Juno spacecraft to attempt polar Jupiter Orbit Insertion 7/4

[Exterous]

If they're very far advanced:
1) They won't see us as a threat or worth dealing with, and ignore us and be on their way.
2a) See us as being as trivial as bacteria and steamroll past any defenses we can put up.
2b) They might be so advanced that we wouldn't even see them as a life form, and so would not put up a defense because we didn't know how, or wouldn't have time. (Like a gravitational weapon that abruptly increases the effective attractive force of the planet's core by a factor of 50. Good luck against that.)

Clearly someone hasn't seen the documentary on this. I think its called Independence Day

Humans > *

 

[Jeff7]

Clearly someone hasn't seen the documentary on this. I think its called Independence Day

Humans > *

Last I heard, we must have half-assed it the first time, and there was some kind of resurgence.

 

[Darwin333]

Are you kidding me??? They rather spend all on weaponry

Oh I know, we even went to the moon for military reasons. I was just saying...

 

[Darwin333]

I think the prevailing wisdom on aliens is that they will be so far behind us technologically that they wouldn't be capable of space travel, or they'd be very far advanced.
If they're very far advanced:
1) They won't see us as a threat or worth dealing with, and ignore us and be on their way.
2a) See us as being as trivial as bacteria and steamroll past any defenses we can put up.
2b) They might be so advanced that we wouldn't even see them as a life form, and so would not put up a defense because we didn't know how, or wouldn't have time. (Like a gravitational weapon that abruptly increases the effective attractive force of the planet's core by a factor of 50. Good luck against that.)

3) The short story The Road Less Traveled....I think that's what it was called. Aliens show up with weaponry 200 years behind us, because we just managed to miss the simple key to hyperspace travel. I'm thinking that's not too likely, but it was just a fun story.

Pretty much this.

For a fun thought experiment, think of how far we have advanced technologically in the last 200 years alone. A few decades ago if you showed someone an Iphone, something that is absurdly common in todays society, you would have been burned at the stake as a witch. Now imagine an alien (or even our own) culture that was a millennia beyond us. Hell imagine where we would be if we hadn't pretty much stalled out during the dark ages. Even more fun, think of a planetary civilization that has solved their problems and had no wars and all of the resources that we currently spend on wars and military instead was spent on science and the advancement of their civilization. Could you imagine the knowledge we would have of the universe if the last 100 years of military spending and resources was given to NASA? We already should have had a super collider that is 10 times as powerful as CERNs but Congress decided we didn't like that science bullshit anymore. We would be completely off of fossil fuels, probably would have licked fusion by now, all of the really cool theoretical stuff we all love to read about would have likely long been in mass production, massive advancements in healthcare, vastly easier access to space, the list is virtually endless.

Instead, in the US, science gets roughly 3% of the .gov money that the military does. While it might be necessary given our current world politics, it's a complete and total waste of resources by it's very nature that could be spent bettering civilization.

If we do run into aliens that are like us we will be pretty fucked. Throughout history when an advanced civilization encounters a far less advanced civilization it doesn't work out very well for the less advanced guys. I wouldn't imagine that they would waste time bombarding us from space or any of that stuff either. We currently have the bio-engineering ability to wipe out every person on the Earth. A civilization that can transverse the stars would surely be far more advanced then us and their grade school kids should be able to whip up something that could do the same, leaving the planet theirs for the taking without ever firing a shot or even us knowing they were there. Doesn't make for nearly as good TV though.

That doesn't even take into account genetics. At the DNA level we are 1% different then apes. That 1% is what allows us to build rockets and Iphones and jumbo jets and we put Apes in zoos to look at how cute they are. An alien civilization just a few % more evolved then us would probably look at us the same way we look at ants, maybe they would take the very best and brightest of us and stick us in zoos for little Timmy to look at.

 

[tynopik]

Could you imagine the knowledge we would have of the universe if the last 100 years of military spending and resources was given to NASA?

military is a tremendous driver of tech advances

it's the ultimate competitive environment

Instead, in the US, science gets roughly 3% of the .gov money that the military does. While it might be necessary given our current world politics, it's a complete and total waste of resources by it's very nature that could be spent bettering civilization.

wait till you learn about entitlement spending

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Pretty much this.

