Do you believe in UFOs: is there sentient life besides our own?!!!

[Insidious Rex]

The clear restriction of multi light year travel is such a huge barrier to 'flying saucer' travel as to make it nearly impossible an option. And any creature so advanced as to have gotten around this problem most likely would have utterly no use for us so the whole slave ship thing isnt a concern (unless theres a thriving evil civilization on the far side of Neptune that we haven’t noticed). At the very worst we have been and/or are currently being studied. And no not by anal fixated probe wielding space yahoos but most likely by something more advanced then us as we are more advance then bacteria and in a way completely unimaginable and incomprehensible to us.

[hectorberlioz]

Agreed, Rex

Well, here's what we do know: that if they can get into a permanent space vehicle, they are superior, which means we should be afraid...

[Rían]

*working backwards...*

Originally Posted by hb

Well, here's what we do know: that if they can get into a permanent space vehicle, they are superior, which means we should be afraid...

depends on how you define "superior" ...

Originally Posted by IRex

The clear restriction of multi light year travel is such a huge barrier to 'flying saucer' travel as to make it nearly impossible an option. And any creature so advanced as to have gotten around this problem most likely would have utterly no use for us so the whole slave ship thing isnt a concern (unless theres a thriving evil civilization on the far side of Neptune that we haven’t noticed). At the very worst we have been and/or are currently being studied. And no not by anal fixated probe wielding space yahoos but most likely by something more advanced then us as we are more advance then bacteria and in a way completely unimaginable and incomprehensible to us.

Eh, I wouldn't even like to meet creatures whose criteria is "are they useful to us?" when they consider whether or not to "introduce" themselves. What happened to "because it's there?" and the spirit of exploration/adventure?

We certainly may be being studied; the whole radio/tv transmission thing is interesting. Their scientists would have to have done a lot of things to receive a signal (have enough of a concept of other civilizations and a desire to search for them to have a receiver scanning for signals; have a receiver that's even able to detect the signal, and set to the right frequency and direction; be able to distinguish a non-random signal; be able to decipher the signal; etc. etc.) but it's a possibility.

I think the whole "They took me up to their spaceship and violated me" thing is ridiculous, though.

[hectorberlioz]

Techonogically superior

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

Remember the American Indians? The Inca? The Aztec? Tribal peoples all over the world were taken as slaves by their neighbors – and no, you politically correct zealots, not only by Europeans, but also by the Chinese, the Indians (proper, of the Indian subcontinent), Africans (the European and American slave trade was fed by local African kings who raided and sold neighboring tribesmen into bondage: no European dared go beyond the shore without an official escort for centuries); as well as the Aztec and the Inca and the Apache; not to mention the ancient Egyptians, the Romans, the Persians, - they all exploited and enslaved their weaker neighbors, everywhere!

True - thank you for your non-pc facts!!! I get tired of the "oh they were so innocent and pure before we came" line.

I am sick to death of mindless morons mouthing the mantra “Oh, I wish aliens would come and visit us and impart their cosmic wisdom to us!�

Yeah, that part of the alien idea is irritating.

Originally Posted by Nurv

We really are incredibly egotistical to assume that aliens will be interested in us at all.

I don't get the egotistical angle. I think any being worth its salt (or local equivalent) would be interested in learning about new things.

Originally Posted by anglorfin

I have no idea whether our planet has been visited by aliens in the past, but I've always held that it's egotistical of us to believe that we are the only sentient planet in the whole universe.

I don't think it's necessarily egotistical (there's that word again!). It depends on your reason.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

Techonogically superior

ah, ok
(intelligence and other types of superiority don't necessarily go together, do they?! And technological superiority is not only a function of intelligence; it's also a function of mere time)

Originally Posted by hectorberlioz

...and I have to say, I've never "closed the door" to the possiblity of other life in space, nor perhaps even for aliens to already visiting earth etc...it's just that, I don't find myself worrying about it too often

My feelings exactly.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Valaru

We exist, on one small planet, circling one little star, with a universe filled with to close to an infinite number of stars and planets, statistically there has to be life out there, unless we are a total anomaly, which we can't be as they found some fossilized microbes in some mars rocks.

Hi Valaru!!!!! Welcome to t'other place!

Originally Posted by Alcuin

In all seriousness, Valaru, statistics doesn’t prove anything in this case. Technically, you cannot prove anything with statistics: you disprove things within arbitrarily set bounds called “confidence levels,� and there is neither any confidence level nor any reliable data from which to build such a structure.

thank you Thank You THANK YOU!!!!!
I swear, I get so irritated by people (who have probably NEVER sat through ANY courses in statistics) who think the entire discipline of statistics exists so that a person can say "well, it's statistically not impossible" about ANYTHING! THANK YOU for your very concise and helpful summary! (I had to take 2 courses of stats at uni - a lot of it is very dry, but some parts are very interesting and useful.)

