Alien conquistadores?

[Enjo]

I agree. Hawking should consider that intelligent life does not only make progress technologically, but also is able to make progress sociologically.

Nope. Some species could evolve into peace loving observers with a temper of a sheep, and other into something more brutal like humans. All the species on Earth are in the best shape that the evolution could give them in their environments until now ... as far as I understand evolution. It's not a linear progress towards divinity.

 

[vonneuman]

Why do people think that alien species are similar to Earth species.

Something a paleontologist said on the subject, "Forms in nature don't just work well, they work extremely well."
He went on to talk about how the same forms have appeared over and over separately.

The Wolf:

The tasmanian tiger

The gorgonopsid

They had a similar life so they had a similar form.
So it might me possible for an intelligent species to be similar to us.

Couldn't we just invoke the Shadow Proclamation?

:rofl::rofl:

 

[Ghostrider]

Why do people think that alien species are similar to Earth species.

Because it reduces the stress on the SFX, make-up and costume departments.

So it might be possible for an intelligent species to be similar to us.

Hm, actually per your reasoning they should be very different then!

Anyway, I'll take anything over those darn creepy things that look like weeping angel statues.

 

[Enjo]

So it might me possible for an intelligent species to be similar to us.

Is it good or bad?

 

[T.Neo]

So it might me possible for an intelligent species to be similar to us.

Yes, but not that similar. They might share things like eyes, or legs or arms with us.

A good example would be a Prawn. It's a lot like a human in certain fundamental aspects, but very unlike a human in others.

They had a similar life so they had a similar form.

This might be the case, but it won't reproduce the human form. Things like the basic body plan evolve early on, and there's no saying that all sapient organisms will have an evolutionary history similar to ourselves.

Because it reduces the stress on the SFX, make-up and costume departments.

And the creativity on the creator...

It's not a linear progress towards divinity.

Don't confuse evolution with society.

I'm not saying that all societies lead toward divinity, just that they would become less opressive.

 

[orb]

I don't understand how avoiding contact will prevent them from finding us. Did Native Americans send any messages to Europeans, before Europeans came to America? If aliens are interested in Earth or humans, they will eventually come here anyway.

Prof Hawking thinks that, rather than actively trying to communicate with extra-terrestrials, humans should do everything possible to avoid contact.

We should stop our own expansion, stop sending probes, deorbit all satellites, hide ourselves in vaults (the best on Earth, Moon, Mars, and maybe some other bodies, so we have some extra space for future), so aliens won't notice and find us, and enslave us, when they look at Earth either passively or actively while trespassing through our system, after they caught our earlier radio transmissions, before we stopped all high-frequency radio communication.

Because it reduces the stress on the SFX, make-up and costume departments.

:rofl:

 

[Enjo]

T.Neo:

The DNA that you carry, influences also your brain -> your way of thinking -> the way you behave as / in society.

 

[T.Neo]

The DNA that you carry, influences also your brain -> your way of thinking -> the way you behave as / in society.

Ah, the old nature vs. nurture debate.

Of course an alien species is going to differ in terms of nurture, but they will have fundamental similarities with humans, in terms of both psychology and society.

Society isn't wholly determined by psychology. A lot of it is determined by history and ideologies.

 

[Enjo]

I always try not to be a binary thinker (unlike many other people who even aren't in the IT sector!). For me its nature AND nurture AND everything else. Never only one thing.

 

[AirSimming]

Nope. Some species could evolve into peace loving observers with a temper of a sheep, and other into something more brutal like humans. All the species on Earth are in the best shape that the evolution could give them in their environments until now ... as far as I understand evolution. It's not a linear progress towards divinity.

Humans are not entirely brutal. Humans are actually a good example of what happens to animals which become intelligent and self-aware. Our social progresses have caused a lot of primitive instincts to almost disappear. We can take decisions rationally and consciously rather than just driven by a feeling of hunger and what genes tell us to do. We decide to have sex consciously because we want to enjoy it, not just to beget children and do self-preservation, but even consciously try to be without children (which is in some regions a problem).

Scientific (and its technological) progress actually goes not along with brutality. Brutality is what is caused politically. We don't go into space to be brutal. We go into space because we are curious and because we want to explore places we have never seen before. I expect the same for other intelligent species because we live in the same universe and certainly consist of the same elements under almost equal laws. And if those species are able to travel light years of distances, I think it is for sure that they have reached a state of intelligence and rationalism that is ahead of ours.