For a fun thought experiment, think of how far we have advanced technologically in the last 200 years alone. A few decades ago if you showed someone an Iphone, something that is absurdly common in todays society, you would have been burned at the stake as a witch. Now imagine an alien (or even our own) culture that was a millennia beyond us. Hell imagine where we would be if we hadn't pretty much stalled out during the dark ages.

I saw something interesting yesterday that I never considered. The Roman Empire actually had all the technology necessary to build a steam engine by the 3rd century. All of the individual components had been invented and used in other applications throughout the Empire. Imagine if they would've put it all together and had steam engines in 200 AD and think how that might have changed history.

 

[tynopik]

I saw something interesting yesterday that I never considered. The Roman Empire actually had all the technology necessary to build a steam engine by the 3rd century. All of the individual components had been invented and used in other applications throughout the Empire. Imagine if they would've put it all together and had steam engines in 200 AD and think how that might have changed history.

Reduction in labor requirements would have been a bug, not a feature, for Rome.

 

[dainthomas]

I saw something interesting yesterday that I never considered. The Roman Empire actually had all the technology necessary to build a steam engine by the 3rd century. All of the individual components had been invented and used in other applications throughout the Empire. Imagine if they would've put it all together and had steam engines in 200 AD and think how that might have changed history.

Stupid barbarians. :thumbsdown:

 

[Ken g6]

I saw something interesting yesterday that I never considered. The Roman Empire actually had all the technology necessary to build a steam engine by the 3rd century. All of the individual components had been invented and used in other applications throughout the Empire. Imagine if they would've put it all together and had steam engines in 200 AD and think how that might have changed history.

Actually, the Romans had a primitive steam engine, called an aeolipile, in the 1st century. Just scale it up and slap a gear on it, and it's a working - if inefficient - steam engine.

 

[Artorias]

Pretty much this.

For a fun thought experiment, think of how far we have advanced technologically in the last 200 years alone. A few decades ago if you showed someone an Iphone, something that is absurdly common in todays society, you would have been burned at the stake as a witch. Now imagine an alien (or even our own) culture that was a millennia beyond us. Hell imagine where we would be if we hadn't pretty much stalled out during the dark ages. Even more fun, think of a planetary civilization that has solved their problems and had no wars and all of the resources that we currently spend on wars and military instead was spent on science and the advancement of their civilization. Could you imagine the knowledge we would have of the universe if the last 100 years of military spending and resources was given to NASA? We already should have had a super collider that is 10 times as powerful as CERNs but Congress decided we didn't like that science bullshit anymore. We would be completely off of fossil fuels, probably would have licked fusion by now, all of the really cool theoretical stuff we all love to read about would have likely long been in mass production, massive advancements in healthcare, vastly easier access to space, the list is virtually endless.

Instead, in the US, science gets roughly 3% of the .gov money that the military does. While it might be necessary given our current world politics, it's a complete and total waste of resources by it's very nature that could be spent bettering civilization.

If we do run into aliens that are like us we will be pretty fucked. Throughout history when an advanced civilization encounters a far less advanced civilization it doesn't work out very well for the less advanced guys. I wouldn't imagine that they would waste time bombarding us from space or any of that stuff either. We currently have the bio-engineering ability to wipe out every person on the Earth. A civilization that can transverse the stars would surely be far more advanced then us and their grade school kids should be able to whip up something that could do the same, leaving the planet theirs for the taking without ever firing a shot or even us knowing they were there. Doesn't make for nearly as good TV though.

That doesn't even take into account genetics. At the DNA level we are 1% different then apes. That 1% is what allows us to build rockets and Iphones and jumbo jets and we put Apes in zoos to look at how cute they are. An alien civilization just a few % more evolved then us would probably look at us the same way we look at ants, maybe they would take the very best and brightest of us and stick us in zoos for little Timmy to look at.

Maybe the Aliens could be nice?

If an Alien race was millions of years ahead of us then I think they might have passed the barbaric phase of their existence, but who knows.

 

[Charmonium]

Actually, the Romans had a primitive steam engine, called an aeolipile, in the 1st century. Just scale it up and slap a gear on it, and it's a working - if inefficient - steam engine.

why try to automate something when you have slaves? If Rome had survived past the point where they could get more slaves, they may have taken an interest in finding new tech.

