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[Rebel Leader]

i thought this thread would be sexier

"hmmm?"

 

[Partial Gamification]

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.

I was trying to point-out the contradictions making a general statement "advanced civilizations will use math." From the point-of-view that there are mathematical relationships, I don't doubt that an advanced culture will use "math." But what does that mean? I probably went beyond the scope of what you are getting at, and failed at conveying my perspective. I just think that a lay-person's understanding of mathematics gets skewed when blanket-stements are used that do not reflect the actual process.

We did invent mathmatics, it reflects the processes of "nature." Maths are not just out there to pick-up and "discover." This language describes relationships and is not the realtionship itsself. You are free to rationalize what you will but I think you miss what I was getting at (probably my fault in how I approached the explaination).

On a side-note, Neil DeGrasse Tyson is revamping the Cosmos series!

 

[Ducarmel]

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

Why do you think the speed limit would stop intelligent people from traveling across large amounts of space.

If you have the technology for a ships that fly near the speed of light, the ability to process raw materials/energy to useful things, advance virtual AI systems to assist trekking across space, ways to record large amounts of data and biological memories. The ability to extend your life considerably and put your self in suspended animation for long periods, and the psychological fortitude to bear the thought you may never see your kind in its current state ever again and you may spend years alone or with a few people.

Why not travel the universe, just put yourself in suspended animation let your ship fly on autopilot to a solar system with a high chance of life and wake up a century later at new world. Make friend, get new knowledge, trade technology, rinse then repeat for thousands/millions of years.

I would take that chance if it were available.

 

[Deleted member 10571]

i thought this thread would be sexier

yup this :/

 

[Acrylic7]

yup this :/

Glad its not, love the discussions here

 

[RedSwirl]

I haven't read this thread yet but I've been having some thoughts on the subject of human-alien contact: I'm not sure if the aliens would be able to understand us at all, even if they are far more advanced.

The closest comparison I can think of is understanding and communication between different members of the animal kingdom. How much do we really understand communication between apes, dogs, birds, or ants? A bit, maybe even a lot for some, but I don't think we have a complete understanding of how any of those species communicate. I think aliens would probably look at us like we look at ants or fish. They could study us and make lots of inferences, but I don't know about them knowing everything about us.

They might receive our signals but I'm not so sure they'd actually be able to understand them. In my mind they'd come here, observe that we have industrialized society and satellites, and from there get a good guess at how advanced we are. They might even know enough to invade if they wanted to, maybe even gain some understanding of our communication like we do other animals, but I don't think they'd immediately be able to come here and hack into our satellites and instantly have all our data.

 

[HeySeuss]

I don't understand why the side that believes aliens would be so technologically advanced that they wouldn't be aggressive are operating under the assumption that they would be representative of their entire race. Just because they are highly advanced doesn't mean they have evolved(or even could evolve) beyond good/evil or moral/immoral.

Whose to say that some civilizations consider having a space ship as common as we consider owning a car. Perhaps there are explorers for good, and some trying to find things for their own personal gain.

Assuming any contact we may make would be them speaking for their entire race would be incredibly naive. For all we know, we could be meeting their version of Charles Manson.

 

[astroturfing]

im starting to think that intelligent civilizations are REALLY rare, as in impossible to find. think about it, out of all the literally millions of species on earth, only one has reached the ability to do some minor space travel... and it was a huuuuge fluke. without humans, the Earth would have likely existed its 8-10 billion or so lifespan without any intelligent civilizations. so it could very well be that for every one out of a billion planets there will develop life, and out of those only one in a billion develops life intelligent enough to explore space.. making us and other potential civilizations a total needle in a haystack. (a drastic understatement of course).

i imagine our galaxy and most other galaxies having quite many planets and moons with single-celled life, but much fewer planets with multicellular life, and perhaps only 1 planet (or moon) with a space-exploring life form, IF the galaxy is lucky :/

or for an even more bleak outlook, consider this: maybe our sense of realitys scale is totally off, maybe one universe is just a tiny speck in a bigger multiverse, and maybe that multiverse is just a tiny speck in another bigger structure and so on and so on... making galaxies and even universes incredibly small parts of the big whole, meaninglessly small even.. which could mean that life is so inconceivably rare (from our perspective) and so sparsely spread throughout the whole of reality that maybe civilizations or any life at all only sprung up once in every universe... making it absolutely impossible for any advanced civilizations to ever get in touch with each other in any way, even if they were relatively common in the multi-multi-multiverse.

hopefully i am wrong. the truth is that we have not even really started to explore other worlds yet (despite the numerous exoplanet findings), we dont have single clue about anything really. we can only speculate and pull stuff out of our asses like i just did above.

 

[Partial Gamification]

we can only speculate.

But we take a step closer to a more-comprehensive understanding of these questions when Curiosity lands on Mars. Check-out this engineering marvel: Seven Minutes of Terror.

 

[RedSwirl]

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*

Good point. Good chance any aliens would probably send out unmanned probes first.

 

[astroturfing]

But we take a step closer to a more-comprehensive understanding of these questions when Curiosity lands on Mars. Check-out this engineering marvel: Seven Minutes of Terror.

Curiosity wasnt designed to find life. as far as i know, at best it can show us if Mars ever really had suitable conditions for life..

even if we did find microbial life on Mars, that still wont tell us anything really. it could have traveled there from Earth. and even if it was indigenous to Mars, that still says nothing about the odds of other intelligent civilizations.

 

[SpacLock]

I'd really like to bang a blue vagina.

 

[Partial Gamification]

that still says nothing about the odds of other intelligent civilizations.

True to a point: it is a baby-step, but a step toward that question nonetheless.

 

[astroturfing]

True to a point: it is a baby-step, but a step toward that question nonetheless.

yeah, im excited about it. if i remember correctly Curiosity will film its own landing at 5fps/1080p... should be heartpoundingly thrilling to watch.

i will probably shed a tear if it doesnt make the landing :/ wait no, i will cry like a baby.

 

[Anticitizen One]

People on gaf can't even get into a relationship with their own kind much less worry about getting with an alien

 

[akira28]

aren't some scientists now theorizing that the number of stars with planets in this galaxy are exponential? And that there are an exponential number of galaxies in the universe? With numbers that large colliding, don't you have to think that there's a pretty fair probability, that whatever large number in probability they have for the possibility of life existing elsewhere, might be trumped by the vastness of the universe?

 

[Endo Punk]

I am not a furry, I find animals adorable and not attractive but I can tell you right now if there is an alien species with sexy humanoid females I wont give it a second thought Especially if they look like species