Support NeoGAF

[akira28]

the chances of them being attractive to us
1 in 1000000000000000000

unless they are advanced enough to take any form D:

A race of physically fit and extremely nubile anthropomorphic felinid people. Who are extremely good natured and friendly. And their co-race of rodent/rabbit people, who were second class citizens for centuries, but gained equality relatively recently.

They came here for our catnip and our cheese.

 

[Avixph]

What if they gave us a portion of their technology and told us we have 100 years or so to reverse engineer it and when those years pass they will come back to Earth to have a war with them.

 

[Mondriaan]

Makes me wonder if those creatures considered paranormal on earth (believe them or not) are aliens.

No, I think those are more likely to be time travelers.

 

[squidyj]

Somehow I doubt an alien species so singularly aggressive that they drop everything and fly light years across the cosmos just to wipe out another entire species is going to be able to survive to the point to get to the level of technology to achieve that.

Furthermore I doubt there's any particular need for earth's resources, if they can cross the cosmos in reasonable time they are more or less guaranteed to not be using fossil fuels and really the trip out here is more expensive in energy than anything they could only get specifically from our planet. They'd be much better off taking all that energy and busting open completely uninhabited planets for raw resources. What better place than a planet's core for heavy metals?

 

[SmartBase]

I think the "anthill" analogy fits this discussion well. A species with interstellar capabilities wouldn't bother making contact with Earth same as we don't stop at anthills and teach them art and science.

 

[Get'sMad]

 

[Jorok Goldblade]

I support human-alien relationships as long as they look like the sexy blue chicks from Mass Effect.

It's a fair point though if you believe there is life out there. They could be even bigger assholes than most humans.

If we found aliens similar enough to humans to be smang-worthy, it would raise some very interesting questions about the origins of life in the universe.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

I think the "anthill" analogy fits this discussion well. A species with interstellar capabilities wouldn't bother making contact with Earth same as we don't stop at anthills and teach them art and science.

That analogy isn't quite in our favor in another aspect as well, as a lot of assholes have fun pouring gasoline on anthills and setting them on fire.

 

[Emitan]

I was hoping this is the thread where I could talk about my human/Twi'lek lesbian fantasies...

*continues searching for Ryloth*

 

[Uchip]

A race of physically fit and extremely nubile anthropomorphic felinid people. Who are extremely good natured and friendly. And their co-race of rodent/rabbit people, who were second class citizens for centuries, but gained equality relatively recently.

They came here for our catnip and our cheese.

cat aliens would only come here to enslave us
and thats ok

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I think the "anthill" analogy fits this discussion well. A species with interstellar capabilities wouldn't bother making contact with Earth same as we don't stop at anthills and teach them art and science.

That's because ants aren't capable of learning art and science. In fact, we aren't even capable of communication with them. Meanwhile, for animals we can communicate with on rudimentary levels (various apes, monkeys, etc) we go out of our way to attempt to. Historically, we have attempted to teach horses mathematics, we have successfully taught sign language to great apes, and every day people attempt communication with their pets (successful on some levels, i.e. indicating what you want your dog to do). Lots of people are interested in the concept of uplifting species of lower intelligence to bring them closer to our level.

Drawing analogies between ourselves and ants when discussing higher order intelligences and their relationship with us is spurious at best. We do not ignore them because they are significantly less intelligent, we ignore them because they do not meet the absolute criterion necessary to engage in meaningful dialogue. Meanwhile, we build our own langauges, we have invented mathematics and philosophy. We have mapped out logic and make concerted efforts to further our understanding of reality. These make us capable of meaningful dialogue with super-intelligences, although obviously we're not going to be teaching them anything they don't already know.

You also have to consider the importance of the individual. Some humans are uninterested in creatures with lower intelligence, while some are enthused by them. There does not need to be any sort of civilization-wide consensus which tells aliens that we are worthy of being contacted, there need only be interested parties (i.e. xeno-zoologists, xeno-archeologists, explorers) with the means to get into contact. When we start talking about post-scarcity societies of immortal cyborg aliens, it becomes difficult to explain why such peoples would never wish to visit. Sure, people always say stuff like "oh, they want to let us evolve on our own", but that's not a strong argument at all.

