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Frequency from outside the Milky Way baffles astronomers

"There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy."

Point being, although developing trends support your statement, I don't think we're so far along that it would take terribly much to revert. And let's be fair, people in third world countries aren't treated so hot.

We're not beyond societal collapse. That can take many forms. EMP/solar flare, a catastrophic natural disaster, a pandemic with an absurdly high casualty rate, worldwide economic calamity, scarcity of life sustaining necessities like water & food, thermonuclear exchanges, etc.

When the proverbial **** hits the fan law & order will quickly break down. And once governments have started their continuity operations and locked themselves away from the outside world, the rest of us get to live in a state of nature.

The awful thing once realization is gained is that we could wake up tomorrow with the ball already in motion for societal collapse which inevitability leads to our demise.
 
"There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy."

Point being, although developing trends support your statement, I don't think we're so far along that it would take terribly much to revert. And let's be fair, people in third world countries aren't treated so hot.

Perhaps civilized society has, but when an examination of "uncivilized" societies is conducted, wholesale slaughter, slavery, rape & other ugly things exist in abundance.

When it comes to extraterrestrials: the way we interact with each other is dependent on what their goals are. They could be humanity's greatest ally or something akin to extraterrestrial North Koreans. If they're the former, great, our worldly problems would be likely solved. But if they're the latter, we're ****ed because there is a wide-spectrum of horrible things we could experience.

Given the distance we've come in the past 100 years, there is no reason to believe those capable of interstellar travel will be barbarians. Such a presumption is counter to all developmental evidence.
 
When it comes to extraterrestrials: the way we interact with each other is dependent on what their goals are. They could be humanity's greatest ally or something akin to extraterrestrial North Koreans. If they're the former, great, our worldly problems would be likely solved. But if they're the latter, we're ****ed because there is a wide-spectrum of horrible things we could experience.

The point is without contacting and evaluating them first there is no point to create these horror movie driven prejudices about the alien's intent on earth. My position is that, just like God, we do not know of aliens neither for they have not showed up yet.
 
Given the distance we've come in the past 100 years, there is no reason to believe those capable of interstellar travel will be barbarians. Such a presumption is counter to all developmental evidence.

And by what basis do you go by with this belief? Humanity? We are the only ones on this planet and in our entire experiance as such we are the only species to base such a belief on. To narrow this scope down a bit...would you base a belief that all of humanity are peaceful beings based on a single pacifist?

In otherwords the only "developmental evidence" that we have is one single species. No scientist worth their salt would make such an assumption based on ONE example.
 
Why aliens gotta be evil?

HG Wells explained it best:

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment.


Also, to put it in perspective: The power necessary to produce a signal that would be detectable in another galaxy is immense and would be created by an intelligence much more advanced than our own, and they would have had to accomplish the task at least 2.5 million years ago for us to be receiving the signal today.
 
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And by what basis do you go by with this belief? Humanity? We are the only ones on this planet and in our entire experiance as such we are the only species to base such a belief on. To narrow this scope down a bit...would you base a belief that all of humanity are peaceful beings based on a single pacifist?

In otherwords the only "developmental evidence" that we have is one single species. No scientist worth their salt would make such an assumption based on ONE example.


I base it on the only example of ethical progress we have, ours. Given what we have managed in a mere 100 years, one cannot expect space being to be drooling hillfolk.

Do you have anything else to base it on? If not, then why are you complaining?

Please, tell us of your vast knowledge of aliens.
 
Given the distance we've come in the past 100 years, there is no reason to believe those capable of interstellar travel will be barbarians. Such a presumption is counter to all developmental evidence.

When man exterminates pests like mice or cockroaches is barbarian a word to describe what man did? When man uses mice for experiments is barbarian a word used to describe what man did?

Alternatively, you're placing human qualities in extraterrestrials (Anthropomorphism).
 
When man exterminates pests like mice or cockroaches is barbarian a word to describe what man did? When man uses mice for experiments is barbarian a word used to describe what man did?

So now we're cockroaches. Another stupid presumption on your part.

Alternatively, you're placing human qualities in extraterrestrials (Anthropomorphism).

And what would you base alien behavior on? Gee, there's nothing else, is there? Duh.
 
The point is without contacting and evaluating them first there is no point to create these horror movie driven prejudices about the alien's intent on earth. My position is that, just like God, we do not know of aliens neither for they have not showed up yet.

