Stephen Hawking is wrong, aliens wouldn't want our resources and would be friendly. .

[C1]

"Many" is a subjective term.

And I can find modern-day tales which chronicle an alien living with a human family. I believe his name was Alf.

Yet how many people are there who believe in the person that is said was able to do miracles (change water into wine, raise the dead, make the blind see, walk on water, transfigure, raise from the dead) and is said to be the son of [a] God or God itself!

 

[pw38]

"When men began to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal ; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown." (Genesis 6:1-4)

Many maintain that humankind not only has long ago since been visited, but that ETs are involved in human genetic makeup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts

It's entirely possible, sure, but man is it a stretch. That passage, along with just about everything that goes with it, is very indicative of us still placing ourselves at the center of the universe. Our science may have proved that wrong but our psychological makeup still hasn't taken that leap into reality.

I just don't really see the point of an alien visiting us unless our two species are it in this galaxy and they have a vested interest in making contact with and/or using us. That's also possible but highly improbable. Moreover the idea that an alien species would even be able to communicate with us is highly dubious. Even more dubious would be their supposed desire to in the first place. I think if we do find life out there it's either going to be very simple or vastly superior to us. Alien intelligence to me is just likely to be too foreign to us for us to come to grips with it. Who knows though I may be totally wrong and they've learned an Earth language through years of studying us lol.

 

[C1]

"The genesis of life is as inevitable as the formation of atoms ... Life exists on other planets and we will find it within 20 years," said Andrei Finkelstein, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Applied Astronomy Institute, according to the Interfax news agency.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/27/alien-encounters-twenty-years-russian-astronomer

 

[Jeff7]

Yet how many people are there who believe in the person that is said was able to do miracles (change water into wine, raise the dead, make the blind see, walk on water, transfigure, raise from the dead) and is said to be the son of [a] God or God itself!

And there are many more who do not.

In any case, reality isn't a majority/minority-rules kind of thing. Reality will be what it is, and kind of not really care what humanity thinks.

 

[C1]

In any case, reality isn't a majority/minority-rules kind of thing. Reality will be what it is, and kind of not really care what humanity thinks.

Maybe.
"We aren’t looking at today from the perspective of a decade, a generation, or a century from now. This means we might be looking at a completely laughable model of reality and calling it the most likely one -- just because this is the time we live in and this is the best information our science has yielded to date."
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/06/25/fringeology_excerpt/index.html
=============
http://drpulos.com/blog/the-future-creates-the-present-%E2%80%93-not-the-past/

http://forum.mind-energy.net/skepti...y-more-fundamental-than-material-reality.html

 

[bwanaaa]

the aliens will probably kill us off unintentionally with some germ they dont even know they have.

 

[LumbergTech]

Okay. We don't go into the jungle and find a bunch of monkeys and say "here! We come in peace. We wish to give you trinkets and technology." Monkeys have all sorts of vocalizations. Monkeys communicate. We don't really care what they're talking about because the thoughts that they can convey are far inferior from the thoughts conveyed in our communication.

Better now?

not everyone agrees with that..there are people who study their communication etc

 

[exdeath]

Any species which has already obtained the technology and near limitless energy production capabilities required to realistically travel interstellar distances in short time (eg: FTL) isn't going to find anything of value on our world. All the energy we produce in a single day wouldn't even be enough to propel their craft a single lightyear.

 

[exdeath]

I see it like the history with Europe vs American Indians or Europe vs the Australian Aborigines.

while they are similar, the tech levels where different and generally, one did not care about the other until something happened, in which case voilence was the "common" language.

Except in those cases early primative humans required energy, land, resources, slave labor, etc. When you have reached the capacity for producing the massive energy required for faster than light travel and have access to every body of rock floating in the galaxy... you have reached the peak of utopian era where you also have near limitless energy for your civilization and basic needs and wants are easily provided for all at almost no cost. You have no motivation for conquest for resources when you have abundant energy and resources.

For example, if we had the energy source to propel a starship 600x faster than the speed of light, do you think we would give a shit about oil anymore? Most all conflicts on Earth would vanish at that point, save for those illogical and pointles ones driven by religious zealots. If we can launch a starship across the galaxy, by comparison the energy required to drive a car would be laughable, it wouldn't even register, and the price for the energy equivilent of gasoline would basically be zero, etc. Would you attack a planet 8,000 lightyears away because their oil is $10 a barrel after expending untold Exawatts of power over several years to get there?

