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Is proof of alien life a risk to society ?


Saru

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Is proof of alien life a risk to society?

No, I don't think so. Almost everyone on the planet must have at least considered the possibility of alien life.

If the alien life were non-intelligent no-one would bat an eyelid. If it were a technologically advanced species I think an awful lot of people, including myself, would say "I told you they were out there". Some would ask 'can they get here?'. Our leaders would ask their military people for advice. I think the religions would hold up Ok. In itself I think proof of alien life is not a risk to society at all, as long as that proof isn't in the form of an alien battle-fleet parking itself strategically over all of the major capitals as per 'V' and 'Independence Day'.

Personally I think the galaxy is teeming with life, it's only a matter of time until we all know it is. It would be nice if we didn't have all of the 'Walter Mittys' though. There's far too much twaddle peddled as fact in this subject. It just clouds the issue, even if I do get a good laugh out of a lot of it.

Take the guy above with his device for looking into the future for instance. I would ask him if he had won the powerball lotto a couple of times, have his friends and family all won the powerball lotto, is he rich, does he live in a big house and drive an Aston Martin? This might suggest a genuine ability to look into the future. If however, he's a 40 year old carpet salesman that still lives with his mother, and drives a Hyundi excel, his claims are probably leaning toward the fanciful.

It's disappointing that there seems to be so many people in the UFO/Alien field that can speak confidently and with great authority about something they know absolutely nothing about. Perhaps they really are delusional, perhaps they really do believe what they're saying. Perhaps they just can't afford their medication.

Edited by Occams Razor
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I have no guess to make as to whether there are aliens out there that we might have contact with in the next few thousand years. If there are I think mankind will perish; perhaps deliberately, perhaps more subtly, but two species cannot long exist in the same niche, and the probabilities are overwhelming that anything we encounter will be technologically and perhaps also mentally our superior.

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I don't add religious beliefs here, because I have read many opinions to this, butI'd like to add something: I think that if we look back, maybe 50 years, we may come to the conclusion that back then, we haven't been ready for it - I have read this sentence often about this topic, as why it probably didn't happen yet, and somehow it's true - back then we would have panicked, and who knows what but slowly, it seems as if each year more things about it become public, see the Vatican, other statements, it may sound a bit strange to some, but I believe that we are step by step guided towards it. who knows when we will be completely ready?

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What will be ,will be ! If there even only one hundred years in our advance ,At least we can know that they were quick to the Dinner table ! :tu:

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I don't add religious beliefs here, because I have read many opinions to this, butI'd like to add something: I think that if we look back, maybe 50 years, we may come to the conclusion that back then, we haven't been ready for it - I have read this sentence often about this topic, as why it probably didn't happen yet, and somehow it's true - back then we would have panicked, and who knows what but slowly, it seems as if each year more things about it become public, see the Vatican, other statements, it may sound a bit strange to some, but I believe that we are step by step guided towards it. who knows when we will be completely ready?

I don't know if I would use the term 'guided'. To me it seems that the deeper we look into space with the advent of new technologies or the clever use of older technologies we realize that alien life is a distinct possibility. These new discoveries at the limits of our cosmic vision seem to be leaking into the collective consciousness of society. Which is a good thing in my opinion. It has only been recently (relatively speaking) that we have been able to look beyond our own solar system and with that, the thought of alien life would almost by necessity be on the minds of those making the new discoveries as well as those who are witness to them. To sum up, the consideration of alien life is a logical product of our study of the universe and our place in it.

Edited by Slave2Fate
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I don't add religious beliefs here, because I have read many opinions to this, butI'd like to add something: I think that if we look back, maybe 50 years, we may come to the conclusion that back then, we haven't been ready for it - I have read this sentence often about this topic, as why it probably didn't happen yet, and somehow it's true - back then we would have panicked, and who knows what but slowly, it seems as if each year more things about it become public, see the Vatican, other statements, it may sound a bit strange to some, but I believe that we are step by step guided towards it. who knows when we will be completely ready?

As our knowledge of our galaxy expands it becomes more and more apparent that most stars have planetary systems, as there are something like 400 billion stars in our galaxy (lets leave the universe out of it for now, those numbers would be truly mind boggling) there are going to be an awful lot of planets. Armed with this knowledge most scientists feel it's no longer ridiculous to suggest ET is out there. The sheer numbers of star systems suggest it's a certainty. I think that's why we hear more people talking about extraterrestrial life, better technology, better information, more confidence, not a deliberate build up to disclosure... just my opinion.

I think if it were a case of someone finding evidence of simple alien life in our solar system, or the strong suggestion of biological alien life gained by looking at the spectra of an extra solar planet we would be told immediately, and after the initial flurry of excitement that would be that. Everyone would go about their business as usual. I think there would be more interest if SETI heard an artificially generated radio signal from a technologically advanced alien species as there would be the possibility of getting pictures of them and their environment, even communicating with them, depending on how many light years distant they turned out to be.

