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.
And to drive that last post home, you have to remember that if religion is correct but you aren't willing to follow the bible completely, than you can't be certain that anything you experience or think is real. Anything might be an illusion or a test of your beliefs. You'd have absolutely no way to determine appropriate action to take because the world for you would no longer be based on rational processes or on documented beliefs and value systems. You'd literally be a lunatic. Now, I'm not saying that following the bible literally would be much better, but, since you'd be acknowledging it as God's sole instructions to man (along with any other religious material you want to include here), you'd be following a canonical set of rules and at least have some order to your life. Unfortunately its this kind of thinking that leads to things like witch hunts, the inquisition, blood letting as a medical cure, etc etc etc ad infinitum.
The entire reason that there are religious individuals who are able to function in the modern world is because they are pragmatic and are willing to set aside most religious tenets that disagree with the reality of their daily lives.
*disclaimer: I believe that religious is absolutely necessary now and was essential to the formation of early human societies. While humans have the capacity to live without religion, early man existed in a world consisting entirely of tradition. Religion was an essential part of that tradition because it provided guidance and explanation about all sorts of things that were outside the realm of rational understanding and did it in a way that improved survival and reproductive chances.
I have a hard time believing in something that offers no proof whatsoever. There is no proof. Everything that comes from relegion is forwarded by Man. All writings comes from Man. Nothing directly from god. Moreover everything we know about religion is thousands of years old. And when I ask why does He not show us some proof I get the answer you have to have faith. Faith is overated.
If there is a god he made me with a concience and a mind to think for myself. Therefore I have to question a God that would ask for my faith without providing any proof whatsoever.
If god created the earth he did not do it 6000 years ago. Get real. Stop insulting my intelligence with such bull.
Sorry but when we have undeniable proof of the earth age and I hear people say it was created 6000 years ago I find that very insulting. Some civilisation are older than 6000 years and to state that the earth was not there when they were is an abominition. God would not like to know that his children are deluding themselves. Use the sense and intelligence He gave you to THINK, not to accept anything that is obviously false.
The life cycle is: Dinos, if they die humans, if they die birds, and if they die insects.
So there is a good chance that we will se somekind of "humans" or others. And I dont think we will se aliens before we "colonized" outside our solar system ( Other would be a culture shock which would end in disasters ;(
There is no evidence to suggest the earth and it's inhabitants have been here longer than 50 years. It was put there when I arrived, and will disappear when I'm gone. Anything else is just nonsense
The state of the Human condition as it is perceived today is such that we can in fact have those who believe and also those who just cannot fathom such a juxtiposition.
What if what we are, along with the whole of our known Universe, nothing more than a single solitary piece in the play set of some Alien culture, and what we perceive to be infinite space, is nothing more than the limited dimensions of a simple colorful marble that we are forever encased in?
Hehe! Saw that in one of the Men in Black movies. Makes one think right?
There is no evidence that you exist...
You may be simply a figment of my very vivid imagination. In fact, this entire world may be a figment of my imagination.
Are we truly here at all?
That makes me feel suffocated. Ironic.
If we are NOT alone, i'm 100% sure we'll find a way to put either ourselves (by accident or otherwise) or them on some extinction list such as what we caused for more than 50 years (to quote my Fuzzy friend, mine is about 53.70, btw) - assuming you believe that present must be followed by future. Through faith or Science based on some past accumulating to BE the rational & real present.
If we are alone, i'm 100% sure we'll eventually all be bored to death anyway. It's called cellular decay.
So why bother.
I think God is the GREATEST scientist to ever live. How else could he have created the marvel we call life. Think about how complex the human body is, how complex the brain is. We cant duplicate it except through sexual reprduction. He has to be the greatest scientist. Think about this...he said "let there be light" and there was. While that is a true statement, it doesnt tell you how he did it. Only that he did it. I bet he knows how to make light. Genisis says he made heaven and Earth. Yes, thats true, but it doesnt tell you how he did it. All that stuff is beyond our capable thought at this point (meaning the point in time that the book of Genisis was written, and the knowledge level of the people at the time). Why would he clutter our limited learning/knowledge with such complexities? He wouldnt. He knows we might have a hard time understanding how life is created. But he knows how to do it. Yes, he very much is a great scientist. It was man who created religion. Lots of us humans decided to believe in God, we then called it a religion. So whats wrong with science, and religion both being right? Both see the same thing from a different perspective. Science wants to see the Earth and the Universe created in a big bang, religion want's it done in 7 days. Who are we to say God's day was 24 hours? We as a race have decided how long a day is based on Earths rotation. When God created light on the first day, there was no earth to define a day as 24 hours. His day was very likely millions/billions of years long. Pretty presumtuous/self centered/egotistical on our part to think he is limited to a 24 Earth hour day. I would bet the Big Bang was on the first day...
And...if you have a problem with the 24 hour day thing, think bout how long a day is on Mercury, or Venus, or Saturn. Those planets have very different number of hours in a "day" than we do. How could we possibly know what God calls a day?
