Musings about the world around me, the world I create in my mind, and the world I am escaping to in a game.

When, and if we ever discover life outside of Earth it is going to be extremely monumental. It will be a turning point in human history, thinking, and most definitely religion. At the moment we have not discovered life outside yet obviously, and has anyone ever thought about the wake up call this is going to bring when we do?

Think about it... whether we find intelligent alien life, or microsopic bacterial, all the worlds religion and faith in those old religions will be questioned. This cannot be denied. And more than likely, new religions and revisions of old ones will surely be created. For example, How else will the christian religion be able to explain itself once life outside Earth is found? Earth is suppose to be special and unique and alone among a sea (heh) of planets and stars devoid of life... according to the bible.

And when, if, we do find life outside Earth... this is going to give humans a new way to view themselves. We will truly see we are just a species thriving and carving our own niche in our own ecosystem and soon, the universal ecosystem. In a new way, humans will bond. Maybe I'm being too optimistic here, but racism and hostility between groups of humans will cease, or atleast be greatly reduced in the event of finding intelligent alien life.

It will be us versus them. The aliens. We are humans. Not blacks, whites, latinos, asians, so on and so forth. Humans goddamnit.

We will be divided in a new way... not by the color of our skin or upbringing, but how we view the approach we take to an intelligent alien species. Do we offer peace? Do we trade technology? Do we try to develop a friendship and mutual understanding? Do we declare war? Do we eliminate them out of fear?

What do you think we would, or should do in the event of discovering alien life?

I personally think we should develop a watch and learn mentality. We should try communicating with them and try opening up a line of understanding between us and them. I am certain that, as long as this intelligent species in question, "speaks" or has a language of some sort, we could possibly trade "rosetta stones" between eachother.

Let me know what you think.


Comments (Page 1)
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on Apr 25, 2009

There's actually some very convincing mathematical arguments in favor of there being no other intelligent life existing in our portion of the galaxy.  Based on what we estimate the makeup of the galaxy to be and what little we know about nearby planets in other solar systems, the chance of life forming independently on other planets is almost 0%.  Research projects like scanning for radio signals (SETI) and other smaller scale projects that search for anomolies in the light coming from stars, and the projected influence a species with faster than light travel should have, there isn't any evidence whatosever yet of an intelligent alien race having ever existed.  So I think it's a little silly to say "when" we find it since if "it" is out there it never invented the radio and faster than light travel either isn't possible or wasn't invented either.

on Apr 25, 2009

Are you Smoking crack?

And if so where can I get some.

 

 

Note: Any form of drugs is dangerous to get high off of. Be stupid at your own risk.

on Apr 25, 2009

[quote who="ganKing" comment="1"]

There's actually some very convincing mathematical arguments in favor of there being no other intelligent life existing in our portion of the galaxy.  Based on what we estimate the makeup of the galaxy to be and what little we know about nearby planets in other solar systems, the chance of life forming independently on other planets is almost 0%.  Research projects like scanning for radio signals (SETI) and other smaller scale projects that search for anomolies in the light coming from stars, and the projected influence a species with faster than light travel should have, there isn't any evidence whatosever yet of an intelligent alien race having ever existed.  So I think it's a little silly to say "when" we find it since if "it" is out there it never invented the radio and faster than light travel either isn't possible or wasn't invented either.

[/quote]

 

Just as there are mathematical equations and models predicting No intelligent life, there are just as many models and equations that show that it is definitely possible. SETI is dumb. No question about it. But you also have to consider that maybe they just don't know where to aim their signals at yet. With the discovery of over 320 planets recently, and the newly installed Kepler mission, once we start seeing new planets with possible life, it would help failing programs like SETI to pin point and aim their transmissions better.

on Apr 25, 2009

Darth, dumb comment.

You realize we once thought planets outside of our Solar System never existed? We've found OVER 320 planets to date. The Kepler mission hasn't even started yet, and we've found that many so far. Kepler is purposely going to look for planets similar to Earth... we've already found a planet that exists within a habitable zone (which is a section in a solar srystem where liquid water is capable of forming).

on Apr 25, 2009

If we are alone in the universe, just think how much weirder that would be than meeting an alien race.