 

[Emitan]

cat aliens would only come here to enslave us
and thats ok

depends on where they are on the furry scale

 

[Sye d'Burns]

The end is near.

 

[Uchip]

depends on where they are on the furry scale

irrelevant when they would have mastered the big sad eyes mind control technique

 

[2AdEPT]

Hands up if you think there are space-faring alien species or alien species with space-faring capabilities out there.

Then I'd like you to ponder the following passage from The Killing Star by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski:



What is our planet doing?
We're sending out probes explaining who we are and probably giving away our location in the process, if that hasn't already been done by all the broadcasts that is emitted from our planet all the time.
It might pay off to send out a friendly message as we're simply incapable of containing all the stuff that might be picked up by aliens, so we might as well gamble on them being friendly.

On the other hand, they might not be friendly - and all we've been doing is making it easier for hostile species to find us.

Maybe there aren't any aliens out there.
Or maybe, they are out there and might come to destroy our planet, or just slingshot a planet destroying asteroid our way.

The scary thing is that it could happen tomorrow.

the liklihood that the billions of other worlds out there are within striking distnace of us is remotely small....there is just too much space....worm holes are theoretically possible ....but unlikley all the same.....face it.....95% chance we have never been visited and never willbefore the sun blows up....radio messages or not.

our own dishes are pretty sensitive.....but nothing...not even a radio station or anythign of equal tech. let alone advanced, whihc we would recognize as anomalous.

 

[2AdEPT]

Its arrogant to think we're the only race out there. But, with that being said, if another race knows of our existence and is friendly, they would have already chosen to ignore us. Any race that is capable of spanning the massiveness of space can also survey a planet like ours from far enough away to not be conspicuous. What they'd see is a barbaric infant race that cant even get along with themselves, therefore no reason to go meddling in their affairs.

exactly, not to mention anyone being able to span the distnace necessary would be paternalistically benevolent and not colonial like we/are in our infancy as a socially conscious species.

 

[Boss Doggie]

I wonder if they are space furries.

 

[TheContact]

Hands up if you think there are space-faring alien species or alien species with space-faring capabilities out there.

Then I'd like you to ponder the following passage from The Killing Star by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebrowski:



What is our planet doing?
We're sending out probes explaining who we are and probably giving away our location in the process, if that hasn't already been done by all the broadcasts that is emitted from our planet all the time.
It might pay off to send out a friendly message as we're simply incapable of containing all the stuff that might be picked up by aliens, so we might as well gamble on them being friendly.

On the other hand, they might not be friendly - and all we've been doing is making it easier for hostile species to find us.

Maybe there aren't any aliens out there.
Or maybe, they are out there and might come to destroy our planet, or just slingshot a planet destroying asteroid our way.

The scary thing is that it could happen tomorrow.

It's way worse than that. We sent out a transmission with the intention of it being discovered that included descriptions about ourselves and a literal map to our location. Steven Hawking said it was the worst thing we could do.

 

[SolarPowered]

It's way worse than that. We sent out a transmission with the intention of it being discovered that included descriptions about ourselves and a literal map to our location. Steven Hawking said it was the worst thing we could do.

I like to think that it serves as a small time capsule we sent out there for whoever finds it. It takes a long time for light to travel large distances in the universe. A physical object like that one could travel at sub-light speeds for tens of thousands(maybe hundreds) of years without being intercepted. If we are around in ten thousand years then I don't think we'll need to worry too much about an alien threat(unless they are absolutely Godlike) because of some ancient tomb full of old songs and outdated biological(we'll probably transcend our current forms in a couple thousand years if we are slow) data.

Edit: Same goes for the transmissions. Space is big and our existence is in our hands for the most part, but the Universe is a volatile place. I'd rather have those signals out there telling anyone out there that there were humans instead of just hiding in the dark. A lot of stuff besides Aliens could snuff us out very easily.