When it comes to being ready... most science fiction films today depict aliens that want to invade the planet and either enslave or destroy us all. Or just want to kill us for fun like the predator. These themes are no different from the science fiction films of the 50's. Any alien species observing us might think we're far from ready. They may be terrified we're developing the technology to go and visit them. I doubt any visiting extraterrestrial species would make the visit official, at our level of development what would be in it for them?

We would only bombard them with questions about their methods of interstellar travel and nuclear fusion etc, questions that they would be very unwise to answer.

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That would make them native, and not alien, would it not?

thus the quotation marks....

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thus the quotation marks....

They just might take you first mayonnaise ! Afterall the name is quite the Spread ! :tu:

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People have tendecy of adapting to change and moving on with their lives. Unfortunately that is not the case with Government. A lot of times activism is needed to change a status quo. It happened with the civil rights movement and Gay rights. It also has to happen with the truth about our Universe. i.e. more advanced ET life that is being covered up. There are some modern day the world is still flat peope on this forum who take pride in being alone in the Universe. I have nothing against these people. Those type of anti-alien people are the same people who were afraid of racial equality or women's liberation but times change. It better for our own governemnt and the rest of the world to embrace progressive thinking. Embrace reality, such as extraterrestrial intelligence. Do not prosecute those who are in search of the truth and embrace progress.

- Embrace truth even if it threatens your self pride, human importance in the Universe.

- Promote transparency. It's better to know than to not know.

- Adapt to change. Culture always evolves even if you are reluctant.

Put your flags down. It's not our side against the other side. We are all one people of the planet earth. Do not think you are hero because the cover-up is keeping info from the enemy. They are also your brothers and sisters. Put the human race and the world first.

The real heros are Julian Assange ,whistle blowers, Bradley Manning, Anonymous (group), OWS, The Founding Fathers of the United States of America,

. Edited by topsecretresearch
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...Those type of anti-alien people are the same people who were afraid of racial equality or women's liberation but times change.

That's quite possibly the most ludicrous and insulting thing I've heard in quite some time. People who disagree with your 'conclusions' are no better than racists or bigots? Would you care to qualify that assessment or were you just going to throw it out there and hope the reprehensible insinuation would go unchecked?

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When it comes to being ready... most science fiction films today depict aliens that want to invade the planet and either enslave or destroy us all. Or just want to kill us for fun like the predator. These themes are no different from the science fiction films of the 50's. Any alien species observing us might think we're far from ready. They may be terrified we're developing the technology to go and visit them. I doubt any visiting extraterrestrial species would make the visit official, at our level of development what would be in it for them?

We would only bombard them with questions about their methods of interstellar travel and nuclear fusion etc, questions that they would be very unwise to answer.

i agree with that assessment; the argument that "if they were, or have been, here, they'd have made Contact with us and said Howdy" seems rather egotistical to me. They (this hypothetical ET race) might see us as no more and no less interesting than any other species on the Planet, and the reason they might not have made Contact might simply be that they don't see that there'd be any point in it; and trying to make contact with them might be seen as very presumptuous and possibly suspicious.

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Here on earth humanity is master of all it perceives. Come a superior civilization out there, it will be quite a come-down. They will never have heard of Jesus or Allah or Krishna or Buddha, and will smile (whatever the equivalent is that they do to show patient tolerance of silly primitiveness) their little smiles and our self-esteem will crash.

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I am prone, however, to suspect that they aren't there. Something of a pity, really, as humanity will be able to go to the stars safe in all its complacency. If they are out there, they are hiding, and that makes no sense.

Really advanced aliens would be like God -- there would be signs of His presence if He were there, and there ain't.

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I am prone, however, to suspect that they aren't there. Something of a pity, really, as humanity will be able to go to the stars safe in all its complacency. If they are out there, they are hiding, and that makes no sense.

Why would it make no sense? Why, come to that, assume that they're hiding? We haven't yet sent any real signals to the Stars, in any systematic way, that anyone Out There might be able to recognise as a signal, for a start, and, if we haven't picked up anything that may suggest technological civilisations on distant Planets, we've only been looking on a narrow specturm of waveband that we use, and, again, any signal would have to be directed specifically at us; simple background chatter wouldn't be identifiable as artificial beyond any great distance. Adn see above as to why thy might not have made Contact with us yet.

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If they are out there there will be some that are millions or even billions of years ahead of us. What marvels would such a society be able to do? Do you think we would be able to miss it?

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If they are out there there will be some that are millions or even billions of years ahead of us. What marvels would such a society be able to do? Do you think we would be able to miss it?

Very possibly we might, if they used a system of communications that we didn't know how to detect. Or they might even be be flying around in our vicinity all the time, but are undetectable because their technology is completely out of our league.

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They just aren't there; the rest is rationalization.

i really don't understand how you can conclude that, i'm afraid I really don't. What makes you conclude that? Because we haven't heard from them? because they haven't said Howdy?