 

The first person to meet the aliens would be what they concider all humans to be. So if the Spanish made first contact, we would all probably have to start speaking Spanish, as so not to confuse the aliens.

 

But the chances of there not being aliens in nill. There are thousands of of galaxys, each with thousands of stars and solar systems and about 10 planets per system. It would be near imposible for there not to be another lifeform anywere, but a habitable planet would be different

on Apr 25, 2009

Earth is suppose to be special and unique and alone among a sea (heh) of planets and stars devoid of life... according to the bible.

Can you point me to the scriptural reference(s) to this claim?

Granted, the Bible may only be speaking of our own planet. But that may also be taking a very limited view of what the Bible is actually saying. There may be other star systems that were created in parallel to our own - which is a concept that is not discounted by the Biblical account of Creation, as far as I know.

And still the thought remains... No other indication of intelligent life has yet been discovered. But even in our own galaxy such life could not be discovered unless it was within the constraint of light-speed communications distances. We search for radio waves and other such EM waves. But in open space they only travel (at most) the speed of light. So the signals would have to be within around 120 light years of our planet, assuming a parallel developement.

EM waves attenuate with distance. So the farther the source is from us, the weaker the signal. So even if there were radio waves from another planet, they would likely be too weak and scattered for our receivers to make sense of.

The only possible hope of discovering life 'like' our own on another planet (in even the distant foreseeable future) would be if they were to come to us.

Given that our galaxy is around 100,000 lightyears in diameter, and that the formation of life is so improbable in a purely evolutionary sense, I would estimate the chances of us coming into contact with an intelligent life form in our own lifetime to be about 1 in a quadrillion. - in short, nil.

We need to learn to live with ourselves, by ourselves. Not by the futile hope that an outside agent would come into play.

 

on Apr 25, 2009

It would be near imposible for there not to be another lifeform anywere, but a habitable planet would be different

That's funny.

Near impossible for there not to be another lifeform, but just the opposite for a habitable planet?

If it is near impossible to have another habitable planet, how is it so possible to have another lifeform?

on Apr 25, 2009

Chances are, if we or vice versa, discover life existing outside our planet, first and foremost, sh*t and the fan will collide with such force it'll blanket the entire planet. Also, they they visit us first, some tard is going to make us go to war with them if they are "peaceful" in some way. Assassination, insult... w/e someone'll cause hell with the alien race and we'll be screwed, and it'll be the biggest /facepalm moment ever.

 

Just hope I don't live lond enough to be embarassed by it :/

on Apr 25, 2009

i just hope that i live long enough. I think its the best way to die: by an alien weapon

 

Just that i can say: "i know, we are not alone" whould be great

on Apr 25, 2009

As im sitting at my computer at 3:00 am CST hyped up on mountain dew from work, bored to tears and wishing i could go to sleep with my fiance in bed, i happen to browse throught the sins forum. I have to say this because it has always bothered me and i like hearing other peoples opinions,here i go hope i dont start a war .......

Why do people always think aliens will be peaceful? Is it because they have had thousands of years to develop technologyto reach other worlds so they must have eliminated all war? I must say that this view is flawed in the extreme(in my ownopinion of course,I could very well be wrong no way to know until we do find aliens,which btw i think we may eventually, but i digress, back to topic).

The fact people keep forgeting is that they are alien look up the definition if you care to or here is a link.http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alien

(sorry dont remember how to get hyperlinks and too lazy to find out)

 

Anyway aliens could very well be peaceful, or not or(and not many people consider this) they may care as much about us as we do ants, they might just not care, they may want to trade and interac with us or they may close their borders and refuse all diplomatic overtures. My point is that we just cannot know and ascribing human traits to aliens is just plain foolishand will only hurt us in the end. If you have any comments please post them i like a good argument as long as it dont turn into a screaming match, so lets keep civil.