No point? Fear of the Unknown says :2wave:

Prognosticating & hypothesising has lead to a great many things.
 
No point? Fear of the Unknown says :2wave:

Prognosticating & hypothesising has lead to a great many things.

Great many things can only come after the hypothesis are tested. There is nothing of practical use for them to remain as opinions, words, on the air in their hypothetical state alone.
 
So now we're cockroaches. Another stupid presumption on your part.



And what would you base alien behavior on? Gee, there's nothing else, is there? Duh.

Man… you turn into quite the ass when people don't lockstep with your every thought. You shouldn't be that way.

Besides, you're presuming that extraterrestrials wouldn't look upon us as inferior and therefore expendable. You're all about the institution of racism and what it means and entails so I don't need to remind you of what white people did to other human beings when they were looked upon as inferior.

So you jump down my throat for presuming things yet turn right around and go off presuming things of your own. Hypocrisy says :2wave:
 
Man… you turn into quite the ass when people don't lockstep with your every thought. You shouldn't be that way.

That's not true. It annoys me when someone is all "but you're using people's behavior to describe aliens "(anthropomorphism)", as if I've never heard the word, genius. While you're doing the SAME THING.

Your narrative is based on humans being cockroaches and aliens being less evolved than a decent person. It's all stupid. It's like a manic depressive evaluating the future, and we're supposed to give a **** that you see the world and the future as a pile of ****. Spare us.

Lastly, you ain't got with it takes to evaluate me, so you know what you can do with your opinion on that as well. Don't cry too much.
 
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Given the distance we've come in the past 100 years, there is no reason to believe those capable of interstellar travel will be barbarians. Such a presumption is counter to all developmental evidence.

Or maybe they haven't evolved and they're still giant dickheads. The point is not how far (as yet some of us) have come, but that we know full well what we're capable of, and that alone should stand as all the reason for exercising caution when exploring space for intelligent life, as opposed to screaming on every broadband frequency, "HEEERE WE ARE! DUR DEE DURR!" Or, for that matter, sending out a probe with a dvd on it announcing that we're peaceful, pink and fleshy, and delicious.
 
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Do you know their intentions for sure that you can conclude that as certainly?

Yeah, totally. They're talking to me, man.

 
Your narrative is based on humans being cockroaches and aliens being less evolved than a decent person.

Wrong. My "narrative" is based off their intentions.

Perhaps you have forgotten about this:

When it comes to extraterrestrials: the way we interact with each other is dependent on what their goals are. They could be humanity's greatest ally or something akin to extraterrestrial North Koreans. If they're the former, great, our worldly problems would be likely solved. But if they're the latter, we're ****ed because there is a wide-spectrum of horrible things we could experience.
Post #25

See? Not everything is doom & gloom.

There's no telling which way that pendulum will swing until first contact occurs. It could be bad just as likely as it could be good - 50:50, man.




Want to go back to being civil with each other?
 
Given the distance we've come in the past 100 years, there is no reason to believe those capable of interstellar travel will be barbarians. Such a presumption is counter to all developmental evidence.

Oh Ecofarm, how soon we forget ?

 
It could just be a reflection of the first broadcast of Green Acres.

Or its another society, Tax them!
 
It could be bad just as likely as it could be good - 50:50, man.

I disagree. Everything about our own development says it would be good. 90:10
 
Or maybe they haven't evolved and they're still giant dickheads.

I seriously doubt an intelligent life form, thousands or more years ahead of us, will have partisan extremists, racists, CTers and other such delusions.
 
I seriously doubt an intelligent life form, thousands or more years ahead of us, will have partisan extremists, racists, CTers and other such delusions.

It might have been logical to presume that anybody advanced and curious enough to cross an entire ocean wouldn't have malicious intentions. Anyway, what you say is nice, but utterly foolish to rely on. We only inhabit this one place. The price of being wrong about visiting aliens would be complete.

You also edited out the part of my post that mentioned that we're more than capable of atrocity, which again is all the reason for caution we'd need.
 
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If it is aliens, making ourselves known to them makes about as much sense as a mouse calling out to the cat.
 
I disagree. Everything about our own development says it would be good. 90:10

Their niceness towards man would be dependent upon what they consider to be ethically & morally acceptable. Perhaps their advancement in those areas are as alien to us as their presence would be. But I suspect that extraterrestrials don't get hung up in the type of moral dilemmas or quicksand that segments of our society does, as even between humans, morality isn't exactly universal in all aspects.
 
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