 

[Canis lupus]

What if aliens are invisible beings, or live in another dimension or parallel world, what if they're 1 kilometers tall and their homeplanet is bigger than the biggest sun recorded?

 

[Jader7777]

Aliens are cool syfy things that symbolize the actual idea of 'alien', where people come from over seas and live among people that aren't familiar with them.

The idea that people want a... physical relationship with the fantasy device used to express the real world circumstance is sort of whacked out, I know in that Eass Mffect game I totally shrugged off all the alien advances and then stopped playing because BOOORING, but that's a different story.


Internet. *Shakes head*

 

[Darkmakaimura]

This is the problem. Human beings are so xenophobic by nature. We're afraid of people of a different color, let alone of another species! So it's obvious to conclude that "oh no, aliens are hostile and we shouldn't advertise ourselves!" Way to go, fellow humans!

I don't see a species capable of interstellar travel, which would most likely comprise of a race that could generate wormholes and have a pretty fair amount of knowledge of how the universe works, to be hostile. Sure, they could have the potential for hostility, but if they made it that far in regards to science and technology, they're either benign or at worst, indifferent.

 

[TheContact]

Any of you guys ever watch Journey to the Edge of the Universe? I've had it saved on my DVR since 2008, it's amazing. Alec Baldwin narrates a virtual tour of our universe, starting with the planets of in our solar system and going way the fuck out to the beginning of time.

 

[jchap]

I like how everyone automatically assumes there must be some way to travel faster than light. While it may be possible, its also possible that it is a true barrier than can not be overcome. If that is the case then while there may be millions of other intelligent species out there, none of them will ever cross paths.

 

[freenudemacusers]

irrelevant when they would have mastered the big sad eyes mind control technique

If an alien does some uguu shit I will shoot on sight

 

[Protein]

I fear intelligent machines created by aliens more than the aliens themselves, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker_(Saberhagen)

This reply.

Or even bio-engineered.

 

[Wray]

Any species with the capability of interstellar travel would likely have no need for our resources. That's just common fucking sense.

In fact, most likely any species that advanced would have long since left behind their biological bodies and transcended into a "digital" realm of sorts. We're probably be meeting their synthetic avatar creations instead.

 

[iNvid02]

I fear intelligent machines created by aliens more than the aliens themselves, e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berserker_(Saberhagen)

this, chances are if the alien race is capable of interstellar travel, then they have perfected the robot machine/ai business and use them frequently.

they would probably send them out there to find other planets and report the findings - this is what i imagine happening when they find earth

machine 1: there seems to intelligent life on this planet, we should inform our masters immediatley
machine 2: but look at them, we should not have to bother our masters over a race as pitiful as these humans
machine 1: you're right, i would not want to waste their time, especially over something as insignificant as this

*DESTROYS EARTH*

 

[Darkmakaimura]

I like how everyone automatically assumes there must be some way to travel faster than light. While it may be possible, its also possible that it is a true barrier than can not be overcome. If that is the case then while there may be millions of other intelligent species out there, none of them will ever cross paths.

Wormholes. Space folding. "Hyperspace". All actual theories and not just science fiction.

 

[RagnarokX]

Florida churches probably wouldn't allow human-alien relationships.

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Florida churches probably wouldn't allow human-alien relationships.

I would like to know what the Westboro folks think of aliens.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

This is the problem. Human beings are so xenophobic by nature. We're afraid of people of a different color, let alone of another species! So it's obvious to conclude that "oh no, aliens are hostile and we shouldn't advertise ourselves!" Way to go, fellow humans!

I don't see a species capable of interstellar travel, which would most likely comprise of a race that could generate wormholes and have a pretty fair amount of knowledge of how the universe works, to be hostile. Sure, they could have the potential for hostility, but if they made it that far in regards to science and technology, they're either benign or at worst, indifferent.