Sure it would be super expensive and heavily capitalized at first, but after a few decades 1500 Terrawatt "warp cores" reactors would be like $25 Blu Ray players available at any WalMart affordable by the poorest of poor.

 

[DrPizza]

not everyone agrees with that..there are people who study their communication etc

Yes, but the main point, related to this thread, is that we're not out there giving tools to monkeys.

 

[Jeff7]

Yes, but the main point, related to this thread, is that we're not out there giving tools to monkeys.

Unless they're in a laboratory environment.

 

[Puppies04]

Hawking just went down a few pegs in my estimation if he truly believes that an alien species would travel 100's of light years to "steal" our natural resources. What would they want them for? They have already mastered interstellar travel, have access to technology we can only dream about. As for enslaving us, why bother? all the decent stuff we make is created by robots already, manual labour will be a distant memory about 500 years before we travel to even the closest solar system.

 

[pw38]

Hawking just went down a few pegs in my estimation if he truly believes that an alien species would travel 100's of light years to "steal" our natural resources. What would they want them for? They have already mastered interstellar travel, have access to technology we can only dream about. As for enslaving us, why bother? all the decent stuff we make is created by robots already, manual labour will be a distant memory about 500 years before we travel to even the closest solar system.

Well it's good to see A. you apparently already know what an alien would and wouldn't want with us, and B. You completely missed his point. As we don't understand the alien psyche (assuming they even have one) we can't make an educated guess on what they would/wouldnt want with us. More to the point all he's saying is that we should be careful and maybe shouldn't go willy nilly announcing ourselves to the universe. Does that make sense? Can you see the logic in it or are you still under the impression that E.T. just wants our Reeses Pieces?

 

[exdeath]

Well it's good to see A. you apparently already know what an alien would and wouldn't want with us, and B. You completely missed his point. As we don't understand the alien psyche (assuming they even have one) we can't make an educated guess on what they would/wouldnt want with us. More to the point all he's saying is that we should be careful and maybe shouldn't go willy nilly announcing ourselves to the universe. Does that make sense? Can you see the logic in it or are you still under the impression that E.T. just wants our Reeses Pieces?

I'm stocking up on weapons. I will NEVER surrender my Speak & Spell, NEVAR!!!!

 

[Jeff7]

Well it's good to see A. you apparently already know what an alien would and wouldn't want with us, and B. You completely missed his point. As we don't understand the alien psyche (assuming they even have one) we can't make an educated guess on what they would/wouldnt want with us. More to the point all he's saying is that we should be careful and maybe shouldn't go willy nilly announcing ourselves to the universe. Does that make sense? Can you see the logic in it or are you still under the impression that E.T. just wants our Reeses Pieces?

And if they're significantly more advanced than us, it would be like a roach trying to figure out a human. They wouldn't have the capacity to figure out any reasons why we'd be a threat, other than "hungry for roach meat." The concepts of spreading infection by defecating everywhere (or even the idea of "infectious organisms"), or of killing roaches because you enjoy the squishy crunchy sound it makes, just would not occur to them. Maybe aliens would come here for a summer holiday, and it would amuse them to increase the benzene content of the oceans from damn-near-nothing to 37%, due to a sense of humor that's beyond our comprehension. (Seriously though, benzene is hilarious stuff!)

Another way of looking at it is a naive mouse wandering around in an open field, singing loudly while wearing a bright orange vest. By chance circumstance, his family and friends knew nothing of the existence of hawks. But darn it, he's going to find out that what you don't know about can hurt or eat you.

And here we are, broadcasting our orange vest of EM radiation in all directions.

 

[z1ggy]

Perhaps the reason aliens study us to intently, is because they are shaping us to be like them. Perhaps they are building a legacy of themselves, through our human race. Think about it.. if they are advanced enough to travel through space and time accorss dozens, if not hundreds of light years, I think they most certainly possess a very vast knowledge of genetics, and engineering of genetics. How did we go from cavemen using clubs and stones, with a large muscular build, to more elegant, up right and intelligent creatures who formed highly advanced civilizations for the time periods they lived in??