But the fact that it took quite a while until there was the proper conditions for intelligent life on our earth, and this compared with the age of the universe, drastically shrinks the chances that there are other comparable forms of life anyway I think. The window for such conditions seems to be more than damn small and anything but common in space. I think of course it is possible because we are an example, but this seems to be anything but common.

 

[Enjo]

I understand your points, guys, and I would even say that you're in 3/4rd right (I'm starting to have it with that fuzzy logic already...), but you see, you and I would go there to explore, learn, but other people on the very same planet (unfortunately they would be those who would be funding you) may have other business in mind when it comes to full scale $pace exploration. Just estimate how our source planet is devastated just by looking at the lvl 11 textures of forest around amazon river

[EDIT]

To sum up:

1) Have we really evolved into a calm species already? (following your logic)
2) So far, have we all evolved equally? (to be able to say "we evolved". How much is "we"?)

 

[ar81]

Stephen Hawking warns over making contact with aliens

See BBC article here.

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he said.

Did he mathematically discover the Galactic Empire?? :lol:

 

[Urwumpe]

And when Europeans reached China, it was equally disastrous, it is now long gone and destroyed...

Next in the news: Vint Cerf recommends steaks.

Actually, if you read the original statement of Hawking, you will find out that he is not concerned about us making contact, but how we do it: With love letters, music, photographs of our dogs and other egoisms.

 

[T.Neo]

With love letters, music, photographs of our dogs and other egoisms.

Is this bad? If I got love letters, alien music, photographs of tsiongi and egoisms from aliens, I would not be compelled to go to war with them...

 

[T.Neo]

Again, it makes very little sense to get resources from an earthlike planet.

 

[Enjo]

This is your assumption based on what you currently know.
Anyway. I'm going out with my alien dog before this thread evolves into a flame war.

 

[ar81]

Give aliens access to internet, so we can communicate with them... :lol:

 

[ex-orbinaut]

Since when did Europe get overrun by Native Americans?

Try the present.....?

I think you will be able to look up the statistics of how many Ecuadorians alone there are living in (especially) Spain and Italy, and other countries of Europe. Even those figures lie, as a good many more are there illegally. Then there's the rest of Latin America.

So, is that what could happen if we are invaded by aliens? We get back at them two to five centuries later?

By the word "native" I am assuming that you are using it in its correct sense, as in "born" somewhere, and don't mean specifically Chief Sitting Bull or Tupac Yupanqui, yes?

 

[Linguofreak]

I'm not saying that all societies lead toward divinity, just that they would become less opressive.

History shows that societies tend to become less oppressive in a few ways and more oppressive in a few more, all the while patting themselves on the back for getting rid of the old evils, and often for bringing in the new ones as well.

Again, it makes very little sense to get resources from an earthlike planet.

For any civilization likely to be able to get here, yes.

 

[T.Neo]

This is your assumption based on what you currently know.

Wait what?

I mean, with all the atmosphere and the gravity well, and the pesky humans, and the potentially poisonous air and whatnot. Sol does have an oort cloud...

I think you will be able to look up the statistics of how many Ecuadorians alone there are living in (especially) Spain and Italy, and other countries of Europe. Even those figures lie, as a good many more are there illegally. Then there's the rest of Latin America.

Yes, but aren't these people primarily descended from Europeans?

So, is that what could happen if we are invaded by aliens? We get back at them two to five centuries later?

Depends on the definition of "get back". Illegal humans? That's an amusing concept...

By the word "native" I am assuming that you are using it in its correct sense, as in "born" somewhere, and don't mean specifically Chief Sitting Bull or Tupac Yupanqui, yes?

Yes, native as in born somewhere. I'm native to South Africa, although many people would like to believe otherwise due to my heritage.

When I speak of "Native Americans" though, I'm talking about the people that came to America thousands of years ago via the bearing strait land bridge.

EDIT:

and often for bringing in the new ones as well.

Such as?

For any civilization likely to be able to get here, yes.

Or some who cannot?

Ok, so maybe mining NEOs and oort objects isn't the easiest task, but if you're going to other star systems for resources, you should be able to do it.

Maybe there's a scenario where the people entering the solar system are not geared up for ISRU, or they're in a bad way. But that is hardly a reason to invade Earth and pillage our resources.