Well, now you're extrapolating based on how we humans handle "hostility".
Even amongst ourselves, we are launching objects into space on a daily basis while pretty much the entire world is involved in proxy wars and actual wars in addition to ideological warfare.

So there's not directly incompatible with a hostile attitude and interstellar travel, especially when that hostility could be purely aimed at aliens (would work as a uniting force perhaps).

Then there's the other scenario outlined in the OP, where aliens destroy life they find that is less advanced than them as a precaution so that they won't when they become more advanced destroy them while they're blissfully living out their ascended lives in the digital realm.

 

[Memphis Reigns]

Meanwhile, we build our own langauges, we have invented mathematics and philosophy. We have mapped out logic and make concerted efforts to further our understanding of reality. These make us capable of meaningful dialogue with super-intelligences, although obviously we're not going to be teaching them anything they don't already know.

Humans didn't invent Mathematics. We merely discovered it. It is woven into the very fabric of the universe. A lot of theorems and proofs are named after the men who discovered them, but they would exist in nature even if the individuals did not find them. It is, as they say, the universal language. It would not just make us capable of "meaningful" dialogue, but rather we need math to even begin to communicate with advanced races, even on the most basic level.

this, chances are if the alien race is capable of interstellar travel, then they have perfected the robot machine/ai business and use them frequently.

they would probably send them out there to find other planets and report the findings - this is what i imagine happening when they find earth

machine 1: there seems to intelligent life on this planet, we should inform our masters immediatley
machine 2: but look at them, we should not have to bother our masters over a race as pitiful as these humans
machine 1: you're right, i would not want to waste their time, especially over something as insignificant as this

*DESTROYS EARTH*

Ugh. This attitude towards humans is worn out. Stop being so melodramatic.

 

[canvee]

This is the classic question. It's been argued that "Mars Wants Women" style science fiction largely grew out of cultural imperialism taken for granted - the view that any 'foreign' group invading a new land would do so because well, gosh darn it, they just want the good stuff that's there. Oh and as a matter of course they slaughter all the natives.

Which does seem to fall apart in the context of outer space. A civilization that had the capability to travel among star systems would, through extrapolation, long since have conquered problems with resources and extracting useful resources from all the stuff floating around in the universe.

It would seem to be a complete waste of time and materials to pick a planet that had intelligent life on it, and go to war to steal some water that you could find floating around as chunks of ice elsewhere.

This does, of course, make one huge assumption. That the spacefaring civilization in question is rational.

A lot of science fiction authors, and Sciencey Thinkers, speculate that in order for a civilization to come together and master traversing the universe, they'd be forced to adopt a high degree of pragmatism and rationalism. That seems reasonable. But with infinite unknown possibilities, it could be wrong. There could, for instance, be a civilization crawling around the galaxy that believes it is trying to find Space God. And through whatever quirk of dogma, thinks any other intelligent life it finds is fake intelligence and should be exterminated so as not to offend Space God. Or whatever other scenario you care to imagine that would make aliens (alien to us) malevolent.

I totally agree with this well thought out post.

 

[Partial Gamification]

Humans didn't invent Mathematics. We merely discovered it. It is woven into the very fabric of the universe. A lot of theorems and proofs are named after the men who discovered them, but they would exist in nature even if the individuals did not find them. It is, as they say, the universal language. It would not just make us capable of "meaningful" dialogue, but rather we need math to even begin to communicate with advanced races, even on the most basic level.

Mathematics is a human constructed language. It does have explanatory "universality," according to known science but this has been crafted to fit both observed phenomena and formulated theories. It is a stretch to assume a type of math, say calculus, is the only way for describing rates of change and properties of curves. I'm not completely disagreeing because of concepts like pi, the ratio between a circle's diameter and its circumference; but with all the different types of maths it is hard to believe that what we apply today is what we will apply in the future (in its current form), and by extension this puts into question how effective our understanding would be in decoding any such communications.

