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Why we have not met aliens yet - an interesting diatribe. . .

Originally posted by: episodic
Really, read it - it is cool
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It is interesting, it is not cool. 🙂

Also, the author takes the position that a gluttonous technological society will simply die off, presumably of boredom, when overutilization of non-renewable resources (in our case, petroleum) is the likely culprit. The author is correct in the cause, but tiptoes around effect, and doesn't consider the social implications of his scenario. (e.g. if the only practical form of humanity is religious luddites living in huts, does it really even matter if humanity continues anyway?)

 
kind of got an interesting point. we are already completely obsessed with entertainment. imagine if true virtual reality is developed where you can experience anything you want... I'm not sure if most people would want to live in the real world anymore.

on the other hand though, I think many forms of entertainment helps to expand the mind. for example reading gives you new ideas and perspectives, helps your imagination, FPS gaming may help your reflex etc
 
Originally posted by: dighn
kind of got an interesting point. we are already completely obsessed with entertainment. imagine if true virtual reality is developed where you can experience anything you want... I'm not sure if most people would want to live in the real world anymore.
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Except think about the average character of a population. It really doesn't matter if 99% of that population loses its goals in virtual reality. Had they lived in preindustrial times, they would have been too busy tilling the land as serfs to bother having goals. The goal of humanity, like any other animal (as the article points out) has been eating and getting laid. Since technology has always been the forte of the 99th percentile, the only thing affecting the advance of technology is whether or not that elite group also succumbs - and imo, resistance would be predisposed in that group.

On the other hand the tendency of the majority of humans to squander all of our collective resources and poison the village well will be far more deadly to the elite percentile than virtual reality.

At the macro level, the reason the human race will never explore space is because I have no technological or sociological benefit to society, yet I am allowed to - and do - take long hot showers every morning.

Contrary to the opinion of the author of the article, the absolute best thing that I do for society is that I don't breed.

 
I tend to think the "intelligent life always blows itself up" theory is the most believable. You have forever to do it, and once it's done it's too late- you can't undo it.
 
kinda interesting, idk, could it happen?


Also kinda reminds me of the Asgard from Stargate, they lost their ability to sexually propigate, and rellied on cloned bodies, and the ability to digitally trasnfer their consesness to a new body, as a form of reproduction, which in and of itself was really only psuedo-reproduction, since no new psychies were created only new bodies. Eventually, there became so many clones of a clone of a clone that the Asgards DNA began to break down. They actually studied human DNA to try to fix the problem, because our DNA was still pure and uncloned. Eventually though, the Asgard, even though fictional, would run out of consouness's to implant, as their people would undoubtedly sometimes die before their minds could be transplanted to a new body...
 
The beginning was interesting, but a feel his points of aliens becoming too involved with computer to talk to us were a little contrived.
 
So everyone will develop the "stand alone complex" when the technology permits individuals to shed their physical bodies and do whatever they need/want to do in a virtual realm?
 
Somehow, I doubt that technology and entertainment will be the end of the species. They might delay its development, but life has a tendancy to keep going once it's established.


I think that besides the morbid reasons - that technological advancement brings powerful weapons that can annhialate a civilization - the best reasons I've heard for just not seeing life are these:
Time and space.
Time: The galaxy's been around a long time, and has a long time to go. A civilization would need to be fairly advanced and/or fairly close to Earth for either of us to be aware of the other. Given the size of the galaxy, and the chances for life being able to get a start in the first place, that's not likely. Also, would we be much interest? Do you introduce yourself to the residents of a bee nest? No, because they wouldn't understand you, and they'd most likely react violently. Best to just avoid them.
Space: The galaxy is damn big, and there may not exist any good way of moving faster than the speed of light. A star system would probably have to appear to be of significant interest to warrant a visit. At first glance, this particular solar system just might not appear to be all that interesting.
"It's just a normal middle-age main sequence star with a few normal blobs of gas and normal chunks of rock orbiting it. Big deal. Let's go visit that interesting trinary star system a bit over 4 light years away from it...."

 
I'm of the opinion that inter-stellar travel is a huge obstacle, no-matter how intelligent the specie. If we are lucky, we will have colonized Mars before the Sun changes to make the Earth uninhabitable. Beyond that, some moon off of Jupiter or Saturn. Beyond that will require lots of luck and a self-sufficient spacecraft. All of this assumes, of course, that speeds beyond light are impossible. If what we currently know about the laws of physics is correct, then that indeed is the case.
 
The author is a hypocrite, instead of being a realist to improve his life and reproduce, he is entertaining his mind by writing the article.
 
Originally posted by: fitzov
I'm of the opinion that inter-stellar travel is a huge obstacle, no-matter how intelligent the specie. If we are lucky, we will have colonized Mars before the Sun changes to make the Earth uninhabitable. Beyond that, some moon off of Jupiter or Saturn. Beyond that will require lots of luck and a self-sufficient spacecraft. All of this assumes, of course, that speeds beyond light are impossible. If what we currently know about the laws of physics is correct, then that indeed is the case.
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I assume you refer to the red giant stage - that'll be about another 5 billion years.
In that case, 1) Mars won't be safe enough, and 2) The sun will collapse then into a white dwarf. Everywhere would be too cold then.
But 5 billion years - plenty of time for civilization to collapse and rebuild a few thousand times if it so chooses. And hell, by then, maybe we'd have the technology to combine some of the gas giants or something, and start fusion in one of them. 😛
 
Originally posted by: Jeff7
Originally posted by: fitzov
I'm of the opinion that inter-stellar travel is a huge obstacle, no-matter how intelligent the specie. If we are lucky, we will have colonized Mars before the Sun changes to make the Earth uninhabitable. Beyond that, some moon off of Jupiter or Saturn. Beyond that will require lots of luck and a self-sufficient spacecraft. All of this assumes, of course, that speeds beyond light are impossible. If what we currently know about the laws of physics is correct, then that indeed is the case.
Click to expand...

I assume you refer to the red giant stage - that'll be about another 5 billion years.
In that case, 1) Mars won't be safe enough, and 2) The sun will collapse then into a white dwarf. Everywhere would be too cold then.
But 5 billion years - plenty of time for civilization to collapse and rebuild a few thousand times if it so chooses. And hell, by then, maybe we'd have the technology to combine some of the gas giants or something, and start fusion in one of them. 😛
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It doesn't just become a red giant overnight. Before then the "zone" that is ideal for life-suitable conditions continues to move away from the Sun. At some point it will include Mars.
 
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