[Valaru]

About the technological superioity, they could have a craft in space, but their weapons technology could be at the flint lock, or bow and arrow level, depending on whether they are warlike or not, not all technologies grow at the same pace.

[Rían]

Exactly.

(and bows are so cool, anyway!)

I like C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet, where the locals (on Mars) looked very primitive at first glance - very primitive bowls, etc. - but were hugely advanced in poetry and literature, and would have these massive technical discussions and such on poetry. It's all what your interests/priorities are.

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Valaru

About the technological superioity, they could have a craft in space, but their weapons technology could be at the flint lock, or bow and arrow level, depending on whether they are warlike or not, not all technologies grow at the same pace.

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

Exactly.

I know (or certainly hope!) this is a light-hearted thread with only false earnestness attached to the subject matter, but neither of you are serious, are you? Would you really trust the survival of the human race to the reed hope that any aliens you might meet are peaceable folk who don’t want to eat you or abuse you? Isn’t that – how shall we say – a little starry-eyed?

Maybe it’s just very late here on the East Coast, and I should haul myself off to bed for the night.

[Valaru]

*nevermind*

who knows what technology they would have, who knows what their intentions would be, and who knows if their actions would even be comprehnsable to us.

Maybe the aliens are microbes, and that itch in the nethers is just their way of saying hi, and had nothing at all to do with that wild night in Havana.

[Valaru]

Another thought to consider.

IF there was great super technological alien civilizations, there is a chance they existed millions of years ago, and if not space faring, wiped out. Our little planet has already had at least 5 major extinction events, that if happened now would make ou civilization, and probably our species disappear.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

I know (or certainly hope!) this is a light-hearted thread with only false earnestness attached to the subject matter, but neither of you are serious, are you? Would you really trust the survival of the human race to the reed hope that any aliens you might meet are peaceable folk who don’t want to eat you or abuse you? Isn’t that – how shall we say – a little starry-eyed?

Don't worry, I'm not starry-eyed at all - my comment was merely meant to acknowledge that what Valaru said is a possibility. I don't need to trust the survival of the human race to any hope about aliens - there's nothing I can do about it, anyway. If they come, they come :shrug: If I think they might be peaceable, there's nothing I can do to prepare for it now. If I think they might be warlike, there's nothing I can do to prepare for it now, and I don't plan on spending even one second right now considering where to hide or what to do if they DO come. I really don't even give it a second's thought, except on a thread like this where I entertain different options for the heck of it.

Personally, I think that we'll NEVER encounter an alien race similar to ours (vis Ã* vis "Star Trek") here on Earth. I think there might be other races out there, but I never worry about it. IF they come (and that's a big "if", IMO), we'll deal with what comes. :shrug: I imagine your scenario is more likely, though, than the all-good, all-knowing alien race type thing which always makes me --> .

[Nurvingiel]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

I don't get the egotistical angle. I think any being worth its salt (or local equivalent) would be interested in learning about new things.

True, but why would aliens come to humans first? There are billions of species on Earth, and even more non-living interesting things, like the ocean or geological formations.

Out of all that, I think it is a bit arrogant to assume that aliens will first make contact with us.

[Rían]

I don't think the word "first" was in the original comment, was it?

[hectorberlioz]

Yeah, they might just be thirsty aliens...

[trolls' bane]

*stumbles back into the discussion, clearly intoxicated with something imported from Ross 780*
They're here! They're already here! You're all as good as gone, my friends! They're going to take us all back to Upsilon Andromadae. Those Anrodmedians...err...Andromedans, they're evil, I tell you. EVIL! Quick! To the underground now!

[hectorberlioz]

Originally Posted by trolls' bane

*stumbles back into the discussion, clearly intoxicated with something imported from Ross 780*
They're here! They're already here! You're all as good as gone, my friends! They're going to take us all back to Upsilon Andromadae. Those Anrodmedians...err...Andromedans, they're evil, I tell you. EVIL! Quick! To the underground now!

It's that illegal drink from Star Trek! ...forget what it's called...
Vulcan Ale? Wine?

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Wasn't it Romulan Ale? First blue ale I e'er seen...

[trolls' bane]

*continues, not only "virtually" inoxicated but on a roll from a very successful day of government-forming activity in his World Cultures class*
Romulans! Now they're a fun lot. Always pointin' their disruptors my way for some reason. Now that one fellow...what's his name...Spock! Him and his reunification force thing get me out of a lot o'er there... *continues on for about twenty minutes, naming all the other ETIs he can think of, some of them more than once, and eventually going off onto the subject of whether it would be cheaper to be shipped back from China via coffin or to get mummified if you died on vacation there*