I have heard people talk about math like it is some sort of Rosetta Stone. Perhaps it could be, but if Greek, demotic, and hieroglyphics are carved into this stone, it is unlikely we even understand one known language to decode the other unknown(s). I am not dismissing the potential of this language for interstellar commutation but I doubt that an alien “Algebra” would have developed in the same way, if even at all. It is just one means of representation. The history and development of mathematics highlights how we adopt what works best for our applications. That is no guaranty ours is the only means of doing so, or that we could even recognize another. It would be cool if we did.

...and I would like to give a shout out to Leonhart Euler, “master of us all.”
[edit:] here's a decent aggregation of online math resources for those interested

 

[Memphis Reigns]

Mathematics is a human constructed language. It does have explanatory "universality," according to known science but this has been crafted to fit both observed phenomena and formulated theories. It is a stretch to assume a type of math, say calculus, is the only way for describing rates of change and properties of curves. I'm not completely disagreeing because of concepts like pi, the ratio between a circle's diameter and its circumference; but with all the different types of maths it is hard to believe that what we apply today is what we will apply in the future (in its current form), and by extension this puts into question how effective our understanding would be in decoding any such communications.

I have heard people talk about math like it is some sort of Rosetta Stone. Perhaps it could be, but if Greek, demotic, and hieroglyphics are carved into this stone, it is unlikely we even understand one known language to decode the other unknown(s). I am not dismissing the potential of this language for interstellar commutation but I doubt that an alien “Algebra” would have developed in the same way, if even at all. It is just one means of representation. The history and development of mathematics highlights how we adopt what works best for our applications. That is no guaranty ours is the only means of doing so, or that we could even recognize another. It would be cool if we did.

...and I would like to give a shout out to Leonhart Euler, “master of us all.”
[edit:] here's a decent aggregation of online math resources for those interested

As I stated in my original post, it doesn't matter who discovered a particular proof or how they went about doing it, but that proof will always be true no matter where you are in the universe (with the exception of singularities since math breaks down at those events). The laws of nature are the same everywhere. Pi will always be Pi, and 1+1 will always equal 2, etc, etc. So even if they go about it different ways, the result will always be the same. It makes me think of Contact, when in order to decipher the message they received from Vega, all they needed was to find a primer to figure out the symbols for true and false using simple math equations, which then allowed them to decode the message.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

This is the problem. Human beings are so xenophobic by nature. We're afraid of people of a different color, let alone of another species! So it's obvious to conclude that "oh no, aliens are hostile and we shouldn't advertise ourselves!" Way to go, fellow humans!

I don't see a species capable of interstellar travel, which would most likely comprise of a race that could generate wormholes and have a pretty fair amount of knowledge of how the universe works, to be hostile. Sure, they could have the potential for hostility, but if they made it that far in regards to science and technology, they're either benign or at worst, indifferent.

It's not just alien civilizations that are potentially hostile, it's alien individuals. A person alive today can own things that are orders of magnitude more destructive than anything a cave man could dream of, like barrels of petrol and hunting rifles. Any space-craft capable of interstellar flight is a de facto WMD, so all it takes is one loony space ship captain and our civilization is set back ten thousand years.

Given the number of unknowns, it's not really wise to broadcast your position until you know more about your situation. This isn't unconscious racism and irrational fears, it's basic caution. If it turns out that you people are right and it's all sunshine, roses and lollipops in outer-space, then we'll all have a good laugh about how we were nervous about nothing.

We don't have to wait too long anyway, because within this century we'll hit technological singularity and will be on par with any alien technology as a result (you can't get better than perfect).

Wormholes. Space folding. "Hyperspace". All actual theories and not just science fiction.

You just pulled off the fringe science hat trick, congratulations.

 

[The Adder]

I think the "anthill" analogy fits this discussion well. A species with interstellar capabilities wouldn't bother making contact with Earth same as we don't stop at anthills and teach them art and science.

Quite a few of us, however, will gladly stop at an anthill just to wreck it.