on Apr 25, 2009

Killforcash, that is true. We have no idea until the day it actually happens, or if it does. Either way, it is going to be a wake up call for the human race. I agree that ascribing human traits to an alien can be foolish, but alas, it is all we can do until we learn more. No matter what, we can atleast determine whether they are Warlike or are Peaceful. The two fundamental human traits that animals also have as attributes. And conaisering that technically, using our models of science so far, an alien is not really special at all, but normal, to exist just like humans and animals on our planet do. More than likely, the concept of war and peace is one that all species of races in the galaxy would know and understand.

on Apr 25, 2009

Moosetek, I am not religious. However, I do have family members and friends who are deeply religious, mostly Christian or Muslim. I have encountered many christians who have stated that planets outside our solar system is not possible, because God created Earth and the rest of the planets in the solar system to show us "his love" for us and that we are special. They obviously know that isn't true now, as we've discovered over 320 planets outside our solar system to date.

Not to mention, in the age of Galileo, it was thought (due to christianity and a lack of technology) that EVERYTHING revolved around the Earth. As we know today, that is not true. It revolves around the Sun. The bible thumpers of the day stated that the everything revolves around the earth and they killed, tortured, or imprisoned anyone who disagreed with them through Science. Science prevailed.

True to what you said though, the bible and it's followers probably only understood it as only being in relation to our planet. Either way, the bible makes no mention of aliens on other planets or other planets for that matter. So what happens when or if we do discover a new species outside of Earth? What now? How can it explain that without adding it into the bible, which would be blasphemy, as supposedly, you're not suppose to change the wording of the bible.... hmm... it's fucked, thats what.

Also remember, just the act of discovering any life at all outside Earth, intelligent or not, is enough to send shockwaves throughout the religious communities. If even microscopic bacteria is found, that means life outside Earth DOES certainly exist, which brings us the possibility of their being even more life out there.

on Apr 25, 2009

It is ignorant and stupid to assume that with all of the vastness of the universe out there that there is no alien life. We have already discovered 320 planets and countless stars, each most likly having thier own solar systems. Even from a biblical view why would God create all the rest of the universe and not populate it and who says he didnt create other intelligent life. The possibility, however, that we will meet these other speicies is extremly remote, for the universe is so big that they might never even enter our galaxy (assuming they dont live there). There are probably hundreds if not thousands of intelligent alien races out there but Im almost certain that we will not meet them, if we ever do, in our lifetime.

and Darth-plaigus' comment is not dumb, you have to be either on drugs or completely ignorant to belive that we are alone in this HUGE universe! I will give him karma for having intelligance and mentioning that drugs are stupid!

on Apr 25, 2009

What will happen if we discovered an insect like alien fighting a psionic alien?  We will probably send n space marines. 

http://www.starcraft2.com/

on Apr 25, 2009

Protocept, the truth about what happened to Galileo is not quite as one sided as you might think. 

I think you would be interested to know that while Galileo, while ultimately proven correct, had no way to conclusively prove his theory of heliocentrictiy without being able to detect the motions of nearby stars in front of the more distant starfield as the earth revolved around the sun (this being called parallax).  Telescopes that could actually see this phenomenon did not come about until 1838, where parallax was first observed.  Galileo's house arrest, while regrettable, had a much larger political dimension (and Galileo being less than diplomatic in the presenting of his theory) outside the outright renuciation of the theory of heliocentricity.

Some Protestant leaders gave stronger statements against the theory, but I haven't heard of any other mistreating of scientists due to them putting forward the heliocentric theory.  Copernican's initial work hardly raised a stir when it was published. Care to give a few more details on who these "anyone" are?

True to what you said though, the bible and it's followers probably only understood it as only being in relation to our planet. Either way, the bible makes no mention of aliens on other planets or other planets for that matter. So what happens when or if we do discover a new species outside of Earth? What now? How can it explain that without adding it into the bible, which would be blasphemy, as supposedly, you're not suppose to change the wording of the bible.... hmm... it's fucked, thats what.

You're making a tempest in a teapot, no such changes need be made.  I have no doubt Christianity will survive such a revelation.  God is still God if He created other lifeforms outside of the earth, it's certainly within His power and rights.

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