Solar system silliness

[fixthecopier]

Thiese are some interesting thoughts on the subject...5 Insane Theories About Why We Haven't Discovered Alien Life | Cracked.com

this is my favorite...

According to the Law of Accelerating Returns, once a civilization begins hitting a real technological stride, the level of advancement will begin to increase exponentially in a comparatively short period. For example, human beings have been trolling around the planet for thousands of years but have seen their greatest advancements (medicine, computers, flight, space travel, etc.) just within the past century. And each iteration of those advancements took less and less time to produce -- that is, the span between no computers and the first computers was much longer than the span between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 5. Every time we build a house, we don't have to rediscover what a hammer and nails are -- we just take the tools we've already developed and continue to figure out better ways to use them.

Now, let's apply the same logic to a super-advanced civilization of star-hopping aliens. We can assume that "flying saucers" are at the far end of the technological timeline, meaning that by now the aliens have theoretically enjoyed centuries of Accelerating Returns. So, take the last 50 years or so of Earth science and multiply that by, say, 300 or 400. That's the level of technology at which interstellar travelers would likely be operating, and it is far beyond anything our pizza-microwaving asses can even begin to comprehend.
So, what would we have to offer them?
Alien civilizations may not be trying to talk to us for the same reason that we don't spend a whole lot of time trying to talk to goldfish -- we really don't have anything worthwhile to say to each other. Maybe some dimensional-shambling moon lizards noticed intelligent life on our planet and decided to take a break solving Rubik's cubes with their mind fingers to discuss the finer points of time travel with our greatest minds, only to discover that our defining technological achievement of the past three years was figuring out how to rent movies from a vending machine. They would've sighed heavily, climbed back into their star cruiser, and signed into the Galactic Network to remove Earth from the list of potential candidates for the United Federation of Planets.

Read more: 5 Insane Theories About Why We Haven't Discovered Alien Life | Cracked.com

[mjarbar]

Awesome links, thanks!
On the other hand, I'm not sure it is a good idea to minimize us that way. I mean, considerable effort has been expended to find out if there is any other intelligent life in the universe (ie SETI), but no evidence has been found that proves extraterrestrial intelligence exists yet.
As such, until we figure out how to actually interpret alien intelligence, or, the aliens just show up and say "Crap, another clown college, this is going to take a while", or, we get way better at space flight and go out and find alien life ourselves, it probably would be better to consider us as the most intelligent people for the time being. It looks kind of like a waste of time to consider it otherwise to me.
Still, I look forward to the day when I'm working on a machine, and a super intelligent alien from outer space tells me "Well, you could replace that PCU, or, you could just add this dark matter to the developer and then it will work perfectly forever.".

But there would still be some idiot that would disagree with them just because he doesn't like the answer!!!

[Ikon Princess]

Did I miss anything?


batman.jpg

[Darren King]

[QUOTE=fixthecopier;365855]Thiese are some interesting thoughts on the subject...5 Insane Theories About Why We Haven't Discovered Alien Life | Cracked.com

this is my favorite...

According to the Law of Accelerating Returns, once a civilization begins hitting a real technological stride, the level of advancement will begin to increase exponentially in a comparatively short period. For example, human beings have been trolling around the planet for thousands of years but have seen their greatest advancements (medicine, computers, flight, space travel, etc.) just within the past century. And each iteration of those advancements took less and less time to produce -- that is, the span between no computers and the first computers was much longer than the span between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 5. Every time we build a house, we don't have to rediscover what a hammer and nails are -- we just take the tools we've already developed and continue to figure out better ways to use them.

Now, let's apply the same logic to a super-advanced civilization of star-hopping aliens. We can assume that "flying saucers" are at the far end of the technological timeline, meaning that by now the aliens have theoretically enjoyed centuries of Accelerating Returns. So, take the last 50 years or so of Earth science and multiply that by, say, 300 or 400. That's the level of technology at which interstellar travelers would likely be operating, and it is far beyond anything our pizza-microwaving asses can even begin to comprehend.
So, what would we have to offer them?
Alien civilizations may not be trying to talk to us for the same reason that we don't spend a whole lot of time trying to talk to goldfish -- we really don't have anything worthwhile to say to each other. Maybe some dimensional-shambling moon lizards noticed intelligent life on our planet and decided to take a break solving Rubik's cubes with their mind fingers to discuss the finer points of time travel with our greatest minds, only to discover that our defining technological achievement of the past three years was figuring out how to rent movies from a vending machine. They would've sighed heavily, climbed back into their star cruiser, and signed into the Galactic Network to remove Earth from the list of potential candidates for the United Federation of Planets.

Read more: 5 Insane Theories About Why We Haven't Discovered Alien Life | Cracked.com[/QUOTE

Don't forget the anal probing. They come here for that.

[Phrag]

Well if you consider that we've recently found and confirmed 3 more earth like planets within 20 or so light years of us. They all are located within that tiny habitable zone where water can exist in liquid state. They're all larger than our Earth.

Astronomers find 'super Earth' planets orbiting a nearby star where life could exist - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

That's 3. near a system containing 3 stars. Imagine how many planets actually are located within this Goldilocks zone in the universe?

[fixthecopier]

[/QUOTE

Don't forget the anal probing. They come here for that.[/QUOTE]


I thought that was more for our benefit.

[SargeNZ]

It pays to remember that not only are we spatially separated from possible other lifeforms on other worlds, we are also temporally separated. The amount of time Earth has had life on it is only the tiniest fraction of the age of the universe. The universe itself has literally until the end of time to come up with other life forms and snuff them out again. For those life forms to share a billionth of a percent of that time overlapping with our day in the sun is supremely unlikely.

Edit: Modern man has been around for roughly 150,000 years. The universe is around 13.77 Billion years old. We have thus been around for about A one hundred thousandth of the time. Add to the fact that we have really only been broadcasting high power radio signals for the last 100 years. Chances are that no one knows we are here, and no one ever will.

[Iowatech]

Here's a recent picture of Hyperion, one of the moons of Saturn.
APOD: 2013 June 30 - Saturns Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters
I guess there is still things we need to find out about the stuff in our own solar system.

[Phrag]

Alien civilizations may not be trying to talk to us for the same reason that we don't spend a whole lot of time trying to talk to goldfish -- we really don't have anything worthwhile to say to each other. Maybe some dimensional-shambling moon lizards noticed intelligent life on our planet and decided to take a break solving Rubik's cubes with their mind fingers to discuss the finer points of time travel with our greatest minds, only to discover that our defining technological achievement of the past three years was figuring out how to rent movies from a vending machine. They would've sighed heavily, climbed back into their star cruiser, and signed into the Galactic Network to remove Earth from the list of potential candidates for the United Federation of Planets.

That's an interesting idea. That idea was partially explored in Mass Effect, in my opinion.

[fixthecopier]

That's an interesting idea. That idea was partially explored in Mass Effect, in my opinion.

If tv signals go on forever, aliens know us from

Cops
Jersey Shore
Real World
Here ComesHoneyBoo Boo
Horders
Pawn Stars
Real Housewifes
Storage Wars
And a long list of reality crap


Don't think about it too long. It will make you want to leave the planet also.