 

[Scrow]

i have no basis for this stance, but i'm inclined to it as an optimist.

i believe that any alien race we should fear would be relatively primitive, only capable of travelling within their own system, and so the tyranny of distance would protect us from them.

but any race capable of inter-stellar or inter-galactic travel i HOPE would be an enlightened species, whose science, technology and philosophy has advanced far beyond anything we can comprehend as such a juvenile species.

but here's the kicker. i think any aliens that intelligent and advanced would be smart enough NOT to make contact with us. sharing their tech would destroy us as we tear ourselves apart with powerful toys we haven't earned the right to wield.

so in conclusion, any xenophobic idiot aliens out there (like us) aren't a threat because we're currently unable to make contact, and any enlightened aliens will never make contact with us for our own good.

if we ever make it out of our infancy as a species i hope we are smart enough not to make contact with other species too. perhaps at first we will try, make mistakes, inadvertently destroy a few civilisations until we realise that it's better to keep to ourselves.

 

[Metalmarc]

 

[SquiddyCracker]

Quite a few of us, however, will gladly stop at an anthill just to wreck it.

Yeah, there's no guarantee that all individuals will be "enlightened" in the event the alien race as a whole is.
Look at who the most successive members of our society are - sociopathy is more common in positions of power.

 

[teruterubozu]

The hope is for alien priests. Not soldiers, murderers or opportunists.
Padres instead of conquistadors. The "enlightened beings theory" seems too rooted in archaic colonial ideals of "contact" (and a good deal of Christian-like "Save us, alien messiah!" crap).

 

[Partial Gamification]

As I stated in my original post, it doesn't matter who discovered a particular proof or how they went about doing it, but that proof will always be true no matter where you are in the universe (with the exception of singularities since math breaks down at those events). The laws of nature are the same everywhere. Pi will always be Pi, and 1+1 will always equal 2, etc, etc. So even if they go about it different ways, the result will always be the same. It makes me think of Contact, when in order to decipher the message they received from Vega, all they needed was to find a primer to figure out the symbols for true and false using simple math equations, which then allowed them to decode the message.

No, that isn't true. The lack of a Unified Field Theory is just one example how the current language breaks down. Different scales of nature have different rules, again I am just pointing out the incompleteness of our ability to speak a "Universal language," let alone there really being one. I think it is like a limit that approaches infinity, it never actually becomes infinite (See: Cantor).

Pi as a value (3.14...) exisits in our number system. It depends on what base the counting system employs that will give that value. Like I orignially stated, the concept as a "ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle," should by all rights be Universal but that assumes we could reconize the alien descriptions of both a circle and how this ratio was represented. Just because binary underlines the majority of our technologies does not mean all other extra-terrestrial technologies operate under the same paradigm. Would a binary framework work with quantum computing? No.

If by primer, you mean cypher (I don't think you mean finding "How to Speak Alien 101") then its an assumption that we would recognize that "code" let alone be able to decode it with whatever types of mathematics that were employed. It would take a sort of reverse-engineering an alien "Enigma Machine," highly speculative.

I love Carl Sagan. It seems like you are coming from his position in this matter and I agree he was a brilliant guy. These statements about mathematics are too general to be always true, hence there is no proof for what you are saying due to the existence of contradictions. Thinking that the math equations we have, developed through Algebra and other maths, are Universal is an Earth-centric point-of-view. It is an interesting thought-experiment to think about what this all means and how could other maths exist; discover one and you could be the next Liebniz, Newton was a prick and we don't need anymore people that consider themselves God's gift to our civilization.

The point I'm trying to make is just that mathematics is not singular for a reason. To assume extra-terrestrial maths conform to our maths is something that could only be proven retroactively; that is to say, only if it happens will we ever know. I encourage you to look deeper into the diversity of mathematics, if you are interested, it can be just as profound as speculating about aliens.

 

[jchap]

Wormholes. Space folding. "Hyperspace". All actual theories and not just science fiction.

Actual theories which require fun things like negative energy and magnetic monopoles that only exist as mathematical constructs.