So as a scientist, it would stand to reason that God would not only creat life here on Earth, but on other worlds as well. It could be called that one thing just about all scientist have in common...curiosity. He would creat many planets with life, and see how they turn out. What scientist only does one experiment?
there is a book called The Lure... im sorry i forget who wrote it, but its about a group of scientists who discover a message being transmitted to them in the form of exotic particles.
anyway, most of the book was talking about the implications of the message, and then, the implications to responding.
on one hand, it can be understood that the reason the message was transmitted in such an advanced, difficult to detect way, was to determine if we are advanced enough yet (as anyone below our current level of tech wouldnt be able to recieve the signal) advanced enough for whatever reason, maybe to be able to understand their technology etc. the other side is to determine if we are advanced enough to maybe become a threat.
another point was how does it fit into the bible. in the book, the president of the US (who i thought was an idiot, no offense, because of how much stock he put into the counsel of his very religious friend, once again, no offense, but im entitled to my opinion) asked his religious friend what if there was life, the friend said flat out no, cant be, pres said, but if there was, and after finally getting to religious friend to open his eyes and even consider the possibility, he says, well, the bible says god made us and only us, so anything else must have been made by the devil... or something else, so if you do get a signal, keep very very quiet.
however one other point was that after a while, in order to continue growing, advancing and evolving as a race or species, a culture would have to become very peaceful, or even altruistic, or end up destroying themselves. so any race that decides to contact us would have to be friendly.
all very interesting points, and ones i have to admit i hadnt thought about before i read the book. i highly recommend it
I disagree with this. At first glance, it makes sense, however, techonological advances does not mean that the society has evolved to a peaceful, or altruistic degree, nor does it mean that they would have destroyed themselves.
The exploring of space can be related to the exploration of the earth several hundred years ago. Discovering life on other planets, or in other systems, can be related to say, the Europeans finding other people in the Americas.
While the Europeans were more technologically advanced, they definitely had not become peaceful, or anything near altruistic. And though wars in Europe have happened on and off since before we know... they hadn't managed to destroy themselves either.
sorry, let me clarify here, everything said in the book was argued from both sides, so there were people who argued that a race wouldnt have to become friendly before meeting people, it could simply have decided its better to fight other people etc
Got it.
Sounds a lot like the idiocy displayed by the US gov in the movie "Contact" where, when the decision had to be made who should be the person to contact the aliens on behalf of the US, Jodie Foster got replaced by someone else because she was an atheist.
Oh great! Yet another patient who states his belief is fact. Isn't one lulapilgrim enough already?
Hehe, when I read this I suddenly had a picture in my mind of "God" creating the solar system, and the suddenly saying:"Okay, enough work for now. Let's call it a day."
Um yea we found life *edit(from) mars, it happened like 3 years ago
http://www.marsnews.com/focus/life/
but noone cared or even bothered to remember, long live the human race!
Erm, that is all true and fine. But you won't convince the bible babblers of anything with that. But at least it refutes some people's assertion that there is no life outside of Earth...
Also if an alien race wanted to get to earth they'd have to discover the science required and since this would require reasoned logic and probably good ccommunication you wouldn't exepect them to be irrational and kill us for a nonsense reason.
So that leaves the usually reason namely limited resources. Given the plethora of planets out there it seems to me highly improbable that aliens species blast us all into space dust.
Unless of course they were building a hyperspace bypass and Earth was in the way of the propsed route. In which case, REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR TOWEL!
That's a logical fallacy. While they may have the ability to use reasoned logic, and good communication, they may not use it in all situations.
Why do people insist on holding other life forms on such a pedestal?
Humans also have the ability to use reasoned logic, and good communication, however that doesn't always happen.
Emotions are also a powerful thing, sometimes overcoming logic, and that must be factored in. Other life forms, if advanced, are likely to have emotions, and they may fear us, or despise us for being different.
Again, just because they would likely be more technologically advanced doesn't mean that they would be above us psychologically.
I think this as to be taken into contexte. What reason would a civilization have to come to earth and blow everything to bits?
here are the reason against it:
Reasons against it:
I'm sure we could find plenty pro or cons.
So all in all I think it all comes down to how long a civ takes to find FTL because without it it's probably not likely we would see anybody anyway. The longer the better because then Maturity would take place and I think would make a species a lot more benevolent. Hell Even Humans are mor tolerent now than we were a few hundreads years ago. Far form perfect I grant you but better.
It's just an opinion
It's all a matter of opinion, I suppose.
I just believe that any other life that could/would travel, would be as complex as we are, if not more. A varying range of emotions, desires, needs, and logic, would all factor in, and would result in a life form that is neither completely evil, nor completely altruistic.
All of this reflection, however, is based upon what we know, and understand, about the human race, and what would exist at either ends of the spectrum of enlightenment (purely acting out of instinct vs. full comprehension, and acceptance of all), but perhaps any other life forms have a completely different set of... everything, and there will be nothing that we can relate to at all.
People who don't deem Life outside Earth possible should read this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Complexity/Consciousness
"The Law of Complexity/Consciousness is the tendency in matter to complexify upon itself and at the same time to increase in consciousness. The law was first formulated by Jesuit priest and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
...
Interestingly, for Teilhard, because the Law of Complexity/Consciousness runs everywhere and at all times, and because of the immensity of both time and space in outer space, and the immensity of the chances for matter to find the right conditions to complexify upon itself, it is highly probable that life exists, has existed, and will exist in the universe apart from our earth."
I find it hard to believe there is no other life out there, when it would take 100somehting years traveling at the speed of light just to get the the outer reaches of our solar system, the universe is pretty damn big, do you really believe that its all empty?
Theres bound to be a bunch of life out there. However I doubt humanity will ever see it, traveling at X times the speed of light just doesnt seem possible, and even if it was, I doubt a human body will be able to survive the strain.
Only ways I think we'll bump into other life, is if they turn up here, "wormholes" exist, or we build a really big fuck off moving space station, fill it with thousands of people and launch it off into space somewhere a-la-PSO.
Hubbard's Battlefield Earth or Scientology?
Established two-way communications would signal a competition worth generations of Humanity's best.
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