And some of their tech was in fact impressive. They built massive water powered machines. I think they were used for draining mines but I'm not sure. Their aqueduct system was built to incredible tolerances so you had a fall of 1 ft over several hundred feet. I'm sure there are more examples.

So for the Romans, tech was mainly an issue of necessity and slavery eliminated a lot of necessity.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Actually, the Romans had a primitive steam engine, called an aeolipile, in the 1st century. Just scale it up and slap a gear on it, and it's a working - if inefficient - steam engine.

Yes, the aeolipile is one component:

The Romans worked almost all the coalfields of England that outcropped on the surface, by the end of the 2nd century (Smith 1997; 323). But there is no evidence that this exploitation was on any scale. After c. 200 AD the commercial heart of the Empire was in Africa and the East where the climate severely limited timber growth. There was no large coalfield on the edge of the Mediterranean.

Nevertheless, in Roman Egypt all the essential components of the much later steam engine were first assembled by the Greek Mathematician and Engineer Hero:

With the crank and connecting rod system, all elements for constructing a steam engine (invented in 1712) — Hero's aeolipile (generating steam power), the cylinder and piston (in metal force pumps), non-return valves (in water pumps), gearing (in water mills and clocks) — were known in Roman times.[4]
​

However, the aeolipile was a reaction engine, inefficient as a stationary engine. The first useful steam engine did not use steam pressure at all, bu
t followed up a scientific advance in understanding air pressure.

I never considered it and it is pretty amazing just how close they may have been to an industrial civilization.

 

[Jeff7]

Maybe the Aliens could be nice?

If an Alien race was millions of years ahead of us then I think they might have passed the barbaric phase of their existence, but who knows.

If they're that far ahead, they might regard us as minor, unintelligent insects hardly worthy of attention. Benevolent or malevolent might not even matter: "This small yellow star looks like a good stop for refueling. Stop there and let me know once the ship's finished consuming and compressing the star. We're already running late."

Sensors didn't detect any standard 11.3 exahertz emissions coming out of subspace, so there can't be any intelligent life in this system, right? If they haven't even colonized the hundreds of layers of subspace here, then anything that might be in this system is unbelievably primitive anyway.

 

[Ichinisan]

Has any media been released?

 

[Ruptga]

Has any media been released?

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/news/juno_sends_first_in-orbit_view
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpsQimYhNkA&feature=youtu.be
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/images/index.html

 

[Ichinisan]

https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/news/juno_sends_first_in-orbit_view
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpsQimYhNkA&feature=youtu.be
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/images/index.html

I guess we need to wait a bit longer before we get better pics than those we got from the Galileo spacecraft.

 

[norseamd]

I saw something interesting yesterday that I never considered. The Roman Empire actually had all the technology necessary to build a steam engine by the 3rd century. All of the individual components had been invented and used in other applications throughout the Empire. Imagine if they would've put it all together and had steam engines in 200 AD and think how that might have changed history.

You mean the Aeolipile?

And I would be careful about thinking 1 technological advance might save an empire, steam engines wont take care of internal political infighting, civil wars, massive inflation, or demographic problems, nor will it kill massive hordes of Germanic warriors.

 

[Thebobo]

First data collection Jupiter Flyby is this saturday at 8:51 a.m. EDT. But might have to wait for pictures.

.... in addition to its sensor package, Juno‘s visible light imager (aka. JunoCam) will also be active and taking some close-up pictures of the atmosphere and poles. While the scientific information is expected to keep NASA scientists occupied for some time to come, the JunoCam images are expected to be released later next week.

http://www.universetoday.com/130483/can-expect-junos-return-jupiter/

 

[Ichinisan]

First data collection Jupiter Flyby is this saturday at 8:51 a.m. EDT. But might have to wait for pictures.



http://www.universetoday.com/130483/can-expect-junos-return-jupiter/

Ah. Can't wait!

 

[Linux23]

What??? Why is this taking so long???? I want my JunoCam pics now dammit.

 

[Paratus]

Ah. Can't wait!

Here it is!

 

[Ichinisan]

Here it is!

The wormhole from Interstellar?

 

[PottedMeat]

The wormhole from Interstellar?

nah, about 10 minutes before ignition

 

[MongGrel]

Here it is!

*Searches for Monoliths*

 

[Paratus]

The wormhole from Interstellar?

I guess you never saw 2010 The Year We Make Contact. Under rated movie.