 

[sleepykyo]

The hope is for alien priests.

Alien priests terrify me. Worship Shogoth or die.

 

[Memphis Reigns]

No, that isn't true. The lack of a Unified Field Theory is just one example how the current language breaks down. Different scales of nature have different rules, again I am just pointing out the incompleteness of our ability to speak a "Universal language," let alone there really being one. I think it is like a limit that approaches infinity, it never actually becomes infinite (See: Cantor).

Pi as a value (3.14...) exisits in our number system. It depends on what base the counting system employs that will give that value. Like I orignially stated, the concept as a "ratio between the diameter and circumference of a circle," should by all rights be Universal but that assumes we could reconize the alien descriptions of both a circle and how this ratio was represented. Just because binary underlines the majority of our technologies does not mean all other extra-terrestrial technologies operate under the same paradigm. Would a binary framework work with quantum computing? No.

If by primer, you mean cypher (I don't think you mean finding "How to Speak Alien 101") then its an assumption that we would recognize that "code" let alone be able to decode it with whatever types of mathematics that were employed. It would take a sort of reverse-engineering an alien "Enigma Machine," highly speculative.

I love Carl Sagan. It seems like you are coming from his position in this matter and I agree he was a brilliant guy. These statements about mathematics are too general to be always true, hence there is no proof for what you are saying due to the existence of contradictions. Thinking that the math equations we have, developed through Algebra and other maths, are Universal is an Earth-centric point-of-view. It is an interesting thought-experiment to think about what this all means and how could other maths exist; discover one and you could be the next Liebniz, Newton was a prick and we don't need anymore people that consider themselves God's gift to our civilization.

The point I'm trying to make is just that mathematics is not singular for a reason. To assume extra-terrestrial maths conform to our maths is something that could only be proven retroactively; that is to say, only if it happens will we ever know. I encourage you to look deeper into the diversity of mathematics, if you are interested, it can be just as profound as speculating about aliens.

It sounds like you are trying too hard to prove me wrong and praise your knowledge of this issue.. All I am saying is that any advanced species will use math, whether the equations are different or not. I think I made my point pretty clear when I said 1+1 will always be 2. No matter how its represented. I am not making any sort of earth centric points. We didn't invent math, its in nature. I don't know how else to explain that.

 

[SquiddyCracker]

It sounds like you are trying too hard to prove me wrong and praise your knowledge of this issue.. All I am saying is that any advanced species will use math, whether the equations are different or not. I think I made my point pretty clear when I said 1+1 will always be 2. No matter how its represented. I am not making any sort of earth centric points. We didn't invent math, its in nature. I don't know how else to explain that.

Slightly related:

While this might be the case, there might be problems communicating this to said aliens.
They might for an example not operate on a primarily visual sense, and might even be something as esoteric as a sense of "mass" (ribbing Isaac Asimov).

 

[LuCkymoON]

Quite a few of us, however, will gladly stop at an anthill just to wreck it.

but do the ants know what wrecked their world? Could the movement of galaxies be the everyday life of an advanced civilization?
We will never know if the entirety of the sky has always been the bottom of their shoe.

 

[qcf x2]

We don't have to wait too long anyway, because within this century we'll hit technological singularity and will be on par with any alien technology as a result (you can't get better than perfect).

High arrogance at its delusion causing finest.

 

[Death Dealer]

High arrogance at its delusion causing finest.

Einstein said we only know .1 % of nature's secrets. Now we've made immense progress since then, but what a crazy post. In 100 years, our tech will be as good as any alien tech ? Never mind the fact that humans have been around for much less than a million years, and the universe is billions of years old. There could be alien civilizations that were millions of years old before homo sapiens ever existed, maybe before any life on this planet existed.

Following that "logic", no wonder thosedeadmutes doesn't think UFOs could possibly be alien spaceships. - Does anyone think we'll have the necessary technology to visit planets on the other side of the galaxy within 100 years ? I don't. And I guess he doesn't either. Therefore, in his mind, no aliens can do it either.