Why haven't aliens got in contact with us yet?

[Istbor]

So I was watching some episodes of StarTalk on NEtflix this weekend.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson interviewed George Takei.

The topic of Fermi's paradox, getting to other stars, even the suitability of humanity for being worthy of getting out there came up.

Here's what I heard:
a) Tyson is a really smart dude
b) he's an optimist
c) he thinks we can come up with the ideas/energy/matter we'll need eventually to get to another planet
d) we as a species are a culmination of all of our evolution and traits that got us this far, which is farther than any other species (we have rockets and art, beavers just have dams). We'd still be eating bananas and humping each other like those peace loving bonobos (or whatever they're called) if we weren't wired to strive for more.
e) any other species that might get as far, likely has gone through just as much
f) that means we are worthy to reach the stars. Not because of some papal blessing, but because we are intrinsically not unworthy. We are more than just our wars. And if you look, just as much, if not more technological innovation is driven outside of war, rather than by war.

I don't know. Looking at the internet, the pool of Humanity's collective knowledge and experiences. I feel we are still just eating banana's and humping each other.

However, I agree, there likely isn't a 'worth' factor involved. Perhaps a more, let's leave them to their own devices and see what happens. I mean, we already do that with ourselves.

I certainly think there is something out there. The universe is just too big and too many chances for a happy accident not to occur again. But it is big. And we are not very close to overcoming that hurdle yet. Sadly, we aren't even remotely trying. I believe we have great potential for overcoming obstacles when we want or need to. We just require that catalyst.

And perhaps, that is what someone out there is waiting for. To see if we actually want it badly enough. Otherwise, why not leave the monkey-men to play in their sandbox?

 

[Janx]

I don't know. Looking at the internet, the pool of Humanity's collective knowledge and experiences. I feel we are still just eating banana's and humping each other.

We watched TomorrowLand last week, and while I can be as pessimistic as the next guy, I agree with a core premise. We spend a lot of time being grimddark, future's gonna suck. It only sucks if we let it.

Sure, space is big. Space is dangerous. Sure there's no disaster that is easier to handle from Mars than it would be on Earth. But even after the Singularity, our robot overlords will be thankful that we helped move the ball a little bit farther forward, so they could get to the next star system before Sol explodes.

Going virtual does not have to mean full abandonment of the real world. Plenty of kids still go outside to ride bikes after playing video games for awhile.

What if we can warp spacetime well enough for data to transmit fast enough. So we send a very robust machine to get to Alpha Centauri, then it folds space and our virtual selves relay info what it's like over there while starting to build robot bodies or something? If we can get a ship going .1c, it's only 40 years to get there.

 

[MechaPilot]

We'd still be eating bananas and humping each other like those peace loving bonobos (or whatever they're called) if we weren't wired to strive for more.

Does it make me unevolved that a banana smoothie after a little naughty sweaty fun sounds pretty nice?

 

[Umbran]

I feel we are still just eating banana's and humping each other.

Well, certain things are required for continuation of the species. If we *aren't* doing these things, we have a problem. And, if we have to do them, they might as well be entertaining.

If there's a base primate behavior that we probably could do without, it is the flinging of poo. That's the one that turns out counter-productive in the modern world.

And perhaps, that is what someone out there is waiting for. To see if we actually want it badly enough. Otherwise, why not leave the monkey-men to play in their sandbox?

A pretty solid Star Trek: First Contact sort of idea. And note that in that movie, they sent a gent who was solidly in the bananas and booty camp.

 

[Istbor]

Does it make me unevolved that a banana smoothie after a little naughty sweaty fun sounds pretty nice?

I don't think so at all. It is good to get back to the basics.
[MENTION=177]Umbran[/MENTION]

Oh for sure. If you are going to make first contact, why not send someone who can meet on some common ground who share the same interests?

If some other race of beings were able to tap into our internet, and be able to glean meaning from it, I think they would see us as at least, a very creative people.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

It may be that the real interstellar intelligence test is being able to make contact with another star system. We haven't passed the test yet. Maybe FTL is possible but you have to be really clever to figure it out.

This seems to be a common sci-fi trope -- like humans in Star Trek weren't worth noticing until they figure out warp drive.

But would it?

I think that any alien life form could potentially be interesting.
You would need to posit that every alien has a similar opinion on how interesting other aliens are, or when they start to be interesting?

We humans find something interesting in almost everything on our planet - maybe not all at the same time for "all the things", but there are people interested in some one-celled lifeforms just as some are interested in "primitive" tribes in the Amazonas region or whatever.

 

[Umbran]

We humans find something interesting in almost everything on our planet - maybe not all at the same time for "all the things", but there are people interested in some one-celled lifeforms just as some are interested in "primitive" tribes in the Amazonas region or whatever.

Note, however, that we humans are also discovering that preserving the things that are interesting is a lot of work. Mucking with them has this habit of, well, mucking with them. We have seen, time and again, what happens when a technologically inferior culture is faced with notable contact with a tech superior culture. It doesn't play out well. We already knew this back in teh 60s, so that Roddenberry made up the "Prime Directive"...

"Let them get this far on their own without screwing them up," isn't a nonsensical position, however curious you might be.

 

[tomBitonti]

I thought that in Star Trek, a part of the reason for contact was that the discovery of aliens was a given after warp travel was discovered.

Side question: in what sci-fi universes would the existence of aliens be obvious at our current level of technology? For example, in Star Trek, I would expect the effects of aliens to be easy to see.

Thx!
TomB

 

[Umbran]

Side question: in what sci-fi universes would the existence of aliens be obvious at our current level of technology? For example, in Star Trek, I would expect the effects of aliens to be easy to see.

I wouldn't expect them to be easy to see.

At our current level of technology, we watch the skies for aliens in the radio band - but the aliens out there are using "subspace", and are surprised when they see radio transmissions.

Beyond that, we don't generally directly image anything smaller than a star, and Trek culture doesn't build megastructures. Our indirect observations catch things the size of large planets, but typically only get the existence of the planet - we are only starting to be able to glimpse atmospheric composition of a few of those planets.

We'd not see Trek aliens, yet.

 

[tomBitonti]

I wouldn't expect them to be easy to see.

At our current level of technology, we watch the skies for aliens in the radio band - but the aliens out there are using "subspace", and are surprised when they see radio transmissions.

Beyond that, we don't generally directly image anything smaller than a star, and Trek culture doesn't build megastructures. Our indirect observations catch things the size of large planets, but typically only get the existence of the planet - we are only starting to be able to glimpse atmospheric composition of a few of those planets.

We'd not see Trek aliens, yet.

I dunno. I agree that we wouldn't see the aliens. But we should see their handiwork. The gap created when the Dyson sphere was created (from the STNG episode). Anomalous supernovas, of which there have been several. Shock waves of various sorts.

Thx!
TomB