal with their red dwarf star tidally locking them/hitting them with constant solar flares or being so large that they're either waterworlds or would have a terrestrial species that can hardly even jump - let alone launch objects into space.

So, unless we're wrong and there are actually planets teeming with Earth-like conditions, then I feel like the chances of their being sapient, human-like, civilizations out there are slim-to-none if you consider how our intelligence evolved and compare it to planets that often seem either counter-intuitive (or even hostile) to the production of something we humans would consider "civilization" or at best would produce ones that could not interact with us or vice versa. (not to mention the improbability of massively-accessible FTL when you consider that even the theoretically possible devices would require materials we either don't control or only theoretically exist - such as exotic matter.)

The other possibility is that humanity is the first one to achieve such a society and that the rest are all still young

[Fourth Jellian Republic]

Let’s not forget the possibility that there could be simple life under the ice of IO

[Senkaku]

Who's doing the ranging? Do you think humanity could successfully maintain a generation ship? Cause I sure don't. Imagine finding out that your life's purpose is to live, breed, and die in a cold, sterile prison so that your far future descendants can start life on another planet one day. No way. You'll have a mutiny-murder-suicide before the ship is a lightyear from Earth.

The only viable alternative would be a timed cryo-stasis and all empirical evidence suggests we suck at building things that can endure for thousands of years without breaking. Have an AI, have robots but some fatal Y2K type flaw will be overlooked.

Long distance space travel isn't remotely plausible with our current technology. Just building another Voyager that would stay in communication all the way to Proxima Centauri is a tall order.

and what's to say an advanced civilization hasn't figured it out and simply choses not to make first contact because we aren't interesting enough to them?

They probably would have killed us by now

and what's to say an advanced civilization hasn't figured it out and simply choses not to make first contact because we aren't interesting enough to them?

The universe is billions of years old, and given that timespan, it seems likely that the vast majority of alien civilizations in existance will be older and more advanced than ours by millions of years and would likely have relatively little left to learn from other similarly advanced civlizations that have already discovered every technology worth discovering. We, on the other hand, are in the brief transitory period of a mere few thousand years between pre-sapient animals and godlike masters of physics. Odds are that we are the only example of an early technological civilization in our galaxy, or even further afield. Rare and unique = interesting. Alien archaeologists should be flocking from all around, because there is likely nowhere else for them to study this stage in the early development of civilization first hand, and there may not be again for millions of years.

Why would they find our early developmental stages interesting? Aliens are not people, they may not even have archaeologists or archaeology, or if they do and they can travel around the galaxy theirs is probably so refined it hardly needs practice investigating random hairless ape cultures.

[Stellar Colonies]

Let’s not forget the possibility that there could be simple life under the ice of IO

Europa?

[San Lumen]

and what's to say an advanced civilization hasn't figured it out and simply choses not to make first contact because we aren't interesting enough to them?

They probably would have killed us by now

The universe is billions of years old, and given that timespan, it seems likely that the vast majority of alien civilizations in existance will be older and more advanced than ours by millions of years and would likely have relatively little left to learn from other similarly advanced civlizations that have already discovered every technology worth discovering. We, on the other hand, are in the brief transitory period of a mere few thousand years between pre-sapient animals and godlike masters of physics. Odds are that we are the only example of an early technological civilization in our galaxy, or even further afield. Rare and unique = interesting. Alien archaeologists should be flocking from all around, because there is likely nowhere else for them to study this stage in the early development of civilization first hand, and there may not be again for millions of years.

Why would they find our early developmental stages interesting? Aliens are not people, they may not even have archaeologists or archaeology, or if they do and they can travel around the galaxy theirs is probably so refined it hardly needs practice investigating random hairless ape cultures.

Why? What makes us primitives such a threat to them or even remotely interesting to them?

[Great Heathen Air Force]

It was a pretty long and complicated evolutionary journey (with no small amount of flukes) for primates to acquire higher intelligence so it's not super outlandish to think it hasn't happened elsewhere given how rare life currently appears to be.

There is no freaking way this is the only planet in the entire universe with life.

Even if it has happened literally billions of times, it's entirely possible that these other intelligent life forms are so far away that we will never meet, contact, or even detect them.

