You know for those saying that our radio stuff is out 70ish years, you do realize that it would be at about the level of noise at those distances?
Just think how much more advanced we would be if we were constantly at war with other States? Or, at least, cold war.
I don't argue that progress can only happen during war, but right now, our best progress is born out of such. The Cold War serves as a key example in recent progress.
But competition in general is what is necessary for progress. Our best hope is peaceful, friendly competition. A world government residing over all the states, removing the anarchistic variable from international politics, would help bring this change to our civilization.
How? The way I see it, if a world government unites everyone under a single banner, states can trade competitively, but not born out of necessity. Multiple parties would be invited to work on the same project, parties that span multiple states and include a large number of participating citizens - be them scientists, engineers, or whatever. This more friendly competition, with large groups working to one solution, would bring not only a great deal of new solutions, but also multiple solutions - solutions that can be used as stepping stones to even greater progress.
And space-traveling species is likely to come across other species. Conflicts will happen due to the nature of sentience.
A species that runs into us, needn't be an aggressor to spell trouble for our way of life. But it could also mean great things to our progress, regardless of the outcome - unless of course it is total annihilation.
If we meet a species that has met other species in war, it could still be a species that has brought united peace to its people. Hell, it could be an extremely peaceful species in general - to be peaceful does not have to equate to being a pacifist, as to uphold peace might require a show of force. Universal politics is something we have no clue over - aggressors could be a very rare thing for all we know, as it could spell trouble for said species in the wide universe. But they arguably exist, as it's simply a product of an anarchistic environment.
For all we know, we may have been monitored for thousands of years, and the united intergalactic body has ordered all species to refrain from contacting our planet. I certainly would - let that miserable planet sort itself out, see if the species can prove themselves fit for their planet as a united species, let alone fit for the stars.
Would you want to invite us to the Assembly of the Universe, knowing how little we can cooperate with each other? I'd say, let them prove their worth, we'll invite them when they are ready.
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Also you need to realize that the universe is like the far west without a sheriff. Destroying other civilizations is risky just because you never know who is watching you and who is out there. If some aliens destroy us to "protect themselves" as a sort of preemptive strike then any and all other alien civilizations that notice this will make it their sole purpose to destroy them in order to protect themselves. The universe is so big and so unknown that the only real viable strategy for even massively advanced civilizations is to hide.
It's only a big bullseye if these aliens venture within 70 light-years of Earth. Otherwise, as far as they're concerned we may as well not exist at all.
My take on stuff like our broadcasting of EM data into space:
Imagine a naive mouse on a grassy plain, which didn't know of the existence of hawks. It decides to start singing loudly while wearing a bright orange leaf as a vest.
It's instantly targeted, and eaten.
It's just natural selection - civilizations which decide that "shut the hell up" is the best way to live, those are the ones which survive to greater technological prowess. Those which announce their presence are picked off quickly, and are thus weeded out of the galactic gene pool.
And likewise, to that ignorant mouse, there is nothing to suggest that there is a hawk circling 500 feet above.Your take is stupid. You are comparing natural selection, to the food chain, to interstellar communication? The hawk is a predator, the mouse is the prey. The hawk needs the mouse to survive. Even if the mouse does not sing, the mouse will be targeted, and may be eaten.
There is nothing to suggest that aliens out there are on the search for us, then again, there is nothing to suggest aliens out there aren't. We just don't know. Speculating is dumb unless you play it by the numbers, and that's what Hawking has done.
And again, no, we literally have no idea what's out there.Furthermore, there is nothing to suggest that aliens will have a desire to destroy us just because on Earth, humans behave in the manner where the more technologically advanced civilization eradicates the other. But then again, there is nothing to suggest aliens will have desires at all, there is nothing to suggest aliens will be biological, maybe they will be mechanical. There is nothing to suggest they will be mortal, that will be doubly weird.
Quite true. Our system of reproduction just happens to be the path that life on this planet took in order to survive in an environment which is utterly hostile to it. This planet is going to try to kill you, so you need to replicate yourself so that a new one can continue to live, while you wither and die. We accept it as normal, and even glorify it. But yeah, if you've got an organism capable of self-repair, the only death it might know is if it got vaporized somehow."An organism that can't be killed won't think killing is right or wrong, it simply wouldn't have a concept of it." -Sphere.
Don't forget your unobtanium-insulated beverage holder.Let's just all go back to playing video games and watching Science Fiction movies. Going to watch the Abyss for the first time tonight. you are all welcome to join me.
Wow, the hyper-arrogant, know-it-all Britisher finally accepts the fact that there is a good possibility of extraterrestrial life, and intelligent life too!
If you people used what you have inside your skulls, assuming you do have something in there, you would know that it is a mathematical certainty for extraterrestrial life to exist; even intelligent life. <snip>....
Wow.
How guilty would you feel if you did crush an anthill?
/Contact
...What then can be said to be truly "universal"? The drive for survival. If a species didn't have that basic instinct it would have lost out to competition. Darwin would apply everywhere...
so ya think hawking runs seti on his computer??
Sounds like someone has been watching to much TV.
I'm not sure where you get the idea that the drive for survival is a universal necessity? Lost out to competition? What competition? Sure we have that on Earth but why is that necessarily so elsewhere?
Look, we are visible (to us) matter material. Most of the universe is actually made up of dark matter, totally foreign to us. We can't even begin to comprehend what may lie therein nor assume Earthly concepts such as Darwin's evolution does.
Is that a Wizard of Oz or Gremlins reference?
I'll take my chances and follow these guidelines:
pretty much i guess, if an alien race masters the ridiculous tech to travel from star to star quickly we would stand no chance against that.