 

[pw38]

I'm stocking up on weapons. I will NEVER surrender my Speak & Spell, NEVAR!!!!

Believe it or not I still have the one from my childhood. It doesn't work (corroded battery terminals) but it's cool and I figure one day I'll fix it and get it working again for my son lol.

 

[pw38]

How did we go from cavemen using clubs and stones, with a large muscular build, to more elegant, up right and intelligent creatures who formed highly advanced civilizations for the time periods they lived in??

Well, are we talking about Neanderthals or Homo Sapien cavemen? If it's the former they're extinct (though they still live in our DNA through cross breeding). If it's the latter it's just one possible course of our evolution that lead us to where we are today. You don't need to reason it any other way.

 

[z1ggy]

Well, are we talking about Neanderthals or Homo Sapien cavemen? If it's the former they're extinct (though they still live in our DNA through cross breeding). If it's the latter it's just one possible course of our evolution that lead us to where we are today. You don't need to reason it any other way.

My main point is trying to refer to the question of why would such an advanced society, travel so far, just to observe something they could crush out like we could stomp out a bug? If they can manufacture their own elements, then it is not to take ours. If they wish to purge us, why have they not done so? For whatever reason, you may or may not wish to give them human like emotions or motive, but ultimately, I think all species of creatures have the same basic instict. And that is to pro-create.

 

[pw38]

My main point is trying to refer to the question of why would such an advanced society, travel so far, just to observe something they could crush out like we could stomp out a bug? If they can manufacture their own elements, then it is not to take ours. If they wish to purge us, why have they not done so? For whatever reason, you may or may not wish to give them human like emotions or motive, but ultimately, I think all species of creatures have the same basic instict. And that is to pro-create.

If the argument is ultimately about survival and to pro-create then I think we're being very wreck-less in our pursuit of something we know nothing about. It's not that I don't advocate not trying to find others out there, only that I don't necessarily disagree with Stephen Hawking when he says we just need to be careful. That's it. The rest is just fun filler.

 

[Puppies04]

If the argument is ultimately about survival and to pro-create then I think we're being very wreck-less in our pursuit of something we know nothing about. It's not that I don't advocate not trying to find others out there, only that I don't necessarily disagree with Stephen Hawking when he says we just need to be careful. That's it. The rest is just fun filler.

When you say "careful" what do you propose? Maybe we could mask our IP address, or throw a big camo net over the earth

 

[owensdj]

If earth-like planets are the only ones that can sustain life I could see some advanced alien civilization wanting to eliminate us so they can colonize Earth. I don't think we need to fear contacting them. If they want a rocky planet in the habitable zone of its star they can find the earth using astronomy. If anything the presence of a somewhat technological civilization would discourage them from trying to take the earth. It would be much easier to just find one without any intelligent life. The galaxy should be full of them.

 

[pw38]

When you say "careful" what do you propose? Maybe we could mask our IP address, or throw a big camo net over the earth

Those are good ideas, you get right on it.

 

[yhelothar]

If the argument is ultimately about survival and to pro-create then I think we're being very wreck-less in our pursuit of something we know nothing about. It's not that I don't advocate not trying to find others out there, only that I don't necessarily disagree with Stephen Hawking when he says we just need to be careful. That's it. The rest is just fun filler.

Only except Stephen Hawking doesn't just say we need to be careful. He outright declares that we should avoid all contact with extra terrestrials. His rationale for it stems straight from imperialism. His reasoning clearly stems from a belief that aliens would want our resources. If you toss that rationale out, then his whole hermit advice has no grounds.

"

Such scenes are speculative, but Hawking uses them to lead on to a serious point: that a few life forms could be intelligent and pose a threat. Hawking believes that contact with such a species could be devastating for humanity.
He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then move on: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”
He concludes that trying to make contact with alien races is “a little too risky”. He said: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.”"
​

 

[skipsneeky2]

Cpt Zerg! Intelligent life detected!

CZ: Good good. Composition?

1-1.5 matrons, carbon flesh over calcium skeleton

Z: Excellent excellent. Condition Red, all hands to picnic stations!

3.5 billion consist of carbon based idiots accounted for

the rest of the population is employed