[Great Heathen Air Force]

Let’s not forget the possibility that there could be simple life under the ice of IO

Europa?

I have it on good authority that we are to "attempt no landing there."

[Farnhamia]

Let’s not forget the possibility that there could be simple life under the ice of IO

Europa?

Man walks into an ancient Greek tailors with a pair of ripped trousers.
Tailor says, "Euripides?"
Man says, "Yeah. Eumenides?"

*runs away*

[Ethel mermania]

and what's to say an advanced civilization hasn't figured it out and simply choses not to make first contact because we aren't interesting enough to them?

We'd presumably be able to detect their civilization regardless. Any civilization capable of FTL space travel would presumably also be building megastructures to more efficiently harvest energy and such things don't seem to exist.

An ftl vessel would get here before we could see it.

[Thermodolia]

They probably would have killed us by now

Why would they find our early developmental stages interesting? Aliens are not people, they may not even have archaeologists or archaeology, or if they do and they can travel around the galaxy theirs is probably so refined it hardly needs practice investigating random hairless ape cultures.

Why? What makes us primitives such a threat to them or even remotely interesting to them?

Do you not remember colonialism?

[Ethel mermania]

Why? What makes us primitives such a threat to them or even remotely interesting to them?

Do you not remember colonialism?

Or some Yahoo ( like me ) wondering if they are tasty.

[Senkaku]

Why? What makes us primitives such a threat to them or even remotely interesting to them?

Take your eye off a bunch of bronze-working apes for couple minutes and before you know it you’ve got AI demigods and cyborg mad scientists spreading out all over the quadrant

Europa?

Man walks into an ancient Greek tailors with a pair of ripped trousers.
Tailor says, "Euripides?"
Man says, "Yeah. Eumenides?"

*runs away*

guards, take her away

[El Lazaro]

Sure, there could be space germs somewhere, but the lack of intelligent life despite the abundance of habitable planets (and the possibility aliens could survive on planets where humans could not) really calls the likelihood of intelligent life outside of Earth into question. One thing is for sure: they’re (probably) not running the government.

[Fractalnavel]

This is the "Extraterrestrial Discussion Thread", isn't it? When are the ETs going to show up to discuss things? Or wait - is that us?

Maybe we just didn't give them (us) good enough topics to discuss. I mean, if I was an ET and showed up here (I did) and all that was being discussed was whether I existed or not, I'd tend to just lurk or go away too.

So, other than existence, what should the (we) ETs discuss?

- Biology
- Psychology
- Sociology
- Culture
- Technology
- Someotherology
- ...

?

There's something to be said about those folks being discussed over in the billionaire thread being "alien" for all practical purposes. They just aren't subject to the same forces that normal ETs are. And as for their effect on the world, as far as we (ETs) are concerned, they may as well be forces of nature - weather, geology, ... gamma ray bursts. They are in a different plane of existence altogether.

So, ET has to come from another planet? And we have enough trouble relating right here already. And I hear about people living on other continents, but they are so far away and so - different - that they may as well not exist either.

Good luck dealing with the genuine kind.

[Washington Resistance Army]

They probably would have killed us by now

Why would they find our early developmental stages interesting? Aliens are not people, they may not even have archaeologists or archaeology, or if they do and they can travel around the galaxy theirs is probably so refined it hardly needs practice investigating random hairless ape cultures.

Why? What makes us primitives such a threat to them or even remotely interesting to them?

The idea of us advancing further, probably. Humans are naturally a violent species, and the fossil record does support the idea that we actively warred with the Neanderthals over territory and such things. If we're willing to war with and kill members of a species that is 99.7% the same as us, it makes one wonder what we'd be willing to do to a species that is truly alien. There'd probably be no small portion of the global population willing to kill them all and take their stuff.

[Kerwa]

The answer is maybe. It appears likely, but you can’t say for certain.

Edit: Bigfoot is totally real tho’.

[Red Lake Circle]

I'm pretty certain that aliens are real... as in, that life on other planets exists. I'm not totally convinced there's other intelligent life out there, but as long as they don't try to kill us faster than we're already killing ourselves, I think it would be very cool if there was.