If many extraterrestrial civilizations were nearby but trying to keep quiet, how would you suggest drawing them out?
If many extraterrestrial civilizations were nearby but trying to keep quiet, how would you suggest drawing them out?
What do you think would finally be their, "Enough, we gotta say something!" situation?
Edit:
Put another way, what might serve as a cosmic icebreaker?
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I think we're the North Sentinelese of the Milky Way and we're being purposefully insulated so we develop technologically and sociologically up to a certain point where we'll be able to join everyone else. I doubt they'll say anything. That's the point. In fact i think we're being shielded as a kindness, possibly protected too. We, as a species, can't even leave the solar system and return. I'm guessing an advanced enough civilization could create a believable enough reproduction of the universe for us to study.
I think the difference between the alien UN and our global organization is probably the same level as the difference between our UN and the North Sentinel Island tribal elders.
It just doesn't make sense that the galaxy is empty. But my theory is just my best guess. I have no concrete evidence. I do think there are some mighty coincidences around here. For instance, a solar system stocked with several planets and minerals and a long life stable star, almost ideal from all the various star types available. A random meteorite hitting the earth after millions of years of dinosaurs not developing intelligent life. A very logical progression of bodies for a space faring civilization to grow. First the moon, then mars, then venus, etc. A lot of asteroids that seem to zip by Earth but always near miss at an alarming common rate. Jupiter strategically placed to keep Earth safe from a large number of meteors and other celestial bodies.
I think humans are a benevolent, non intrusive biological experiment by an advanced species or at the very least a protected species in some nature reserve. Them interacting with us could potentially hamper our development. It could be that religions were their previous attempts but didn't work out so well.
Have you heard of the puddle analogy?
A small amount of water sits there, it this hole in the ground it finds itself in. It looks at this cavity, observes how perfectly it fits the contours of their liquid body. It's perfect! Every nook and cranny seems to be formed to fit the puddle perfectly.
"This hole must have been made for me! It's too much of a coincidence that, with all the ways a hole could form, this one formed perfectly to fit me!"
You're doing that. You're saying it's a crazy coincidence that all the right things were in place here for life to exist that led to us being here... but if it wasn't, then we just wouldn't have developed as life-forms. Or if the environs were different, life would have developed to fit into that kind of solar system. I think you just like the idea, so you believe it, but I think it's better to believe things we have evidence for.
Maybe the hole was made for the puddle, who's to say it wasn't? Perhaps a large number of coincidental occurrences made it, but there sits the water in a hole that perfectly accommodates it. Something that the people who built the road expected. How can one say it wasn't the intention of the organization of the universe in a series of probabilities that one day that water would be right on that puddle, in a specific moment in time? Wouldn't that arguably make the hole made for the water at that point in time ?
I guess that's more of a philosophy debate, but honestly until we get more data, it could be anything. All we know is that our long range scanners have not detected advanced civilizations and that doesn't match our expectations. It could be because they don't exist, it could be because they're hiding themselves from us.
We know very little about alien life at this point and until we have more information, every explanation is possible. Some scientific explanations of the universe or life that were eventually discovered were certainly more wild and vivid than we previously thought before. I'm not saying this is what is necessary happening, just something that could be happening.
Jesus fucking christ. You know how water works, right? It fits the form of the container it's in. It's an simplified analogy to explain what that other guy linked to. We (well, you) see a universe fit to our kind of life, but the reality is that we developed to fit the universe.
You remind me of this guy I saw the other day claiming that a whole bunch of rocks that are vaguely shaped like body parts might be fossilized body parts.
He just kept saying "I'm not saying it definitely is, but imagine if we don't understand the world, and it's maybe this way? Crazy right?!"
It's such cowardly bullshit. If you want to believe a thing because it sounds nice to you, don't half-ass it and throw qualifiers on it. You brought it up, and then when challenged the tiniest bit, backed down with a "I'm not saying that's definitely true... but maybe...?"
and that doesn’t match our expectations.
What expectations? Actual scientist, using facts, don't have expectations of alien life. We don't know the probability of life existing anywhere but here because we have nothing to compare it to. We have the one universe with the one data set available to us. Until we discover alien life, we should have no expectation for it. Do I think it's likely there is life elsewhere? Yes. Does that mean I expect it? No. We don't have enough information about the cosmos to even start to calculate whether it should happen.
I had a roommate once who believed that the stuff from the Alvin the Maker book series was real. The magic and shit. I asked if he had anything that led him to believe that or if he just really liked the books and wanted it to be. OF course he didn't have any evidence or real reason for it. He just wanted it to be so, so he decided that he was going to believe that thing.
You're doing that. Stop it. Be a grown-up here and stop believing in make-believe and believe things only when we have sufficient (or in your case, I'll take any) evidence.
I see. Thank you for your reply and for the stories of your friends. It's an interesting way to see things. I have nothing further to reply.
Might be or might not be, another option is that space travel is nearly impossible except for one way generation trips.