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Because there is no trace of them. Absence of evidence is not proof of absence, but in situations where one would expect to see abundant evidence, the fact that there is none creates strong evidence of absence.

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Because there is no trace of them. Absence of evidence is not proof of absence, but in situations where one would expect to see abundant evidence, the fact that there is none creates strong evidence of absence.

What evidence would you expect to see?

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Oh, solar systems being rearranged, dying stars being resusitated, Dyson spheres, interstellar traffic, and most of all anthropologists coming here.

I should qualify a few things. Its a big universe and so since we know we are possible things like us probably exist elsewhere. Maybe one in each Einsteinein sphere -- so we will never find them.

The fact that there is no sign of them in a galaxy billions of years old tells me our evolution is not a given -- it doesn't just happen. Maybe life just happens on the few worlds where it can survive, but evolution of complex life, let alone sentient life and then technological intelligent sentient life that survives a few thousand years is probably excruciating unlikely.

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Let me make an observation on the problem of sentience -- the "qualia" problem argued about by neurologists. It is really a profound mystery -- not just our consciousness but the nature of the way our brain interfaces with incoming sensory signals. It creates its own world that is actually better at informing us what is going on "out there" than we could if we used direct incoming data. It filters it, sometimes rearranges it, and presents it to us as experiences -- colors, sounds, odors, aches and pains, and all sorts of other subtle experiences we barely notice but that inform us.

The word is "experience." We experience the world, we don't just respond reflexively as an insect might (who knows for sure). I can say something is blue and anyone who has ever experienced blue knows what I mean, but there is no way to communicate it without our having had a shared experience of the color.

We can describe in considerable detail the pathways of the visual stimuli through our brain, but no one has any clue how those signals get turned into an experience of our mind.

Obviously sentience is a tremendous advance, and it evolved somewhat before mammals but especially in mammals where it got linked up with emotions (especially pleasure reinforcement and pain/displeasure deterrence). This permits much more subtle reactions to the environment than pre-evolved wired instincts and reflexes (although they have not been completely replaced).

Now how often in the universe is this sort of completely baffling phenomenon going to arise? Since we have no idea how it arose or how it works, how can we be so glib on the likelihood of there being other sentient beings out there?

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Oh, solar systems being rearranged, dying stars being resusitated, Dyson spheres, interstellar traffic, and most of all anthropologists coming here.

I should qualify a few things. Its a big universe and so since we know we are possible things like us probably exist elsewhere. Maybe one in each Einsteinein sphere -- so we will never find them.

The fact that there is no sign of them in a galaxy billions of years old tells me our evolution is not a given -- it doesn't just happen. Maybe life just happens on the few worlds where it can survive, but evolution of complex life, let alone sentient life and then technological intelligent sentient life that survives a few thousand years is probably excruciating unlikely.

how on earth (sic) would we be able to spot interstellar traffic? They'd probably use hyperspace or warp drive. Dyson spheres? Well, I'm sure I saw some of them in the DIY store last time I looked. They're a new generation of vacuum cleaners, apparently. :unsure2: And why would anyone go to the trouble of resuscitating dying stars? Just to show off? They'd probably just move on somewhere else; I'm sure there'd be loads of suitable stars to choose from.

And besides, maybe they do; there's a whole lot of astronomonical phenomena that we don't really know for sure what they are, isn't there.

And Anthropologists coming here? Once again, that seems to be assuming that we're so remarkably fascinating that they'd flock from all corner of the galaxy to see us.

And maybe they do, but they're more sophisticated than the explorers of the 19th & 20th on Earth, and know that they way to study something in a properly scientific way is not to stick their nose in and make their presence known, but to unobtrusively observe (perhaps from time to time taking a more hands-on approach with one or two selected candidates for experiment). :unsure2:

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also if your the NWO,skull and bones society,the Illuminati,reptilians,evil entities and beings,and evil force and like i said corrupt governments all over the world.but people don't be afraid these so called leaders and government officials don't care for us and don't have our best interest at heart either.they will say anything to win us over even if they don't mean it and do it.they want us to be afraid and fear and hate each other and etc.these government officials are just pretenders and puppets to the people and evil dark forces with the real power behind the scenes!!!

Lets use myself as an example. I am not afraid of Government, and they have no influence over me, your statement appears to be irrelevant. The current Australian Government has not "won me over" since they took power on any issue. They are a bit of a joke really, and the entire UN cannot stop that band of pirates, the Sea Shepherd society, France bombed the atolls despite test bans, and angered the entire world, as have Korea and Vietnam in recent times. Governments hate each other, and oust each other at a moments notice, your claim makes absolutely no sense in the real world. It sounds like the paranoid driven woo woo site credo if anything.

Seriously, this is the lot who are smoking cigars behind closed doors and planning to take advantage of the average citizen?????

464029-ukraine-parliament-fight.jpg

I am afraid I just do not believe it.

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All you do is rationalize the absence of any hint they are out there. That is not persuasive.

I never heard of an anthropologist not making his or her presence known.

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